Jacques Élie Henri Ambroise Ner (7 December 1861 – 6 February 1938), also known by the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

Han Ryner, was a French

individualist anarchist Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems."What do I mean by individualism? I mean by individualism t ...

philosopher and activist and a novelist. He wrote for publications such as ''L'Art social'', ''L'Humanité nouvelle'', ''L'Ennemi du Peuple'', ''L'Idée Libre de Lorulot''; and ''L'En dehors'' and ''L'Unique'' of fellow anarchist individualist

Émile Armand Émile Armand (26 March 1872 – 19 February 1962), pseudonym of Ernest-Lucien Juin Armand, was an influential French individualist anarchist at the beginning of the 20th century and also a dedicated free love/polyamory, intentional community, a ...

. His thought is mainly influenced by

stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting tha ...

and

epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...

Life

He was born in Nemours (now Ghazaouet,

Tlemcen Province Tlemcen ( ar, ولاية تلمسان) is a province ('' wilaya'') in northwestern Algeria. The Tlemcen National Park is located there. History The province was created from Oran (department) and Tlemcen department in 1974. Administrative div ...

), Department of Orán,

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

in a modest religious family. After the death of his mother, he abandoned Catholicism, associated himself with

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and started having an interest in social ideas. He published 2 novels in 1894–1895 and later started working as a journalist. After that he took a teaching position but struggled at having to fit into such a disciplined environment. He becomes a prolific literary writer. In 1896, he adopted the pseudonym "Han Ryner" and started writing for such magazines as ''L'Art social'', ''L'Humanité nouvelle'' of Augustin Hamon, ''L'Ennemi du Peuple'' of

Emile Janvion Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

and ''L'Idée Libre''. From here he started collaborating in the important individualist anarchist magazine ''

L'EnDehors ''L'En-Dehors'' (, ''The Outside'') is a French individualist anarchist newspaper, created by Zo d'Axa in 1891. History Numerous activists contributed to the paper, including Jean Grave, Bernard Lazare, Albert Libertad, Octave Mirbeau, Saint-Po ...

'' and ''L'Unique'' of

. In 1900 he wrote the essay ''Le crime d'obéir'' (the crime of obeying) and in 1903 he wrote the essay ''Petit manuel individualiste'', in which he presented his anarchist individualist doctrine influenced by classic Greek

in the works of

Epictetus Epictetus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκτητος, ''Epíktētos''; 50 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when ...

. By the 1920s his thought starts having an important influence in Spain within individualist anarchist circles especially through the translations of his work by Juan Elizalde. Han Ryner started writing in Spanish individualist journals such as ''Ética'', which already had an important influence of the thought of Ryner."Voluntary non-submission. Spanish individualist anarchism during dictatorship and the second republic (1923–1938)" by Xavier Diez
The Brazilian individualist anarchist Maria Lacerda de Moura took the task of making his philosophy and writing become known in the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

-speaking world. With the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

approaching. Han Ryner embraced pacifist and anti-war positions and promotes conscience objection. In his anti-war activism he collaborates with

. He campaigned for the liberation of Eugène Dieudonné in 1913; for that of

during the war; for the mutiny in the Black Sea, and for the Italian-American anarchists

Nicola Sacco Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...

and Bartolomeo Vanzetti and for the Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno. In May 1922 he attended the

International Congress of Progressive Artists International Congress of Progressive Artists was organised by Young Rhineland (Junge Rheinland), with help from the November Group, the Darmstadt Secession and the Dresden Secession in Düsseldorf, 29-31 May 1922. The aim of creating an internat ...

and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists". A radical

anticlerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

, he adhered to the

World Committee against War and Fascism The World Committee Against War and Fascism was an international organization sponsored by the Communist International, that was active in the struggle against Fascism in the 1930s. During this period Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Italy in ...

. He also opposed World War I on pacifist anti militaristic grounds. He was a rare case of an anarchist participating in the

Félibrige The ''Félibrige'' (; in classical Occitan, in Mistralian spelling, ) is a literary and cultural association founded in 1854 by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote the Occitan language (also called the ) and ...

. He died in Paris on 6 February 1938.

The individualist anarchism of Han Ryner

The mature thought of Han Ryner is influenced by

and

. From this first position he shows a tendency to fatalism towards the pains of life and those produced by society. He wrote in "Mini-manual of individualism", "The Stoic

courageously bore poverty and slavery. He was perfectly happy in the situations most painful to ordinary men.""Mini-Manual of Individualism" by Han Ryner
/ref> He then emphasized subjective will as a power which individuals can resort to. He defined individualism as "the moral doctrine which, relying on no dogma, no tradition, no external determination, appeals only to the individual conscience". As models of individualists he names

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, Epicurus,

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

and Epictetus and so these persons exemplify what he defines as "harmonic individualism". For example, he admires from Epicurus his temperance and that "he showed that very little was needed to satisfy hunger and thirst, to defend oneself against heat and the cold. And he liberated himself from all other needs, that is, almost all the desires and all the fears that enslave men.". From Jesus how "He lived free and a wanderer, foreign to any social ties. He was the enemy of priests, external cults and, in general, all organizations." From these individualists as he defines them he distinguishes "conquering and aggressive egoists who proclaim themselves to be individualists" such as Stendhal and

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...

. Han Ryner, as well as fellow French individualist anarchist

, regarded individualist anarchism above all as a way of life. He regarded that the individualist act must be in accord with his ideas and he calls that "

virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards ...

". For him, disinterested virtue creates happiness which for him meant feeling oneself free of all outside servitudes and in perfect accord with oneself. In relationships with others and things outside the individual he saw "Every person is a goal, an end" and from this he saw that he can "ask people for services that they will freely accord me, either through benevolence or in exchange for other services". He defined society as "a gathering of individuals for a common labor." From society's evils he advocated developing individual resistance towards building up indifference. He understood happiness as something that can only be reached through oneself and sees that "Society has stolen from all, in order to turn over to a few, that great instrument of natural labor, the earth." He rejected crowds as he sees them as "the most brutal of natural forces." He saw work as an evil worsened by society and that "1—It arbitrarily dispenses a certain number of men from all work and places their part of the burden on other men. 2—It employs many men at useless labors and social functions. 3—It multiplies among all, and particularly among the rich, imaginary needs and it imposes on the poor the odious labor necessary for the satisfaction of these needs." In line with Stirner, he rejected sacrifices in the name of exterior "Idols" such as "In certain countries, the King or the Emperor, in others some fraud called the Will of the People. Everywhere Order, the Political party, Religion, the Fatherland, the Race, the Color." By color he meant race and he found deplorable that "The White color especially ... has managed to unite in one cult the French, Germans, Russians, and Italians and to obtain from these noble priests the bloody sacrifice of a great number of Chinese.... It is they who have made all of Africa a hell. It is they who destroyed the Indians of America and lynches Negroes."

Written works

* ''Chair vaincue, roman psychologique'' (1889) * ''Les Chants du divorce, poésies'' (1892) * ''L'Humeur inquiète'' (1894) * ''La Folie de misère'' (1895) * ''Le Crime d'obéir'' (1900) * ''Le Soupçon'' (1900) * ''L'Homme fourmi'', novel illustrated by Alexis Mérodack-Jeanneau (1901) * ''Les Voyages de Psychodore, philosophe cynique'' (1903) (translated by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

and included in ''The Superhumans'', q.v.) * ''Petit Manuel individualiste'' (1903) * ''La Fille manquée'' (1903) Rééd. QuestionDeGenre/GKC (2013) * ''Petit Manuel individualiste'' (1903) * ''Prostitués, études critiques sur les gens de lettres d'aujourd'hui'' (1904) * ''Les Chrétiens et les philosophes'' (1906) * ''Le Subjectivisme. Des bons et mauvais usages de la logique. La Métaphysique et les Sagesses positives. Le Déterminisme et la Liberté. Les Morales: Servilisme et Dominisme. Les Sagesses: Fraternisme et Subjectivisme. Les Étapes de la sagesse'' (1909) * ''Vive le roi, hypothèse en 3 actes. Les Esclaves, vision en un acte'' (1910) * ''Le Cinquième Évangile'' (1911) * ''Le Fils du silence'' (1911) * ''Les Paraboles cyniques'' (1913) * ''Les Apparitions d'Ahasvérus'' v. 1913) * ''Les Pacifiques'' (1914) * ''Le Père Diogène'' (v. 1915–1935) * ''Le Sphinx rouge'' (1918) * ''Le Poison, drame en 1 acte'' (1919) * ''La Tour des peuples'' (1919) * ''Le Père Diogène'' (1920). Réédition: Premières Pierres, 2007. * ''Dialogue du mariage philosophique ; suivi des Dicéphales'' (1922) * ''Les Véritables entretiens de Socrate'' (1922) * ''L'Individualisme dans l'antiquité (histoire et critique)'' (1924) * ''Le Communisme et la Liberté'' (1924) * ''Le Crime d'obéir, roman d'histoire contemporaine'' (1925) * ''Jusqu'à l'âme: drame moderne en 2 actes'' (1925) * ''L'Ingénieux Hidalgo Miguel Cervantès'' (1926) * ''La Vie éternelle, roman du mystère'' (1926) * ''Jésus est-il un personnage historique ou un personnage légendaire ? La Vérité sur Jésus'' (1926) * ''L'Aventurier d'amour'' (1927) * ''L'Amour plural, roman d'aujourd'hui et de demain'' (1927) * ''Jeanne d'Arc fut-elle victime de l'Église ?'' (1927) * ''La Sagesse qui rit'' (1928) * ''Les Surhommes, roman prophétique'' (1929) (translated by Brian Stableford as ''The Superhumans'', ) * ''Songes perdus'' (1929) * ''Chère Pucelle de France'' (1930) * ''Prenez-moi tous !'' (1930) * ''Crépuscules. Bouddha. Platon. Épicure. Thraséas. Raymond Lulle. Rabelais. Leibniz. Hegel. Vigny. Élisée Reclus, etc.'' (1930) * ''Le Manœuvre: pièce en 3 actes'' (1931) * ''Dans le mortier. Zénon. Phocion, Saint Ignace ; Les Albigeois ; Michel Servet ; Pierre Ramus ; Vanini ; Brousson ; Francisco Ferrer'' (1932) * ''La Soutane et le veston, roman'' (1932) * ''Bouche d'or, patron des pacifistes'' (1934) * ''La Cruauté de l'Église'' (1937) * ''L'Église devant ses juges'' (1937) * ''Le Massacre des amazones: études critiques sur deux cents bas-bleus contemporains: Mmes Adam, Sarah Bernhardt, Marie-Anne de Bovet, Bradamante, Jeanne Chauvin, Alphonse Daudet'' (s. d.) * ''La Beauté: légende dramatique en quatre tableaux'' (1938) * ''Florilège de paraboles et de songes'' (1942) * ''Face au public. Première série, 1901–1919'' (1948) * ''J'ai mon Éliacin, souvenirs d'enfance'' (1956) * ''Aux orties, souvenirs d'adolescence'' (1957) * ''Le Sillage parfumé'' (1958) * ''Les Grandes Fleurs du désert'' (1963)

References

View also

Individualist anarchism in Europe Individualist anarchism in Europe proceeded from the roots laid by William Godwin Woodcock, George. 2004. '' Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements''. Broadview Press. p. 20. and soon expanded and diversified through Europe, in ...

External links