Eliska Vincent
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Eliska Vincent (née Eliska Girard 1841–1914) was a
Utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
and
militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
in France. She argued that women had lost civil rights that existed in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, and these should be restored. In the late 1880s and 1890s she was one of the most influential of the Parisian feminists. She created extensive archives on the feminist movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but these have been lost.


Early years

Eliska Girard was born in Mézières, Eure-et-Loir, in 1841. Her father was an artisan. He was imprisoned for his participation as a Republican in the
French Revolution of 1848 The French Revolution of 1848 (), also known as the February Revolution (), was a period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the French Second Republic. It sparked t ...
. She joined the ''Société pour la Revendication du Droit des Femmes'' (Society for claiming women's rights), which first met in 1866 at André Léo's house. Other members were
Maria Deraismes Maria Deraismes (17 August 1828 – 6 February 1894) was a French author, Freemason, and major pioneering force for women's rights. Biography Born in Paris, Maria Deraismes grew up in Pontoise in the city's northwest outskirts. From a pr ...
,
Paule Mink Paule Mink (born Adèle Paulina Mekarska; November 9, 1839 – April 28, 1901) was a French feminist and socialist revolutionary of Polish descent. She participated in the Paris Commune and in the First International. Her pseudonym is also sometim ...
,
Louise Michel Louise Michel (; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905) was a teacher and prominent figure during the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she began to embrace anarchism, and upon her return to France she emerged as an im ...
,
Élie Reclus Élie Reclus (; July 16, 1827 – February 11, 1904) was a French ethnographer and anarchist. Biography Élie Reclus was the oldest of five brothers, born to a Protestant minister and his wife. His middle three brothers, including the well know ...
and
Caroline de Barrau Caroline de Barrau (1828–1888) was a wealthy French educationalist, feminist, author and philanthropist. She became interested in the education of girls, created a school in Paris where her daughter was taught, and encouraged her daughter and ot ...
. The members had a range of views, but agreed to work on the common goal of improving education of girls. Vincent was also a Utopian socialist. She supported the
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...
in 1871, and was almost executed for her role. In 1878 Eliska Vincent was a delegate to a worker's congress.


Feminist leader

In 1888 Eliska Vincent formed the feminist group ''Egalité de Asnières'', named after the suburb in which she lived. The small but influential group never had more than one hundred members. She also founded the journal ''L'Egalité'' that year.
Hubertine Auclert Hubertine Auclert (; 10 April 1848 – 4 August 1914) was a leading French feminist and a campaigner for women's suffrage. Early life Born in the Allier '' département'' in the Auvergne area of France into a middle-class family, Hubertine Aucl ...
, the overall feminist leader in Paris, left for Algeria in 1888. Vincent took the lead in Paris with her group. With a moderate and relatively uncontroversial program, she gained support for the movement from middle-class women. In the first women's rights congress, held in 1889, as representative for ''Egalité'' she made the proposal that women should participate in local charity boards, which won general support. In January 1892
Eugénie Potonié-Pierre Eugénie Potonié-Pierre (5 November 1844 – 12 June 1898 Paris) was a French feminist who founded the Federation of French Feminist Societies in 1892. She joined the Society for the Amelioration of Women's Condition with Léon Richer and Ma ...
brought together eight feminist groups in Paris into the ''
Fédération Française des Sociétés Féministes The ''Fédération Française des Sociétés Féministes'' (French Federation of Feminist Societies) was a short-lived French organization founded in 1891. Foundation The Federation was announced in November 1891. Eugénie Potonié-Pierre brough ...
'' (French Federation of Feminist Societies). The Federation's secretary
Aline Valette Aline Valette (née Alphonsine Goudeman (5 October 1850 – 21 March 1899) was a French feminist and socialist. She believed that society should provide support to women engaged in motherhood, the most important of all occupations. Early years A ...
founded the weekly tabloid ''L'Harmonie sociale'' which first appeared on 15 October 1892 as a means of making contact with working women to understand their concerns. The masthead had the socialist message: "The emancipation of women is in emancipated labor". However, the contributors to the journal, who included Eliska Vincent,
Marie Bonnevial Marie Bonnevial (28 June 1841 - 4 December 1918) was a French teacher and women's rights activist. She became Grand Mistress of the Supreme Council of Le Droit Humain. Early years Marie Bonnevial was born on 28 June 1841 in Rive-de-Gier, Loire, t ...
and
Marya Chéliga-Loevy Marya Chéliga-Loevy (or Maria Szeliga, 1854 – 2 January 1927) was a Polish writer, playwright, feminist and pacifist. She was born in Poland but spent much of her life in France. Early years Mirecka Szeliga was born into a prosperous family o ...
, were more interested in feminism than socialism. Eliska Vincent wanted to restore women's rights that she felt had existed during the Middle Ages. She was among the advocates of women's suffrage who pointed out that in earlier days, when the right to vote was tied to ownership of landed property, it had been common for women to vote. On 4 April 1893 Vincent was among a group of women who formed a lodge in the Masonic tradition headed by
Maria Deraismes Maria Deraismes (17 August 1828 – 6 February 1894) was a French author, Freemason, and major pioneering force for women's rights. Biography Born in Paris, Maria Deraismes grew up in Pontoise in the city's northwest outskirts. From a pr ...
as Grand Master, ''
Le Droit Humain The International Order of Freemasonry ''Le Droit Humain'' is a global Masonic order, membership of which is available to men and women on equal terms, regardless of nationality, religion or ethnicity. This practice is known as Co-Freemasonry ...
'' (Human Right). The other founders included
Maria Martin Maria (/mɝˈaɪə/ mah-RYE-uh) Martin Bachman (3 July 1796 – 27 December 1863) of Charleston, South Carolina, was an American watercolor Painting, painter and Technical illustration, scientific illustrator. She contributed many of the b ...
and
Clémence Royer Clémence Royer (21 April 1830 – 6 February 1902) was a self-taught French scholar who lectured and wrote on economics, philosophy, science and feminism. She is best known for her controversial 1862 French translation of Charles Darwin's ' ...
. On 5 September 1895 Marie Bonnevial founded the second lodge in Lyon, and other lodges were soon founded in other locations in France.


Later years

Eliska Vincent resigned from ''Egalité'' in 1900 when it allied itself with the larger
National Council of French Women The National Council of French Women (, CNFF) is a society formed in 1901 to promote women's rights. The first members were mainly prosperous women who believed in using non-violent means to obtain rights by presenting the justice of the cause. Iss ...
. When she was widowed she inherited land in
Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine (; literally "Audoin (bishop), St. Audoin on Seine") is a Communes of France, commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. It is part of the Seine-Saint-Denis Department ...
in Paris, giving her a secure income with which she helped promote women's rights and the rights of workers. She was an active member of the French Syndicalists, a trade union group that believed the working classes should be active in forcing social change. In 1909 Vincent accepted the position of honorary vice-president of the ''
Union française pour le suffrage des femmes The French Union for Women's Suffrage (UFSF: ) was a French feminist organization formed in 1909 that fought for the right of women to vote, which was eventually granted in 1945. The Union took a moderate approach, advocating staged introduction o ...
'' (UFSF – French Union for Women's Suffrage).
Cécile Brunschvicg Cécile Brunschvicg (), born Cécile Kahn (19 July 1877 in Enghien-les-Bains – 5 October 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine), was a French feminist politician. From the 1920s until her death she was regarded as "the ''grande dame'' of the feminist move ...
(1877–1946) was secretary-general of the UFSF and
Jeanne Schmahl Jeanne Elizabeth Schmahl (née Archer; 1846–1915) was a French feminist, born in Britain. She married a well-off husband who supported her while she worked as a midwife's assistant in Paris. She decided to avoid politics and religion and to fo ...
(1846–1916) was president. Eliska Vincent died in 1914. Her death and that of Hubertine Auclert, the two most prominent feminist leaders in France, combined with the disruption of
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 ...
(1914-1918), dealt a severe if temporary blow to the feminist movement. Millions of people died during the war. A 1919 article proclaimed in its title, "France has more need of children than of electors."


Lost legacy

According to Klejman and Rochefort Vincent created ''le féminisme historique'', although "
Léopold Lacour Léopold Lacour (9 February 1854 – 1939) was an influential French teacher, sociologist, writer and feminist. Biography Léopold Lacour was born in 1854. He attended the ''École Normale Supérieure'' and graduated with distinction. He then ta ...
is without a doubt the first to undertake an historian's examination of feminism." Vincent was the first archivist of the feminist movement, and collected a huge library, including files on the
communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards we ...
. On her death in 1914 she bequeathed the collection to the ''
Musée social The ''Musée social'' () was a private French institution founded in 1894. In the early twentieth century it became an important center of research into topics such as city planning, social housing and labor organization. For many years it played ...
'' (Social museum) in the hope that it would organize a feminist institute. The museum created a section for women's studies in 1916, but despite the efforts of Vincent's executors,
Marguerite Durand Marguerite Durand (24 January 1864 – 16 March 1936) was a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette. She founded her own newspaper, and ran for election. She is also known for having a pet lion. The Bibliothèque Margueri ...
and
Maria Vérone Maria Vérone (1874–1938) was a French feminist and suffragist. A free-thinker, she was the president of the ''Ligue Française pour le Droit des Femmes'' (French League for Women's Rights) or LFDF, from 1919 to 1938. Life Vérone was born on ...
, the museum did not accept the archives. The legacy, estimated to include 600,000 documents, was rejected in 1919. The reason was the cost of paying off outstanding tax debts. Vincent's collection has disappeared and was probably destroyed.


References


Sources

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