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Joseph Déjacque (; 27 December 1821, in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
– 1864, in Paris) was a French early anarcho-communist poet, philosopher and writer. He coined the term "
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
" (French: ''libertaire'') for himselfJoseph Déjacque
De l'être-humain mâle et femelle - Lettre à P.J. Proudhon par Joseph Déjacque
(in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
)
Anarchist FAQ">The An Anarchist FAQ, Anarchist FAQ
Editorial Collective. "150 years of Libertarian"./ref> in a political sense in a letter written in 1857, criticizing
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
for his
sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
views on women, his support of individual ownership of the product of labor and of a market economy, saying that "it is not the product of his or her labor that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature".


Life


Formative years, from childhood to exile

Born in 1821, Joseph Déjacque grew up fatherless and was raised by his mother, a linen-maker. In 1834 he became an apprentice and, in 1839, a sales clerk in the
wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so ...
trade. In 1841, he joined the
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
, where he met with military
authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voti ...
. Returning to civilian life in 1843, he again worked as a store clerk, but his independence of mind hardly suited employer authority. In 1847, he began to take an interest in
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
ideas, composed poems in which he called for the destruction of all authority by violence, and collaborated in the socialist newspaper '' L'Atelier'', written by workers for workers. He was a member of the Women's Club, founded in April 1848 by Eugénie Niboyet. Déjacque was first heard of when arrested as part of the revolutionary upheavals in France in 1848. Imprisoned for a time for
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
agitation, he was released but rearrested in 1851, and was sentenced to two years of prison for his collection of poems ''Les Lazaréennes, Fables et Poésies Sociales'', with an additional penalty of 2000 francs. He escaped to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
around the time of the December 2, 1851 coup d'état. In London he became associated with Gustave Lefrançais with whom he founded a workers' mutual aid society '' La Sociale '', before joining the small community of outlaws gathered in
Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...
. While in Jersey between 1852 and 1853 he published ''"La question révolutionnaire"'', an exposition of
anarchism 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 ...
.'' Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas – Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939)]'', ed. Robert Graham (historian), Robert Graham; includes English translations from Déjacque's ''The Revolutionary Question'' and his 1857 letter to Proudhon.


A Libertarian in New York

Déjacque moved to New York in 1854 where, marked by the defeat of 1848, he violently denounced societal injustices - in particular the exploitation and the miserable living conditions of the
proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
, calling for a
social revolution Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political sys ...
. His reflections on individual existence in the industrial and capitalist world led him to develop an original theory of universality and to advocate an uncompromising anarchist policy. In 1855, he signed the inaugural manifesto of an International association, which brought together French socialists,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
communists,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, ...
and was considered a predecessor of the
International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...
. Whilst staying in New Orleans from 1856 to 1858, he wrote his famous anarchist utopia ''L'Humanisphère, Utopie anarchique'', but could not find a publisher. Returning to New York he was able to serialise his book in his periodical '' Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement social''. Published in 27 issues from 9 June 1858 to 4 February 1861, ''Le Libertaire'' was the first anarcho-communist journal published in America. This was the first anarchist journal to use the term "libertarian". An uncompromising anarchist, Joseph Déjacque rejected any system of political representation or delegation that would lead the individual to abdicate his will by letting another express himself in his place. A partisan of the most complete freedom which he called "individual sovereignty", Déjacque is also known to have called for
gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
, in response to the misogyny of
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
.


Return to France

Among many articles on revolution and current political events both in France and the USA, Déjacque attacked the hanging of John Brown after the raid on
Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...
and propagandised for the
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
cause. As the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
began, Déjacque published a last issue of "Libertaire" in January 1861 with an urgent appeal: "The American Question: the irrepressible conflict" in which he exhorts the American people, whom he would like to be "less religious and more socialist", to defend freedom and the Republic against the "
Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
, slavers,
absolutists Moral absolutism is an ethical view that some (potentially all) actions are intrinsically right or wrong. Stealing, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done for the well-being of others (e.g., stealing food to feed a ...
and authoritarians" who were at their door. His stay in New York ended when his work prospects ran out due to the economic slump caused by the civil war. Joseph Déjacque returned to London and then to Paris following the amnesty, where he died a few years later in extreme poverty.


Social philosophy

The writings of Déjacque could be seen as one who "up until the foundation of anarchist communism properly so-called, expressed in a coherent way the radical communism which emerged in France from the 1840s as a critical appropriation of
Fourierism Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). Based upon a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who worked and lived to ...
,
Owenism Owenism is the utopian socialist philosophy of 19th-century social reformer Robert Owen and his followers and successors, who are known as Owenites. Owenism aimed for radical reform of society and is considered a forerunner of the cooperative ...
and neo- Babouvism. Déjacque's work was an examination of the limits of the 1848 revolution and the reasons for its failure. It was developed around a rejection of two things: the state, even if 'revolutionary,' and collectivism of the Proudhonist type. Déjacque reformulated communism in a way that sought to be resolutely free from the dogmatism, sectarianism and statism exhibited by those such as Cabet and La Fraternité de 1845. Déjacque spoke of: “Liberty! Which has been so misused against the community and which it is true to say that certain communist schools have held cheap.”"Alain Pengam. "Anarchist-Communism"
/ref>


Déjacque's anti-authoritarian communism

Déjacque "rejected Blanquism, which was based on a division between the 'disciples of the great people's Architect' and 'the people, or vulgar herd,' and was equally opposed to all the variants of social republicanism, to the dictatorship of one man and to 'the dictatorship of the little prodigies of the proletariat.' With regard to the last of these, he wrote that: 'a dictatorial committee composed of workers is certainly the most conceited and incompetent, and hence the most anti-revolutionary, thing that can be found...(It is better to have doubtful enemies in power than dubious friends)'. He saw 'anarchic initiative,' 'reasoned will' and 'the autonomy of each' as the conditions for the social revolution of the proletariat, the first expression of which had been the barricades of June 1848. In Déjacque's view, a government resulting from an insurrection remains a reactionary fetter on the free initiative of the proletariat. Or rather, such free initiative can only arise and develop by the masses ridding themselves of the 'authoritarian prejudices' by means of which the state reproduces itself in its primary function of representation and delegation. Déjacque wrote that: 'By government I understand all delegation, all power outside the people,' for which must be substituted, in a process whereby politics is transcended, the 'people in direct possession of their sovereignty,' or the 'organised commune.' For Déjacque, the communist anarchist utopia would fulfil the function of inciting each proletarian to explore his or her own human potentialities, in addition to correcting the ignorance of the proletarians concerning 'social science.'" He also thought that "government, religion, property, family, all are linked, all coincide.' The content of the social revolution was thus to be the abolition of all governments, of all religions, and of the family based on marriage, the authority of the parents and the husband, and inheritance." Déjacque established his proposed state as follows "“the state of affairs where each would be free to produce and consume at will and according to their fantasy, without having to exercise or submit to any control whatsoever over anything whatever; where the balance between production and consumption would establish itself, no longer by preventive and arbitrary detention at the hands of some group or other, but by the free circulation of the faculties and needs of each."


Debate with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Déjacque criticized French mutualist anarchist Pierre Joseph Proudhon as far as "the Proudhonist version of Ricardian socialism, centred on the reward of labour power and the problem of exchange value. In his polemic with Proudhon on women's emancipation, Déjacque urged Proudhon to push on 'as far as the abolition of the contract, the abolition not only of the sword and of capital, but of property and authority in all their forms,' and refuted the commercial and wages logic of the demand for a 'fair reward' for 'labour' (labour power). Déjacque asked: 'Am I thus... right to want, as with the system of contracts, to measure out to each — according to their accidental capacity to produce — what they are entitled to?' The answer given by Déjacque to this question is unambiguous: 'it is not the product of his or her labour that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature.' ..For Déjacque, on the other hand, the communal state of affairs — the phalanstery 'without any hierarchy, without any authority' except that of the 'statistics book' — corresponded to 'natural exchange,' i.e. to the 'unlimited freedom of all production and consumption; the abolition of any sign of agricultural, individual, artistic or scientific property; the destruction of any individual holding of the products of work; the demonarchisation and the demonetarisation of manual and intellectual capital as well as capital in instruments, commerce and buildings."


"Attractive labour" and "The Humanisphere"

Déjacque advocated "the transformation of work into 'attractive work'...as the condition for the existence of the community: 'The organisation of attractive work by series would have replaced Malthusian competition and repulsive work.' This organisation was not to be something exterior to productive activity. Déjacque's communist anthropology was based on the liberation of needs, including the need to act on the world and nature, and made no distinction between natural-technical necessities and human ends. Although its vocabulary was borrowed from (Charles) Fourier (harmony, passions, series and so on), it aimed at the community of activities more than the organised deployment of labour power: 'The different series of workers are recruited on a voluntary basis like the men on a barricade, and are completely free to stay there as long as they want or to move on to another series or barricade.' Déjacque's 'Humanisphere' was to have no hours of work nor obligatory groupings. Work could be done in isolation or otherwise...As to the division of labour, Déjacque proposed its abolition in a very original way. What he advocated was a reciprocal process of the integration of the aristocracy (or rather of the aristocratic intelligentsia) and the proletariat, each going beyond its own unilateral intellectual or manual development. "


Transitional period

Déjacque "was perhaps exasperated by the gulf between the results of his utopian research and the content of the class struggle in the 1850s, and tried to bridge this gulf with a theory of transition. This theory aimed to facilitate the achievement of the state of community, while taking into account the existing situation. Its three bases were, first, 'direct legislation by the people' ('the most democratic form of government, while awaiting its complete abolition'); second, a range of economic measures which included 'direct exchange' (even though Déjacque admitted that this democratised property without abolishing exploitation), the establishment of Owenite-type 'labour bazaars,' 'circulation vouchers' (labour vouchers) and a gradual attack on property; and third, a democratisation of administrative functions (revocability of public officials, who would be paid on the basis of the average price of a day's work) and the abolition of the police and the army."


See also

* Anarchism in France *
Libertarian socialism Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (2 ...


References


External links


Joseph Déjacque : Anarchist and Inventor of the Term "Libertarianism"
archive at RevoltLib
Works in French


from the Anarchist Encyclopedia
Joseph Déjacque page
at Libertarian Labyrinth
An english language translation of Joseph Dejacque's utopian vision "L'Humanisphere" at the Digital Reource Commons of the University of Cincinnati
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dejacque, Joseph 1821 births 1864 deaths Anarcho-communists French anarchists French anti-capitalists French male writers French political writers French prisoners and detainees History of libertarianism Libertarian socialists Writers from Paris French abolitionists