Socialist collectivism before Marx (and Engles)

For the last couple of years, I've always associated all forming thoughts of collectivism and social communism to Marx and Engels. My incorrect assumptions (and hobby of reading history) have lead me to focus mainly on history as a way to witness Marxist transformation of society. I have ignored other philosophical and political outlets that not only go hand in hand with what can be called "Marxism" but also the works and ideas that may have helped guide the bearded ones.

I recently started reading Utopia by Sir Thomas More, and was quite surprised to see that in the first few pages, a quite commanding argument against capital punishment for theft is laid out. This book was written in the sixteenth century, and yet the same argument of society being to blame for crime of necessity, (as it continues, if not expects poverty and theft, and then severely punishes those it almost built to break the law) exists strongly today in those who disagree with the strong jail time for such crimes as drug possession and petty theft.

Further on, More claims that an answer to the rate of theft in English society is to put all the unemployed to work at honest jobs, and also to implement an almost Norwegian punishment system that makes convicts work off their debt to society in relative productive comfort. This seems especially shocking as we tend to remember the "dark ages" when Utopia was written as particularly bloody and cruel.

Such arguments in the beginning chapters, (and the fact that Lenin built a statue of More in Russia after the revolution) make me believe that Utopia is an important book for anyone interested in the concept of a perfect society, and what freedoms must be given up to achieve it.

The new year seems to be a good time to ponder one of my biggest inner questions. If the political system I believe in preaches every person equal in worth, yet also demands productivity from everyone in society, how does one account for the differences in motivation, ambition, and intelligence? And how should one such as myself, who holds such small faith in the proletariat of my country, "trust and believe in the masses"? I currently believe that the burden of making progressive decisions for our society falls on those willing to make them on behalf of the masses instead of with the masses, until the system changes, and allows all to be educated properly.

Hopefully as I continue searching for the answer, I will learn more and grow more. I know I can count on authors like More to point me in the right direction.