Étienne-Gabriel Morelly

Étienne-Gabriel Morelly (French: [mɔʁɛli]; 1717, Vitry-le-François – 1778) was a French utopian thinker and novelist. An otherwise "obscure tax official", Morelly wrote two books on education and a critique of Montesquieu. As well he is thought to be (perhaps erroneously) the author of The Code of Nature, which was published anonymously in France in 1755. This book, a basis of thought for later socialist and Communist thinkers, criticized the society of his day, promoted a social order without avarice and proposed a constitution intended to lead to an egalitarian society without property, marriage, church or police.