Georges Vincey (died February 1960 aged approximately 60) was a French metal worker and militant

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. In October 1954 he became the first administrator of the newly reinvented Monde libertaire, a monthly publication produced on behalf of the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

based Anarchist Federation.

Life

At the end of the

First World War 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 ...

Vincey, then a metal worker (''"ouvrier serrurier"'') joined a group called "Jeunesses syndicalistes" ''("Young Trades Unionists")''. Through the

individualist anarchist Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist currents that generally emphasize the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individuali ...

ideas then current, he later found himself in sympathy with what was becoming the Libertarian Movement. His robust intellect rapidly came to focus on the economic problems of the post-war years. The Anarcho communist Georges Fontenis would later describe Vincy's philosophy at this time as that of a " Stirnerian individualist". Directly after his death in 1960 Vincey was reported as having often described himself to

Émile Armand E. Armand (March 26, 1872 – February 19, 1963), pseudonym of Ernest-Lucien Juin, was an influential French individualist anarchist at the beginning of the 20th century and also a dedicated free love/polyamory, intentional community, and pacifi ...

as "an individualist adherent of the organisation founded on the responsibility of the free individual, within a group structure determined by collective agreement, to organise without any constraints the work he has accepted". He became aligned with the Anarchist Union (''"l’Union anarchiste"'') and then, from 1936, with the Anarchist Federation of the French-speaking world (''"la Fédération anarchiste de langue française"''). Following the German invasion of May/June 1940 he took part in clandestine meetings which enabled the anarchists of Paris to maintain contact. After the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

Georges Vincey was one of those who re-established the French Anarchist Federation. Others included Robert Joulin, Henri Bouyé, Georges Fontenis, ,

Renée Lamberet Renée Lamberet (4 October 1901 – 12 March 1980) was a French people, French anarchist historian. Biography Lamberet was born in Paris into a family of free thinkers. As a young professor of history and geography, she collaborated with the his ...

Maurice Joyeux Maurice Joyeux (29 January 1910 – 9 December 1991) was a French writer and anarchist. He first was a mechanic then a bookseller, he is a remarkable figure in the French Libertarianism Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosop ...

, and

Paul Lapeyre Paul Lapeyre (28 May 1901 – 2 May 1991) was a militant anarchist, anarcho-syndicalist and free-thinker. Biography Provenance and early years Paul Lapeyre was born in Monguilhem (Gers), a (very) small town in southwestern France. His father ...

, Maurice Fayolle,

Maurice Laisant Maurice Laissant (11 March 1909 – 29 September 1991) Began his career working for the French national railway company before taking a job as a sales representative. He became progressively more widely known as a militant anarchist individual ...

, Giliana Berneri, Solange Dumont,

Roger Caron Roger "Mad Dog" Caron (April 12, 1938 – April 11, 2012) was a Canadian robber and the author of the influential prison memoir '' Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars'' (1978). At the time of publishing, Caron was 39 years old and had spent ...

, Henri Oriol and Paul Chery. Between 25 and 27 December 1945 he took part in the founding congress of the French Anarchist Federation, applying the idea of

Synthesis anarchism Synthesis anarchism, also known as united anarchism, is an organisational principle that seeks unity in diversity, aiming to bring together anarchists of different tendencies into a single federation. Developed mainly by the Russian anarchist V ...

, and made up of excluded groups and former militants who had left the old fractured and more narrowly focused

groupings in response to practices by those groupings deemed gratuitously authoritarian. Basic principals were drawn up for the new Federation to maximise the numbers while embracing a disparate range of anarchist views. This was challenging, as the instigator of the reconstituted Anarchist Federation,

found himself obliged to compromise with

individualist anarchists Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist currents that generally emphasize the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individuali ...

such as Vincey. The outcome was an operational approach that Joyeux described as "impossible": requiring decisions to be unanimous had the effect of giving every member a power of veto over the Federation's direction. In October 1954 Georges Vincey was appointed administrator of the anarchist movement's collectively produced journal, the Monde libertaire. He would retain these responsibilities till forced out by his illness in May 1959.

Evaluation

The historian Cédric Guérin writes that Georges Vincey was :"... famously an individualist ... but not a fierce opponent of the organisation. On the contrary, he backed an appropriately structured organisation, which may explain his support for the "Synthesis" Anarchist Federation after 1953. A good orator, he was one of those who advocated oral propaganda ... . If, in the judgement of

, the

individualist anarchism Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hi ...

of Vincey was the anarchism of a powerful personality, Joyeux nevertheless stressed in his own memoirs the important role that individualists like Vincey could perform, especially when conferring total respect on the fundamental principals of the anarchist philosophy".''« Individualiste notoire, Georges Vincey n’était pas pour autant un farouche adversaire de l’organisation ; au contraire, il était partisan d’une organisation assez structurée, ce qui peut expliquer son adhésion à l’organisation synthésiste de 1953. Bon orateur, il était un de ceux qui préconisait la propagande orale, notamment à Marseille. Si selon Maurice Joyeux l’individualisme anarchiste de Vincey était un anarchisme de forte personnalité, il n’oublie pas dans ses mémoires de souligner le rôle important que peuvent jouer des individualistes tel Vincey, notamment en louant leurs respect total des principes fondamentaux de la philosophie anarchiste. » ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vincey, Georges French anarchists Individualist anarchists 1960 deaths Members of the French Anarchist Federation