Warren, Josiah

Related Category: Social Reformers

1798–1874, American reformer and anarchist, b. Boston. An early follower of Robert Owen, he soon rejected Owen's political socialism, advocating instead anarchy based on “the sovereignty of the individual.” He founded several “equity” stores, based on the idea of exchanging goods for an equivalent amount of labor and on the principle that cost should be the limit of price. He also established three utopian colonies; the most successful (1851–c.1860) was Modern Times (now Brentwood), Long Island, N.Y. The most important of his publications was True Civilization (1863, 5th ed. 1875).

See study by W. Bailie (1906, repr. 1971).