Robert Owen: The Visionary

Robert Owen's vision was to remake society, based on fundamental principles he discovered early in life. He believed changing the environment in which people lived and worked could eliminate misery and poverty. He exhausted a vast fortune pursuing his dream of changing the character of mankind and eliminating the evil conditions that surrounded them.

Unlike most visionaries, Owen was not a dreamer—he was a practical man of business. As a leading manufacturer in the United Kingdom during the height of the Industrial Revolution, he accumulated a considerable fortune. His vision for society, however, was not the creation of wealth, rather it was the creation of human happiness.

Owen was also a revolutionary, but unlike most revolutionaries, he was not dangerous, nor did he preach the overthrow of society. On the contrary, he believed he could bring about revolutionary change by convincing men of good will that he had discovered universal truths on which society should be based.