page_title: François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour
section_title: Free trade and Saint-Simonianism
hierarchical_section_title: François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour / Free trade and Saint-Simonianism
caption_attribution_description: Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin (1796-1864)
context_page_description: François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour was a French silk merchant and leading exponent of Saint-Simonianism.
  He was born to a poor family, had little formal education and began work in a shawl factory at the age of 16.
  Later he joined a silk company based in Liepzig, Germany, married into the owners' family and was placed in charge of its Lyon operations.
  Working first for his in-laws and then independently, he made a fortune in silk.
  Arlès-Dufour also became involved in banking, railways and the Suez canal project.
  He played an important role in the Lyon Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the jury in various international expositions.
  He believed in free trade and in social institutions that would help the most disadvantaged social classes.
context_section_description: As early as 1822 Arlès wrote, "The greatest and most conclusive step, and that which our state of civilization imperiously requires, is the abolition of customs and obstacles, which make communication and exchange between people difficult or impossible."
  In 1828 he wrote, "Let us abolish these barriers ... multiply our relationships, live as brothers."
  He believed that freedom of trade must lead to universal peace.
  In 1828 he published an article in the Lyon paper Le Précurseur in which he spoke in favour of the free export of French silks in return for the free entry of foreign silks, which drew protests from those who felt the Lyon silk industry could not survive without protection.
  In articles in 1832 and 1833 in L’Écho de la Fabrique  Arlès-Dufour  wrote on subjects such as industry in Lyon, tariffs, cooperation with England and a progressive income tax.
  Arlès-Dufour was sympathetic to the workers, having been one himself, and looked for ways to make their life easier.
  He soon decided that free competition was the answer.
  He became a convert to Saint-Simonianism in 1829 and remained faithful to these ideals for the rest of his life.
  The goal was to hasten social change during the transition to an industrial society following the principle that "All social institutions must aim at improving the moral, intellectual and physical fortunes of the most numerous and poorest classes".
  Arlès-Dufour was a friend of the Pereires and the Talbots, business leaders who were also Saint-Simonians.
  He wrote, "Everywhere, the class that has nothing in common but misery is at war with the one that has everything. And who could be surprised at that? Society, that is to say, the men who have, take care of this class only to contain it."
  However, he was opposed to the demands of workers in Lyon for minimum payments for their work, saying that a manufacturer could not operate at a loss.
  When the canuts (Lyon silk workers) revolted in November 1831 many observers blamed the Saint-Simonians for the uprising.
  Arlès-Dufour believed in free competition, productive work, huge manufacturing enterprises and a strong sense of social solidarity.
  He contributed to the worker's newspaper L'Echo de la Fabrique, where Enfantin says he "threw in as much Saint-simonianism as possible".
  In the early days of the French Second Republic in April 1848 he launched an appeal to the workers of La Croix-Rousse saying, "It is almost twenty years since ... I called for an age of association of everyone, rich and the poor, manufacturer and the worker, by organization of labour,  classification by vocation and the compensation according to work."
  In his property at Oullins he planted a lime tree, the "tree of liberty."
  However, he refused to run for political office.
caption: Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin (1796–1864), long-time friend and partner of Arlès-Dufour
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