Clément Duval (; 1850–1935) was a famous French

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

and

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

. His ideas concerning

individual reclamation The following is a list of terms specific to anarchists. Anarchism is a political and social movement which advocates voluntary association in opposition to authoritarianism and hierarchy. __NOTOC__ A :The negation of rule or "government by no ...

were greatly influential in later shaping

illegalism Illegalism is a tendency of anarchism that developed primarily in France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland during the late 1890s and early 1900s as an outgrowth of individualist anarchism. Illegalists embrace criminality either openly or secretly ...

. According to Paul Albert, "The story of Clement Duval was lifted and, shorn of all politics, turned into the bestseller ''Papillon''."

Biography

In October 1886, Duval broke into the mansion of a Parisian socialite and stole 15,000 francs before accidentally setting the house on fire. He was caught only two weeks later after trying to

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

the stolen goods, stabbing a policeman named Rossignol several times during his arrest (the policeman survived his wounds). Duval's trial drew crowds of supporters and ended in chaos when Duval was dragged from the court, crying, "Long live anarchy!" He was condemned to death, but his sentence was later commuted to hard labor on

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...

, French Guiana. In a letter printed in the November 1886 issue of the anarchist paper ''

Le Révolté ''Le Révolté'' was an anarcho-communist journal started by Peter Kropotkin, along with François Dumartheray and Georg Herzig, in February 1879. The journal was partially funded by Elisée Reclus, Kropotkin's mentor. At the time of the journal ...

'', Duval famously declared: "''Le vol n'est que la restitution, opéré à son profit par un individu conscient des richesses produites collectivement, et indûment accaparée par quelques-uns.''" ("Theft is but restitution carried out by an individual to his own benefit, being conscious of another's undue monopolization of collectively produced wealth.")

Memoir

In 1929, Duval's

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

, ''Memorie Autobiografiche'', was translated by Luigi Galleani and published in Italian. In 1980, Marianne Enckell, at C.I.R.A. in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, recovered part of Duval's original manuscript, and had it published as ''Outrage: An Anarchist Memoir of the Penal Colony''.

References

1850 births 1935 deaths French anarchists French prisoners sentenced to death Illegalists Prisoners sentenced to death by France French escapees Individualist anarchists Escapees from French detention French emigrants to the United States Devil's Island inmates Anarchism in French Guiana 19th-century French criminals 20th-century French criminals {{Anarchist-stub

Biography

Memoir

See also

References