From 1892 until the major arrests of anarchists in 1894, there existed
in Montreuil-sous-Bois (Seine) a small "Anarchist Commune", founded on
the principles established by the great theorists of the libertarian
movement, Pierre Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus. Little known, we only find
traces of it in rare writings of the time, which evoke it as an
exemplary attempt at anarchist communism. ---- Vaux, Aiglemont,
Méry-sur-Oise... From anarchist community attempts, a rich history of
free circles from the very beginning of the 20th century has essentially
come down to us. So many attempts to return to nature led by anarchists
of the individualist movement for whom the social revolution was no
longer to be hoped for. What is the point of transforming society? The
important thing is the emancipation of oneself, for oneself, here and
now. But the first of these tests was forgotten. Because at the end of
the 19th century, companions with ideas far removed from individualism
were already giving shape, in Montreuil-sous-Bois, to a completely
different project.
The cabinetmaker Méreaux
At the origins of the history of the Anarchist Commune of Montreuil lies
that of the activist who is its center of gravity: Émile Méreaux. This
discreet cabinetmaker from Charonne is little known; he is remembered as
the one who managed Le Révolté when in 1885 the Geneva newspaper was
brought to Paris by Jean Grave. Never far from the notorious anarchist
editor, Méreaux appears on numerous occasions in the latter's
memoirs[1]. "Fair, wise mind, thoughtful rather than brilliant
intelligence"[2], he is a grassroots activist whose rich career goes
under the radar, with nothing being written under his name. However, all
his life, he was a tireless and relentless propagandist for the cause,
"convinced to the point of fanaticism"[3]of libertarian theories.
In the 1880s, he was already very active in an anarchist party that was
then in full development. Like many of his political comrades, he
regularly calls for agitation within meetings. This ardor turned into a
"reflective revolutionism"[4]following the two years in prison served in
Poissy for having fired on agents leaving a meeting of Louise Michel,
boulevard Ménilmontant in Paris. Released in 1890, he became more
temperate but his revolutionary aspirations did not cease: applying the
ideas of the theorists of the movement, developed in the papers
published by his friend Jean Grave, became the new direction given to
his efforts.
Life and death of the commune
From April 1891, a few companions from eastern Paris met every week at
his home, rue Armand-Carrel in Montreuil. The social revolution must
come, but for them it is not a matter of one big evening; anarchism is
still young, we must first establish its ideas. To the "negative
current" of revolutionary propaganda, that of the struggle, must be
added a "positive current", which must first "demonstrate what the
future society will be"[5]; the one which will be proof in action,
"through production, through anarchist exchange, of the superiority of
our economy over the current political and bourgeois economy"[6]. At the
end of 1892, the group gave itself a name, the "Anarchist Commune" and
set itself an objective, "the putting into practice of anarchic
communist ideas"[7].
Rue Armand Carel
The project is launched. The companions begin by organizing themselves
around a cabinetmaking workshop, where they meet after work to produce
furniture, without pay. Everyone is free to take one, but priority must
be given to the most pressing needs; it is the taking from the heap,
without estimation of value - that defended by Kropotkin in The Conquest
of Bread[8], published the same year.
The business is going well but it is becoming necessary to expand. A
call is launched for other companions to join them, grouping themselves
by professional corporation. For their work to last in the long term,
the commune workers know that the riches of the earth are essential to
them - "bread", in other words Kropotkin would have said. Priority are
therefore the artisans whose know-how would be useful to the anarchist
peasants of the surrounding communes, whom we would help free of charge
from the plowing of February 1893. This project did not come to fruition
but the call was heard: in March, the town is enriched by the presence
of painters, shoemakers, housewives, diggers, masons. There is not
enough information to reconstruct the rest of the story. Only scattered
testimonies make it possible to estimate the subsequent developments of
the experience; one comes from one of its founders, Lucien Guérineau:
"It was above all a place of example of libertarian-communism and mutual
aid in useful things. At work everyone helped out in the evenings after
work with the boss. There we mended each other's shoes, we improvised as
shoemakers, carpenters, cabinetmakers, tinsmiths, mattress makers, etc.
for making benches, tables, sewing machine covers, for tinning spoons,
soldering holes in saucepans, etc. There was no remuneration for the
work, it was taken from the pile for the needs of the things necessary
for each person and the family. Every week a conference took place on
technical, scientific and sociological subjects.»[9]
According to Guérineau, Reclus visited them, making a strong impression
on the companions. He is "charmed with innovation"[10]. So much so that
nearly two hundred local residents signed a petition to demand the
release of the companions following their arrest, without success. The
Commune, the work of grassroots activists, was not large enough to be
evoked in more than a handful of writings. When Reclus and Grave, trying
to describe "the anarchic ideal" or "the future society"[11], stumble
over the fact of having to provide an example, it is the Montreuille
experience that they cite. Despite its short existence, has it not
achieved the objective it had set for itself, of having given a few
companions a glimpse of what the society of tomorrow could be? The only
vestige left to posterity: La Clairière, a 1900 play by Maurice Donnay
and Lucien Descaves, describing the life and death of a small
libertarian colony. The Commune of Montreuil gave Descaves, according to
his own words, "the setting, the decor and the scenario"[12], but also
the characters, inspired by the group of communiers he met in 1899;
"ardent and thoughtful, a man of thought and action"[13], Méreaux
recognizes himself in Rouffeu, the main protagonist.
Cover of the Glade
In 1903, the play gave its nickname to the Clairière de Vaux, a free
environment supported among others by Reclus, Donnay and Descaves. In
Vaux, it seems that people were unaware that the name was linked to a
small suburban town, a decade earlier... whose ambitions were eminently
more political.
Elie Oriol, Museum of Living History, Montreuil
To validate
[1]Jean Grave, The libertarian movement under the Third Republic, 1930.
[2]Dr Durand, "The cabinetmaker Méreaux and the "Workers' Evenings" of
Montreuil", Bulletin of the Society of Friends of Old Montreuil, no. 6,
July 1939.
[3]Charles Malato, From the Commune to Anarchy, 1894.
[4]Charles Malato, "Memoirs of a Libertarian - From Paris to Paris via
London", Le Peuple, January 4, 1938.
[5]La Révolte, no. 14, December 17, 1892.
[6]La Révolte, no. 11, November 26, 1892.
[7]La Révolte, no 9, November 12, 1892.
[8]Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread, 1892.
[9]Letter from Lucien Guérineau to Max Nettlau dated January 1, 1928,
International Institute of Social History, Nettlau papers, ARCH01001.2839.
[10]Ibid.]and only expresses his fear that the authorities, seeing the
Commune expanding, will launch its repressive arsenal against it. Time
proves him right. At the end of 1893, anarchist terror worried. The
attacks multiplied, and when Auguste Vaillant's bomb exploded in the
National Assembly on December 9, 1893, the immediate response was the
vote for "villainous laws" a few days later. From January 1, 1894,
hundreds of anarchists were arrested, including the communists who were
imprisoned for several months without trial. The Anarchist Commune of
Montreuil ends like this. However, the adventure of Méreaux and his
companions continues. In 1895, they gathered again to form a mutual
teaching group which subsequently became the Soirées Ouvrières de
Montreuil, dean of the Popular Universities movement.
A play and then what?
The Commune had a local influence. According to Daniel Halévy, "the
propaganda was continuous and simple, neighbors led neighbors and things
went as desired"[[Daniel Halévy, Essays on the Labor Movement in France,
1901.
[11]Élisée Reclus, Evolution, revolution and the anarchic ideal, 1902;
Jean Grave, Future society, 1895.
[12]André Gaucher, "Our interviews - Among the authors of La Clairière",
La Presse, April 13, 1900.
[13]Lucien Descaves, "The Congress of the U.P.», Le Journal, May 22, 1904.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Il-y-a-cent-trente-ans-La-Commune-anarchiste-de-Montreuil
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
in Montreuil-sous-Bois (Seine) a small "Anarchist Commune", founded on
the principles established by the great theorists of the libertarian
movement, Pierre Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus. Little known, we only find
traces of it in rare writings of the time, which evoke it as an
exemplary attempt at anarchist communism. ---- Vaux, Aiglemont,
Méry-sur-Oise... From anarchist community attempts, a rich history of
free circles from the very beginning of the 20th century has essentially
come down to us. So many attempts to return to nature led by anarchists
of the individualist movement for whom the social revolution was no
longer to be hoped for. What is the point of transforming society? The
important thing is the emancipation of oneself, for oneself, here and
now. But the first of these tests was forgotten. Because at the end of
the 19th century, companions with ideas far removed from individualism
were already giving shape, in Montreuil-sous-Bois, to a completely
different project.
The cabinetmaker Méreaux
At the origins of the history of the Anarchist Commune of Montreuil lies
that of the activist who is its center of gravity: Émile Méreaux. This
discreet cabinetmaker from Charonne is little known; he is remembered as
the one who managed Le Révolté when in 1885 the Geneva newspaper was
brought to Paris by Jean Grave. Never far from the notorious anarchist
editor, Méreaux appears on numerous occasions in the latter's
memoirs[1]. "Fair, wise mind, thoughtful rather than brilliant
intelligence"[2], he is a grassroots activist whose rich career goes
under the radar, with nothing being written under his name. However, all
his life, he was a tireless and relentless propagandist for the cause,
"convinced to the point of fanaticism"[3]of libertarian theories.
In the 1880s, he was already very active in an anarchist party that was
then in full development. Like many of his political comrades, he
regularly calls for agitation within meetings. This ardor turned into a
"reflective revolutionism"[4]following the two years in prison served in
Poissy for having fired on agents leaving a meeting of Louise Michel,
boulevard Ménilmontant in Paris. Released in 1890, he became more
temperate but his revolutionary aspirations did not cease: applying the
ideas of the theorists of the movement, developed in the papers
published by his friend Jean Grave, became the new direction given to
his efforts.
Life and death of the commune
From April 1891, a few companions from eastern Paris met every week at
his home, rue Armand-Carrel in Montreuil. The social revolution must
come, but for them it is not a matter of one big evening; anarchism is
still young, we must first establish its ideas. To the "negative
current" of revolutionary propaganda, that of the struggle, must be
added a "positive current", which must first "demonstrate what the
future society will be"[5]; the one which will be proof in action,
"through production, through anarchist exchange, of the superiority of
our economy over the current political and bourgeois economy"[6]. At the
end of 1892, the group gave itself a name, the "Anarchist Commune" and
set itself an objective, "the putting into practice of anarchic
communist ideas"[7].
Rue Armand Carel
The project is launched. The companions begin by organizing themselves
around a cabinetmaking workshop, where they meet after work to produce
furniture, without pay. Everyone is free to take one, but priority must
be given to the most pressing needs; it is the taking from the heap,
without estimation of value - that defended by Kropotkin in The Conquest
of Bread[8], published the same year.
The business is going well but it is becoming necessary to expand. A
call is launched for other companions to join them, grouping themselves
by professional corporation. For their work to last in the long term,
the commune workers know that the riches of the earth are essential to
them - "bread", in other words Kropotkin would have said. Priority are
therefore the artisans whose know-how would be useful to the anarchist
peasants of the surrounding communes, whom we would help free of charge
from the plowing of February 1893. This project did not come to fruition
but the call was heard: in March, the town is enriched by the presence
of painters, shoemakers, housewives, diggers, masons. There is not
enough information to reconstruct the rest of the story. Only scattered
testimonies make it possible to estimate the subsequent developments of
the experience; one comes from one of its founders, Lucien Guérineau:
"It was above all a place of example of libertarian-communism and mutual
aid in useful things. At work everyone helped out in the evenings after
work with the boss. There we mended each other's shoes, we improvised as
shoemakers, carpenters, cabinetmakers, tinsmiths, mattress makers, etc.
for making benches, tables, sewing machine covers, for tinning spoons,
soldering holes in saucepans, etc. There was no remuneration for the
work, it was taken from the pile for the needs of the things necessary
for each person and the family. Every week a conference took place on
technical, scientific and sociological subjects.»[9]
According to Guérineau, Reclus visited them, making a strong impression
on the companions. He is "charmed with innovation"[10]. So much so that
nearly two hundred local residents signed a petition to demand the
release of the companions following their arrest, without success. The
Commune, the work of grassroots activists, was not large enough to be
evoked in more than a handful of writings. When Reclus and Grave, trying
to describe "the anarchic ideal" or "the future society"[11], stumble
over the fact of having to provide an example, it is the Montreuille
experience that they cite. Despite its short existence, has it not
achieved the objective it had set for itself, of having given a few
companions a glimpse of what the society of tomorrow could be? The only
vestige left to posterity: La Clairière, a 1900 play by Maurice Donnay
and Lucien Descaves, describing the life and death of a small
libertarian colony. The Commune of Montreuil gave Descaves, according to
his own words, "the setting, the decor and the scenario"[12], but also
the characters, inspired by the group of communiers he met in 1899;
"ardent and thoughtful, a man of thought and action"[13], Méreaux
recognizes himself in Rouffeu, the main protagonist.
Cover of the Glade
In 1903, the play gave its nickname to the Clairière de Vaux, a free
environment supported among others by Reclus, Donnay and Descaves. In
Vaux, it seems that people were unaware that the name was linked to a
small suburban town, a decade earlier... whose ambitions were eminently
more political.
Elie Oriol, Museum of Living History, Montreuil
To validate
[1]Jean Grave, The libertarian movement under the Third Republic, 1930.
[2]Dr Durand, "The cabinetmaker Méreaux and the "Workers' Evenings" of
Montreuil", Bulletin of the Society of Friends of Old Montreuil, no. 6,
July 1939.
[3]Charles Malato, From the Commune to Anarchy, 1894.
[4]Charles Malato, "Memoirs of a Libertarian - From Paris to Paris via
London", Le Peuple, January 4, 1938.
[5]La Révolte, no. 14, December 17, 1892.
[6]La Révolte, no. 11, November 26, 1892.
[7]La Révolte, no 9, November 12, 1892.
[8]Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread, 1892.
[9]Letter from Lucien Guérineau to Max Nettlau dated January 1, 1928,
International Institute of Social History, Nettlau papers, ARCH01001.2839.
[10]Ibid.]and only expresses his fear that the authorities, seeing the
Commune expanding, will launch its repressive arsenal against it. Time
proves him right. At the end of 1893, anarchist terror worried. The
attacks multiplied, and when Auguste Vaillant's bomb exploded in the
National Assembly on December 9, 1893, the immediate response was the
vote for "villainous laws" a few days later. From January 1, 1894,
hundreds of anarchists were arrested, including the communists who were
imprisoned for several months without trial. The Anarchist Commune of
Montreuil ends like this. However, the adventure of Méreaux and his
companions continues. In 1895, they gathered again to form a mutual
teaching group which subsequently became the Soirées Ouvrières de
Montreuil, dean of the Popular Universities movement.
A play and then what?
The Commune had a local influence. According to Daniel Halévy, "the
propaganda was continuous and simple, neighbors led neighbors and things
went as desired"[[Daniel Halévy, Essays on the Labor Movement in France,
1901.
[11]Élisée Reclus, Evolution, revolution and the anarchic ideal, 1902;
Jean Grave, Future society, 1895.
[12]André Gaucher, "Our interviews - Among the authors of La Clairière",
La Presse, April 13, 1900.
[13]Lucien Descaves, "The Congress of the U.P.», Le Journal, May 22, 1904.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Il-y-a-cent-trente-ans-La-Commune-anarchiste-de-Montreuil
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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