Augustin Frédéric Adolphe Hamon (3 December 1862 – 20 January 1945) was a French socialist-anarchist and later communist editor, translator, and writer on philosophy and
social psychology
Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...
.
Biography
Hamon studied at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris, where he lived until 1904. He was interested in psychology, criminology and politics. He began writing in 1881 and collaborated with various journals on science, sociology, and psychology. His first works, published from 1884 to 1891, were on hygiene; his first political book, co-authored with Georges Bachot, appeared in 1889.
In 1893, he became an anarchist. A disciple of
Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, so ...
, he converted
Fernand Pelloutier to anarchism. Due to the publication of studies on anarchism, he was monitored by the police. In 1894, when President
Sadi Carnot was assassinated, he left France. He returned after a year in England and Scotland. Hamon became a freemason since 1894 and belonged to several lodges. He was also a member of the French Association of Freethinkers.
Hamon founded the anarchist magazine ''
L'Humanité nouvelle
(; ) 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 ...
'' in 1897, and edited it until 1903.
[Augustin Frédéric Adolphe Hamon Papers](_blank)
at IISH
Hamon met
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...
for the first time at a
Fabian Congress in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1894. From 1904 onwards he and his wife Henriette (née Rynenbroeck) translated Shaw's work into French.
Hamon was a proponent of using antisemitism to appeal to a mass audience, arguing in an 1898 interview that "With the petty bourgeois especially, anti-Judaism is the road to Socialism. . .the stage through which the petty bourgeois passes before becoming a Socialist".
During the First World War, not being mobilized, he went into exile with his family in Great Britain and, as a lecturer, gave 13 courses at the University of London. He returned to Brittany and involved in local political struggles.
The electoral victory of the
Popular Front was an opportunity for a resurgence his notoriety, thanks to his stature as an
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
and pacifist political writer. During the war, he participated in the
Resistance on the side of the Communists. After the liberation, 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 ...
, shortly before his death.
His papers are held at the
International Institute of Social History
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
.
[Augustin Hamon Papers]
at IISH
Works
* ''Les hommes et les théories du l'anarchie'', 1893
* ''Psychologie de l'anarchiste-socialiste'', 1895
* ''La psychologie du militaire professionnel'', 1894
* ''Patrie et Internationalisme'', 1896
* ''Un Anarchisme, fraction du socialisme'', 1896
* ''Une enquête sur la guerre et le militarisme'', 1899. Reprinted 1972.
*''The Universal Illusion of Free Will and Criminal Responsibility.'
1899.
* ''The twentieth century
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
: Bernard Shaw'', 1911
* ''The technique of Bernard Shaw's plays'', 1912
* ''Lessons of the world-war'', 1917
References
External links
Anarchist Encyclopedia: Augustin Hamon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamon, Augustin Frederic
1862 births
1945 deaths
English–French translators
French anarchists
French male writers
French Section of the Workers' International politicians
20th-century French philosophers
20th-century French psychologists
Social psychologists
20th-century French journalists
19th-century French journalists
20th-century French translators
19th-century French translators
Communist members of the French Resistance
French anti-fascists
19th-century French social scientists
19th-century psychologists