Sébastien Faure

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Sébastien Faure was a French anarchist (January 6, 1858 (Saint-Etienne) - July 14, 1942 (Royan)).

Before becoming a free-thinker, he was a seminarist. He engaged in politics and became a member of the socialist working party, but eventually turned to anarchism in 1888.

In 1894, he was prosecuted in "The lawsuit of the Thirty" ("Procès des trente"), but was acquitted. In 1895, he cofounded "Le Libertaire" with Louise Michel, taking the name of the earlier journal by Joseph Déjacque. At the time of the Dreyfus affair, he was one of the leading supporters of Alfred Dreyfus. In 1904, he created a libertarian school called "La Ruche" ("The Hive") close to Rambouillet. In 1916, he launched the periodical "Ce qu'il faut dire". Faure also co-founded (with Voline) the Synthesis.

In 1918, he was imprisoned for organizing an illegal meeting. He is recognized for his pedagogy and his qualities as a speaker, and is the author of several books:

The universal pain (1895)
My Communism (1921)
The Forces Of The Revolution (1921)
Religious imposture (1923)
Subversive remarks
Twelve Proofs of God's Inexistence (PDF) (1908)

He was also the founder of the Anarchist Encyclopaedia, as well as the namesake of the Sébastien Faure Century, the French-speaking contingent of the Durruti Column.