Part 1 is an exploration of the first wave of European socialism. According to Engels, modern socialism is the natural product of class antagonism between the owning and laboring classes, as well as a “logical extension of the principles laid down by the great French philosophers of the 18th century” (36). He identifies these proto- and first-wave socialists as utopian socialists and presents “the three great Utopians” (38). Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen.

One thing is common to all three. Not one of them appears as a representative of the interests of that proletariat which historical development had, in the meantime, produced. Like the French philosophers, they do not claim to emancipate a particular class to begin with, but all humanity at once. Like them, they wish to bring in the kingdom of reason and eternal justice, but this kingdom, as they see it, is as far as Heaven from Earth, from that of the French philosophers. (38)

Before exploring the Utopians’ philosophies in more depth, Engels describes the general culture of 18th Century Western Europe. The Enlightenment (note: Engels does not use this term) took hold, and the idea of a perfectly reasonable, just society became popular among philosophers.