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Joseph Déjacque

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Joseph Déjacque was a French political journalist and poet. He was also a professional house painter. Born in 1821, he grew up in Faubourg Saint-Antoine. His mother worked as a washerwoman to pay for his education.

Honoré Daumier - The Uprising (L'Emeute) - Google Art Project
Honoré Daumier - The Uprising (L'Emeute) - Google Art Project

During his youth, he witnessed the July Revolution of 1830. He later joined the French Navy in 1841. However, he disliked the strict military discipline and sea hierarchy. He eventually became a self-employed house painter in Paris by 1847. During this time, he taught himself to write "social poetry."

Déjacque became deeply involved in the French Revolution of 1848. This revolution removed the July Monarchy and created the French Second Republic. He participated in the movement and joined socialist feminist circles. These groups were led by Jeanne Deroin and Pauline Roland.

Red flag II
Red flag II

After the revolution, many workers faced poverty and unemployment. The government created National Workshops to provide jobs for Parisians. Déjacque enrolled in this program on 10 May 1848. However, the government soon closed the workshops. This led to the June Days uprising, where Déjacque fought on the barricades. He was arrested and imprisoned in Cherbourg.

Political repression increased under the presidency of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. The government banned socialist clubs and suppressed freedom of association. Déjacque was released from prison in March 1849. In 1851, he published a collection of poems titled *Les Lazaréenes*. The government charged him with incitement due to his anti-authoritarian themes. He was sentenced to two years in prison. To avoid further trouble, he fled into exile. He traveled through Brussels and reached London.

BlackFlagSymbol
BlackFlagSymbol

In London, Déjacque lived in poverty in the Soho district. He was often disappointed by the behavior of other exiled republican leaders. He criticized leaders for focusing on their own social privileges. He also felt a lack of connection between different political factions. By 1853, he moved to the island of Jersey. There, he wrote an essay called "The Revolutionary Question." His radical outbursts caused him to become isolated from other French exiles. This isolation eventually led him to emigrate to the United States in 1854.

Déjacque arrived in New York City and worked as a painter again. He became an organizer for French radical emigrés. In February 1855, he helped establish the International Association. This group included British Chartists, German communists, and American radicals.

Libertarianism-groups-diagram
Libertarianism-groups-diagram

He later moved to New Orleans to continue his activism. In this city, he advocated for the abolition of slavery. He believed a social revolution could create a post-racial America. He also defended gender equality in his writings. During this time, he coined the political definition of the word "libertarian" (French: *libertaire*). He used the term as a synonym for "anarchist."

After failing to find a publisher in New Orleans, he returned to New York. He lived in poverty and solicited donations to fund his work. In June 1858, he established the newspaper *Le Libertaire*. This was the first non-English-language anarchist newspaper in the United States.

Le libertaire 25
Le libertaire 25

Through this paper, he published his utopian fiction novel, *L'humanisphère*. The novel is set in the year 2858. It describes a society without government or religion. In this world, individuals govern themselves and participate in all group decisions.

Déjacque's ideas were a forerunner of anarchist communism. He argued for a radical form of communism that rejected authoritarian models. He believed in a world where humanity was truly equal regardless of sex or race. He died in obscurity in France during the mid-1860s. Today, his work is significant for its early definitions of freedom and equality. He remains a key figure in the history of radical political thought.

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File:Honoré Daumier - The Uprising (L'Emeute) - Google Art Project.jpg
Honoré Daumier - The Uprising (L'Emeute)...
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John Brown portrait, 1859.png
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Benjamin Tucker.jpg
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Karl Marx, May 1861.jpg
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