Émile Jean-Marie Gautier (19 January 1853 – 1937) was a French

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and later a journalist. He coined the term "

social Darwinism Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...

Life

Émile Jean-Marie Gautier was born on 19 January 1853, in Rennes. His parents were Jean Marie Gautier, usher, and Marie Louise Marais. He obtained a doctorate in law. He became a disciple of Jules Vallès. Gautier attended the July 1881 London Social Revolutionary Congress. Other delegates included

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Saverio Merlino Francesco Saverio Merlino (9 September 1856 – 30 June 1930) was an Italian lawyer, anarchist activist and theorist of libertarian socialism. During his law studies at the University of Naples Federico II, Merlino joined the International Wor ...

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and Marie Le Compte. While respecting "complete autonomy of local groups" the congress defined propaganda actions that all could follow and agreed that "propaganda by the deed" was the path to social revolution. Gautier was implicated during the trial of

, and on 19 January 1883 was sentenced by the Criminal Court of Lyon to five years in prison. On 15 August 1885 he was pardoned. Gautier renounced political activism. He worked at various newspapers, including '' L'Écho de Paris'', where he met Octave Mirbeau, and ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', where he published "documentary chronicles". These were published as a collection in 1992 under the title ''Les Étapes de la science'' (Steps of science). According to the historian of social thought Mike Hawkins, Emile Gautier was the first to use the term "

social darwinism Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...

" in his pamphlet of the same name published in 1880 in Paris. He became a well-known popular science writer. His 1902 ''Fleur de Bagne'' (Prison flowers), written with his childhood friend Marie-François Goron, was an ancestor of techno-thrillers and crime dramas with science themes.

Quotation

"Prison as it is organized is a cesspool, pouring into society a steady stream of corruption and germs, physiological and moral contagion; it poisons, brutalizes and corrupts." ''The World of prisons'' (Lyon, 1889)

Bibliography

* ''Le Darwinisme social'' (1880 – Social Darwinism) * ''Étienne Marcel'' (Paris, 1881) * ''Propos anarchistes'' (1885 – About anarchists) * ''Le Parlementarisme'' (1885 – The Parliamentary System) * ''Heures de travail'' (1885 – Hours of work) * ''Les Endormeurs'' (1885 – The sleeper) * ''Le Monde des prisons'' (Lyon, 1889 – The world of prisons) * ''Fleurs de bagne'', with Marie-François Goron (1902 – Prison flowers) * ''Les Paysans'', with

(Paris, Incomplete)

References

Citations Sources * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gautier, Emile 1853 births 1937 deaths French anarchists French journalists