Rudolf Sutermeister

Rudolf Sutermeister
Born (1802-05-04)4 May 1802
Wynigen, Switzerland
Died 9 May 1868(1868-05-09) (aged 66)
Zofingen, Switzerland
Era 19th-century philosophy
Region Western Philosophy
School Utopian socialist
Main interests
 Economics
Notable ideas
 Swiss liberal-communist circle

Rudolf Sutermeister (May 7, 1802 – May 9, 1868)[1] was a Swiss medical doctor for the poor. He was also a businessman, a manufacturer, an early socialist and a socio-political writer. He is considered one of the first native Swiss German socialists, together with Gustav Siegfried, Johann Jakob Treichler, and Karl Bürkli; however, unlike Siegfried, he is also considered a utopian.[1]

Biography

Sutermeister was born in the municipality of Wynigen. He was a minister's son who came from an old family of town councillors in Zofingen, where he was naturalized. He graduated in medicine from the University of Basel and was trained as a doctor in Bern. In 1824, Sutermeister began practicing medicine in Zofingen.

He is often regarded as an economical and spiritual "proletaroid."[1] This is because he lived in financial distress while serving as a medical doctor to the lower class.

In the 1840s, inspired by Charles Fourier and Wilhelm Weitling, Sutermeister believed that the welfare of his country depended on a communist transformation. Three years earlier in 1837, he had appealed to the public for the first time with a social reform manifesto. He devised plans for socialist experiments following the Saint-Simon pattern. Together with August Becker and Johannes Glur, he formed a liberal-communist circle.[1] His last years were filled with litigation and he sank into oblivion. He died in Zofingen, on May 9, 1868.[1]

Works

Sutermeister wrote many works with communist and chiliastic content. These works were disseminated in Switzerland by the Bund der Gerechten (Justice League).

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Author: Rudolf Sutermeister. In: Argovia: Jahresschrift der Historischen Gesellschaft des Kantons Aargau. Vol. 88 (1976), 341-345.
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