Auguste-Richard Lahautière (May 21, 1813–June 27, 1882) (also known as Richard de la Hautière) was a French socialist, journalist, poet and lawyer. He is commonly grouped with

Théodore Dézamy Alexandre Théodore Dézamy (4 March 1808 – 24 July 1850) was a French socialist, a representative of the Neo-Babouvist tendency in early French communism, along with Albert Laponneraye, Richard Lahautière, Jacques Pillot and others. He w ...

Albert Laponneraye Albert Laponneraye (8 May 1808 – 1 September 1849) was a French republican socialist and a journalist, popular historian, educator and editor of Robespierre's writings. He was a representative of the Neo-Babouvist tendency in the 1840s, alo ...

Jean-Jacques Pillot Jean-Jacques Pillot (9 August 1808 – 13 June 1877) was a French revolutionary and republican communist. He participated in the Revolution of 1848 and in the Paris Commune of 1871. Early life Jean-Jacques Pillot was born in Vaux-Lavalet ...

and others as belonging to the Neo-Babouvist tendency in French nineteenth-century socialism, which formed a link from the utopian communism of

Gracchus Babeuf The Gracchi brothers were two Roman brothers, sons of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who was consul in 177 BC. Tiberius, the elder brother, was tribune of the plebs in 133 BC and Gaius, the younger brother, was tribune a decade later in ...

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

. He contributed to and was the editor of several important socialist publications prior to the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

Life

Auguste Richard de la Hautière, who dropped his aristocratic-sounding 'de' and went by 'Richard Lahautière', was born in Paris on 21 May 1813. He was educated at the '' Institution Saint-Victor'' (now the ''Lycée Chaptal''). In 1828 he won second prize in Latin composition and on that occasion had his portrait painted by the famous

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

.The portrait of young Lahautière can be seen at http://www.musee-delacroix.fr/fr/collection/peintures/auguste-richard.html. In 1835 he obtained a law degree and was called to the bar in Paris, but he was by then already more interested in political journalism. Lahautière had become attracted to socialist ideas as a young man. At first he was interested in

Saint-Simonism Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

. He greatly admired

Pierre Leroux Pierre Henri Leroux (7 April 1797 – 12 April 1871), was a French philosopher and political economist. He was born at Bercy, now a part of Paris, the son of an artisan. Life His education was interrupted by the death of his father, which com ...

, a former Saint-Simonian who became a noted socialist writer in the 1830s. Lahautiére was also attracted to the communist republicanism of

Philippe Buonarroti :''See also Filippo Buonarroti (1661–1733).'' Filippo Giuseppe Maria Ludovico Buonarroti, more usually referred to under the French version Philippe Buonarroti (11 November 1761 – 16 September 1837), was an Italian utopian socialist, wri ...

and other followers of Babeuf. In the 1830s, Lahautière contributed to the journal '' L'Intelligence'' and to Albert Laponneraye's ''Égalité'', both devoted to the propagation of socialist, communist and republican ideas. In 1841, he founded his own paper, '' La Fraternité, Journal moral et politique''. In 1840 he collaborated with the famous utopian communist

Étienne Cabet Étienne Cabet (; January 1, 1788 – November 9, 1856) was a French philosophy, French philosopher and utopian socialist who founded the Icarians, Icarian movement. Cabet became the most popular socialist advocate of his day, with a special appe ...

in writing the pamphlet ''Boulets Rouges''. His best-known work was probably ''De la Loi sociale'' (1841), dedicated to Pierre Leroux. Lahautière sympathized with the

Revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

but played no significant role in it. After the ''coup d'état'' of

Louis Bonaparte Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French cl ...

in December 1851, Lahautière withdrew from politics and moved to Blois, where he practised law and published poetry. He died on 27 June 1882 at

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of the ...

. In his writings Lahautière combined republicanism and communism with a kind of holistic metaphysical materialism and a rudimentary class analysis of history.

Works

Richard Lahautière's writings are not generally available in English. A selection of his French works includes: ''Études et souvenirs. Poésies.'' Paris, Rouanet, 1840. '' Petit catéchisme de la réforme sociale.'' Senlis, 1839. ''Réponse Philosophique à un Article sur le Babouvisme, publié par M. Thoré, dans le Journal du peuple.'', Paris, 1840. ''Boulets rouges.'' (with Étienne Cabet), Paris, Fiquet, 1840. '' De la Loi sociale'', Paris, 1841. ''Les Déjeuners de Pierre. Dialogues.'' Paris, 1841. ''Causerie sur Ronsard'' Vendôme, 1863. ''Élégies de Tibulle.'' Vendôme, 1879. ''Rimes détachées.'' Vendôme, 1881. ''Première jeunesse, Illusions. - Dix ans après, Désillusions.'' Vendôme, 1882.

Sources and References

Billington, J.H., ''Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith.'' New York, 1980. Bravo, G.M., ''Les Socialistes avant Marx.'' Two volumes. Paris, 1970. Hecht, J., 'French Utopian Socialists and the Population Question: "Seeking the Future City".' ''Population and Development Review'', vol. 14, 1988, p. 49–73. Maitron, J., and C. Pennetier (ed's), ''Dictionnaire Biographique du Mouvement Ouvrier français.'' Paris, 1997. Garaudy, R., ''Les Sources françaises du Socialisme scientifique.'' Paris, 1948.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahautiere, Richard French socialists French communists Neo-Babouvism 1882 deaths 1813 births 19th-century French journalists French male journalists 19th-century male writers