"The Familistère de Guise is a vast collective housing complex erected for 2,000 people in a small town in the department of Aisne in the second half of the 19th century. It includes a theatre, schools, a crèche, shops, a laundry room, a swimming pool and gardens For nearly a century, it was the scene of large-scale social experimentation.
The Familistère de Guise or “Social Palace” is a concrete utopia inspired by the phalanstery, the dream of Charles Fourier (1772-1837). Its designer was a self-taught locksmith who became a brilliant captain of industry, an enthusiastic fourierist and an outstanding builder. Jean-Baptiste André Godin (1817-1888) created in 1840 a factory of cast iron stoves and cookers, he laid the first brick of the Familistère in 1858 and in 1880 he founded the Cooperative Association of Capital and Labor, within which the workers collectively own the Familistère and its factories. It is a question of giving the successful example of an alternative to the economic and social organization of capitalist society.
In the 21st century, the Familistère is still inhabited, its schools and its theater function, its gardens are freely open. It is a daily living space and a major cultural establishment in a rural setting. Since 2000, the Social Palace, classified as historical monuments, has been gradually restored and fitted out. A site museum devoted to the Familistère and social experimentation has been set up there, live performance seasons follow one another, artists stay there in residence, bees swarm there, companies meet there.
The stamp represents the interior of the central pavilion of the Familistère.
On the outline of the sheet, are evoked the central pavilion, a portrait of Jean-Baptiste André Godin, as well as the remarkable collections related to the social and industrial history of the site such as the banner of the harmony of the familistère, the stove Godin in cast iron (hygienic calorifier with complete combustion n° 123), and a bathtub.
