Roger Monclin (31 January 1903 – 26 July 1985) was a French militant pacifist and anarchist. In the inter-war years he edited the pacifist magazine ''La Patrie humaine'' (The Human Homeland). He is known for his book ''Les damnés de la guerre'' (1934) in which he shows the misery of ordinary soldiers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914–18) forced to fight in impossible conditions.

Life

Roger Monclin was born on 31 January 1903 in Reims, Marne. He left school early and became a traveling representative in perfumery. He met Victor Méric and joined the ''Ligue des Combattants de la Paix'' (League of Fighters for Peace) that Meric had founded in 1929. In 1931 he was among the founders of the pacifist and anti-militarist magazine ''La Patrie Humaine''. He became the administrator of the magazine, and was joint editor with Robert Tourly from the death of Meric in 1933 until 1939. Monclin attacked militarism, arms dealers and crimes of military "justice" in speeches and articles. Thus on 14 December 1934 a conference was arranged on ''Les grands crimes de la justice militaire'', with Louis Potiez as chair. Speakers included Monclin and Louis Loréal. The program was attached to a police report the next day. Monclin's book ''Les damnés de la guerre'' (The Wretched of the War) appeared in 1934, one of a number of pacifist publications around this time. The book tells the stories of 17 conscripts who were shot during World War I. In August 1939, a few days before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(1939–45) Monclin and two friends left France for Belgium, and went on to Norway and Sweden. During the winter of 1939–40 they were hidden in a cabin in the forest by peace activists. Monclin was arrested in May 1940 and interned in a camp in Sweden until October 1942. He was allowed to return to Paris, where he suffered harassment by the police and the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

. He joined the union of proofreaders in 1943 with the help of Louis Louvet, and worked in various jobs including journalism and as a street vendor. He was imprisoned from September 1943 to February 1944. After the war Monclin wrote for the journal ''Défense de L'Homme'' and was an activist in the ''Union Pacifiste de France''. He was among the founders of the ''Union Pacifiste de France'' in 1961, with Robert Jospin, Raymond Rageau, Louis Lecoin, Jean Gauchon and others. From 1968 to 1982 Andre Arru and members of the Group Francisco Ferrer published ''La Libre Pensée des Bouches du Rhône'' (Free Thought of the Mouths of the Rhone). Monclin was among the contributors to this journal, as were Charles-Auguste Bontemps and Giovanni Baldelli. Roger Monclin died on 26 July 1985 in

Saint-Laurent-du-Var Saint-Laurent-du-Var (; Occitan: ''Sant Laurenç de Var'', Italian: ''San Lorenzo del Varo'') is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera. History The town was founded in the ...

, Alpes-Maritimes.

Publications

* Reissued in 1978 by the Union Pacifiste de France * *

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monclin, Roger 1903 births 1985 deaths 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French non-fiction writers Anarchist writers French anarchists French male non-fiction writers French pacifists Non-interventionism Writers from Reims

Life

Publications

See also

References

Sources