Victor d'Hupay
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Victor d'Hupay | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Victor d'Hupay (ca.1790) | |
| Born | 1746 |
| Died | 1818 (Aged 72) |
| Nationality | French |
Joseph Alexandre Victor d'Hupay(1746–1818) was a French writer and philosopher. He is known for being perhaps the first writer to use the termcommunismin its modern sense.[1]He wished to transform the ideals of the Enlightenment philosophers into practice.[1]
Life and works
[edit]In 1746 Victor d'Hupay was born into anaristocraticfamily in the village ofLa Tour-d'Aiguesin theLuberon,Provence.
d'Hupay began writing his first texts on therural economywhen he was seventeen. He believed agriculture to be the basis of wealth, and followed thephysiocratmovement that advocated an economy based upon it just asMarquis de Mirabeaudid.
He followed the example of Baron de La Tour-d'Aigues, who was interested in land development and had one of the largest libraries of the time on this subject. d'Hupay challenged the display of wealth of Bruny, and other barons, because he, as a follower ofRousseau,wanted a simpler more rural life away from the tumult of cities. He read Enlightenment philosophers, and wished to put their ideas into action.
In 1770, he bought thebastideof Puget inFuveau,thus acquiring his rights as a nobleman. During his life, Victor d'Hupay divided his time between La Tour-d'Aigues,Aix-en-Provenceand the neighbouring village of Fuveau, to the south ofMontagne Sainte-Victoire.The restored family bastide in Fuveau was run according to his principles. Once his country house in Fuveau was restored, he published his first book,Projet de communauté philosophe,which advocated the idea of living in a sort ofcommune.In the book, he told how he wanted to gather in his new home a circle of friends for a life in community.
In 1785, he defined himself as a communist author – a word that had existed since the twelfth century to designate certain forms of pooling of goods – in the sense of a supporter of the community of goods. Around this time, just before theFrench Revolution,he was referred to as acommunistin a book review byRestif de la Bretonne;according to some sources, this was the first time that the word "communism" was used in print in its modern sense.
During the Revolution, Victor d'Hupay became enthusiastic about new ideas. He corresponded with Mirabeau andBernardin de Saint-Pierre.He presented several projects of national education and models of government to the National Assembly, and militated for the suppression of marriage, which he saw as a form of property owning. Despite his commitment to the revolution, he was imprisoned under theTerrorand his house was looted. He wrote a little under the Empire and died at Fuveau in 1818, at the age of seventy-two.
References
[edit]- ^ab"Victor d'Hupay".Colonial Sense.
- Grandjonc, Jacques (1983),"Quelques dates à propos des termes communiste et communisme",Mots,7(1): 143–148,doi:10.3406/mots.1983.1122
External links
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