A Grand Publishing Adventure ---- A discreet man, René Lefeuvre, yet a key figure in the social and political struggles of a significant part of the 20th century in France. He founded the journal Masses, and also the Spartacus publishing house and Cahiers. Having passed away in 1988, he wanted his writings to endure and created the Friends of Spartacus association in 1979. Daniel Guerrier, its last president, whom we interviewed on our program "Au fil des pages" on Radio Libertaire, is co-organizing the transfer of the collection with our friends at Syllepse publishers. They are the ones reissuing titles such as Idealism and Materialism in the Conception of History by Jean Jaurès, The Kronstadt Commune by Ida Mett, and Class War in Spain by Camillo Berneri... Visit their website. A follower of Rosa Luxemburg's ideas and a member of the left wing of the SFIO (French Section of the Workers' International), René Lefeuvre, through his publications, brought together numerous thinkers from various left-wing currents, from the most moderate to the most radical. He certainly deserved a biography written by Denis Heudré and published by Syllepse.
René Lefeuvre was born on August 20, 1902, in Livré-sur-Changeon, into a family of stonemasons. His aspiration? To leave for the capital, the Paris of ideas and revolutions. He became involved in the Revolutionary Left, a component of the SFIO, alongside Marceau Pivert, Daniel Guérin, and Colette Audry. He participated in the campaign for Victor Serge's release. Founded in 1936, Spartacus publishers publicly supported Republican Spain by publishing "To the Rescue of Spain" by Jean Prader.
A prisoner during World War II, he resumed his activist and publishing activities in the postwar atmosphere. In 1946, he opposed Stalinism by publishing *Communist Politics: Line and Turning Points*. The Stalinist dictatorship and its crimes were known, but the communists refused to acknowledge it. As early as 1948, he denounced the situation in Algeria by publishing *Algeria in a Dead End* by Sylvain Wisner, a work with prescient content.
He settled in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, with his books. "His library is a kind of intellectual cocoon where he draws inspiration, turns of phrase, a wealth of material for reflection. This attachment is well known to all lovers of words, and sometimes borders on addiction."
After 1968, he was able to openly express his homosexuality; the Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action and the journal *Arcadie* gave voice to the movement. The Spartacus notebooks helped to disseminate a different kind of socialism than that of the Stalinists. Early on, he became concerned about the Holocaust denial perpetrated by the La Vieille Taupe bookstore. His work publishing texts from various currents within the socialist movement extended to more recent struggles, such as the evolution of Poland and the Solidarity trade union, with Charles Reeve's *Solidarity in Chains: For an Interpretation of the Struggles in Poland*.
After his death, his writings were preserved. His archives were thus housed at La Contemporaine (formerly the BDIC) in Nanterre. And as mentioned above, Syllepse continues the publishing work begun in 1936. "There is no doubt that, at his level as a publisher, by contributing to the political and societal debates of that era,[René Lefeuvre]attempted to broaden minds."
* Denis Heudré
The True Story of a Little Guy Who Came to Paris to Make a Revolution
Ed. Syllepse, 2026
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8918
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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