Leroux, Pierre

(1797-1871)

   philosopher, writer, political figure

   Born in Bercy, Pierre Leroux was admitted to the École polytechnique but had to leave his studies there because of financial difficulties. A mason, then typographer, he became a contributor to the newspaper Le Globe (1824) which in great part soon became, because of his influence, the main disseminator of the ideas of henri de saint-simon (Saint-Simonism). Effectively a Saint-Simonian after 1831, Leroux, during the quarrel in that group between PROSPER ENFANTIN and ARMAND BAZARD, took the part of the latter. An apostle of human solidarity, he put forth, in his principal work (De l'Humanité, de son principe et de son avenir, où se trouve exposée la vraie définition de la religion, 1840), the major principles of his religiously oriented socialism. In collaboration with his close friend george sand and Louis Viar-dot, he founded La Revue indépendente (1841). To apply his egalitarian ideas, he created in 1845 a print shop in Boussac (Creuse), where he published La Revue sociale. During the revolution of 1848,he proclaimed the republic from there and was named mayor. Deputy to the Constituent Assembly (1848), reelected to the Legislative Assembly (1849), he took his place with the extreme Left (la Montagne). The coup d'état of December 2, 1851, forced him to seek refuge in England, then on the island of Jersey. Returning to France (1869), he was no longer directly involved in politics. Leroux left several political works, including Sept discours sur la situation actuelle de la société et de l'esprit humain (1841), De l'humanité, solution pacifique du problème du prolétariat (1848), and famous socialist poem, La Grève de Samarez (1863-64).