Victor Célestin Méric was the pseudonym of Henri Coudon (10 May 1876 – 10 October 1933), a French journalist and libertarian author. He contributed to various anarchist journals before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1914–18). Despite being a pacifist, he served in the army during the war. Afterwards he joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

, but was expelled in 1923 for his pacifist convictions. He wrote a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and founded the ''Ligue internationale des combattants de la paix'' (LICP: International League of Fighters for Peace).

Life

Henri Coudon was born in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 10 May 1876 into a progressive-minded family. He moved to Paris, where he joined anarchist circles and took the pseudonym Victor Méric. He contributed to ''Le Libertaire'', where he became a friend of

Gaston Couté Gaston Couté (23 September 1880 – 28 June 1911) was a French poet and singer, known for his pacifist and anarchist texts. Biography Couté was the son of a miller and went to the lycée Pothier in Orléans, but left before taking the bacca ...

and

Fernand Desprès Fernand Désiré Alfred Desprès (or Després depending on the source) (13 April 1879 – 14 February 1949) was a French shoemaker, anarchist, journalist and later a Communist activist. As a young man he was a close friend of the poet Gaston Cout ...

. He was one of the founders of the ''

Association internationale antimilitariste The International Antimilitarist Association (, ''AIA'') was a pacifist association founded in Amsterdam in 1904 that was dedicated to fighting militarism. Although technically open to all political views, it was dominated by anarchists. The member ...

'' in 1904. In 1906, Méric joined the revolutionary socialists and contributed to

Gustave Hervé Gustave Hervé (; Brest, January 2, 1871 – Paris, October 25, 1944) was a French politician. At first, he was a fervent antimilitarist socialist and pacifist, but he later turned to equally zealous ultranationalism, declaring his ''patriotisme' ...

's journal ''La Guerre Sociale''. In 1907, Méric and Henri Fabre created the periodical ''Les Hommes du jour'', illustrated by Aristide Delannoy, which was a great success. They were convicted twice for "insulting the army" and spent one year in prison, where Delannoy died. From 4 June 1910, Méric published the periodical ''La Barricade''. With the outbreak of

(1914–18), despite being pacifist he was mobilized and sent to the front line for four years. Victor Méric was one of the contributors to '' La Voix des femmes'', founded in 1917 by Louise Bodin and

Colette Reynaud Colette Reynaud (1872–1965) was a French feminist, socialist and pacifist journalist. In 1917, she was the co-founder and director of the weekly newspaper '' La Voix des femmes'' (Women's voice). Career Together with Louise Bodin, Reynaud foun ...

. Others included Séverine, Marthe Bigot,

Hélène Brion Hélène Brion (27 January 1882 – 31 August 1962) was a French teacher, feminist, socialist and communist. She was one of the leaders of the French teachers' union. During World War I (1914–18) she was arrested for distributing pacifist propag ...

, Madeleine Pelletier, Magdeleine Marx,

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist. He began his literary career in the 1890s as a Symbolist poet and continued as a neo-Naturalist novelist; i ...

, Léon Werth, Georges Pioch, Georges Yvetôt and Marianne Rauze. The journal covered a broad range of opinions, with a radical left-leaning outlook. It demanded full sexual equality and emancipation. After the war, Méric was enthusiastic about the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. In 1920, he joined the

(PCF) and was elected to the steering committee of ''

L'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...

''. Just after the end of the

Tours Congress The Tours Congress was the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers' International, or SFIO, which took place in Tours on 25–30 December 1920. During the Congress, the majority voted to join the Third International and create ...

of 25–30 December 1920, pacifist intellectuals including Méric, Georges Pioch and others took a position of opposition to all war, including war for the defense of socialism. From 1921, he was opposed to the discipline of the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. In 1923, Méric was expelled from the PCF. Méric then participated in the '' Union socialiste communiste'' (USC: Socialist-Communist Union). In 1931, he launched the pacifist newspaper ''La Patrie Humaine'' and created the ''Ligue internationale des combattants de la paix'' (LICP: International League of Fighters for Peace). Victor Méric died of cancer in Paris on 10 October 1933. He was cremated on 13 October 1933 in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

in Paris.

Work

Victor Méric contributed many articles to journals including ''Le Libertaire'', ''La Guerre Sociale'', ''Les Hommes du jour'', ''La Barricade'', ''La Voix des femmes'', ''

'', ''La Patrie Humaine'' and others. He published several books, including: * ''Le Bétail : pièce antimilitariste en un acte (The Beasts: Anti-militarist piece in one act)'', with Charles Malato, publications de l’Association internationale antimilitariste. * ''Opinions subversives de M. Clemenceau, chef du gouvernement (Subversive Opinions of Mr. Clemenceau, Head of Government)'', Éditions de la Guerre sociale. * ''Lettre à un conscrit (Letter to a conscript )'', publications de l’

, 1904. * ''Le Problème sexuel : libre maternité, fécondité, dépopulation (The Sexual Problem: free motherhood, fertility, depopulation)'', Éditions Génération consciente, 1909. * ''Émile Zola'', 1909 * ''Comment on fera la révolution (How the revolution will be made)'', Petite bibliothèque des Hommes du jour, 1910. * ''À propos de la révolution qui vient (On the Coming Revolution)'', 1921 * ''Le Crime des Vieux (The Crime of the Old)'', novel, Éditions de France. * ''La "Der des Der"" (The Der of the Der)'', novel, Éditions de France. * ''Trois Hommes dans la Révolution (Marat, Camille Desmoulins, Babeuf) (Three Men in the Revolution (Marat, Camille Desmoulins, Babeuf))'' * ''Quatre d'infanterie : front ouest, 1918 (Four infantrymen: Western Front in 1918)'', from German novel ''Vier von der Infanterie'' by Ernst Johannsen, translated with Émile Storz, Éditions de l'Épi, 1929. * ''Les Bandits tragiques (The Tragic Bandits)'', Simon Kra editor, 1926 * ''Les Compagnons de l'Escopette : roman de sac et de corde (The Companions of Escopette: novel of the gallows)'', Éditions de l'Épi, 1930. * ''Jean-Paul Marat'', 1930 * ''À travers la jungle politique et littéraire (Through the political and literary jungle)'', 1930/1931. * ''La Guerre qui revient : fraîche et gazeuse (The War returns: fresh and gassy)'' Éditions Sirius, 1932.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meric, Victor Writers from Marseille 1876 births 1933 deaths 20th-century French journalists 21st-century French journalists French male non-fiction writers French anarchists French communists French socialists