Edmond Potonié-Pierre

Edmond Potonié (1829–1902), commonly known as Edmond Potonié-Pierre, was a French pacifist.[1]: 31 

Pacifist activism

During the 1850s, Potonié-Pierre was inspired by Richard Cobden's Anti-Corn Law League and aimed to do similar in France.[1]: 31  He learnt German and Italian while travelling around Europe, and developed the liberal economics of his father to make it more socialistic and cooperative.[1]: 31 

During the 1860s, he associated with notable thinkers like John Stuart Mill, Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, Frédéric Passy, and Rudolf Virchow.[1]: 31  After receiving financial support from Henry Richard, Potonié-Pierre founded the Ligue du Bien Public (Public Good League).[1]: 31  The Ligue attacked monopolies and high levels of taxation while advocating individual freedom and organised world peace.[1]: 31–2 

Despite earlier support, Potonié-Pierre disagreed with Passy over his Ligue Internationale et Permanente de la Paix (International and Permanent League of Peace) due to Passy's legalistic approach towards peace and Potonié-Pierre's approach of social justice.[1]: 34 

In 1868, the papers detailing his international contacts were seized by the French police, and their status remains unknown.[1]: 32 

Family

Potonié-Pierre's father was an entrepreneur, a friend of the author Victor Hugo.[1]: 31 

Potonié-Pierre was the partner of Eugénie Potonié-Pierre (née Pierre), the French feminist.[2] They refused to marry, but lived together and took each other's names.[1]: 228  They worked together to free exiled communards, bring women the vote, campaign against poverty, and cut military expenses.[1]: 58 

Selected works
  • Potonié-Pierre, Edmond (1877). La guerre à la guerre (in French).
  • Un Peu Plus Tard. 1893.[1]: 4 
  • Historique du mouvement pacifiste (in French). impr. de Steiger. 1899.

References
  1. Cooper, Sandi E. (1991). Patriotic Pacifism: Waging War on War in Europe, 1815-1914. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199923380.
  2. McMillan, James; Mcmillan, Professor James F. (2002). France and Women, 1789-1914: Gender, Society and Politics. Routledge. ISBN 9781134589579. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
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