Zo d'Axa

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Portrait of Constant Montald , 1891
Zo d'Axa drawn by Jules Alexandre Grün . Published in La Plume 1893
“De Mazas à Jérusalem” - cover picture of the first edition 1895

Alphonse Gallaud de la Pérouse , according to some sources Alphonse Galland , called Zo d'Axa (born May 24, 1864 in Paris , † August 30, 1930 in Marseille ) was an anarchist , anti-militarist, author and satirical journalist. He was the founder of the magazines "L'Endehors" and "La Feuille" .

Life

Zo d'Axa was born into a middle-class, wealthy Catholic family. He was the son of a high railroad official from Orléans . His grandfather was milk supplier for the imperial prince and was descended from the navigator Jean-François de La Pérouse . His sister Marie, disguised as a man for several years, crossed Tibet and wrote a history of Buddhism.

After studying at the Lycée Chaptal, Zo d'axa got involved in a cuirassier regiment with the "Chasseur d'Afrique" (African field hunters) of the French colonial forces, from where he quickly deserted after becoming the wife of a superior officer had seduced. As a refugee in Brussels he worked for the magazine Nouvelles du jour (German: news of the day) and some right-wing magazines and for some time became secretary at the theaters of Alcazar and Eden. After the publication of a poetic essay entitled Au Galop (German: Im Galopp), he left Brussels with the daughter of a pharmacist. He went to Italy, where he traveled from Turin, Florence and Naples to Rome, where he frequented the Villa Medici , where he met the painters Scipione Vannutelli and Cesare Biseo, among others, and sat as a model for them. During this time he worked as an art critic for the magazine L'Italie .

The amnesty of 1889 enabled Zo d'Axa to return to France. At this time he entered the libertarian milieu, although his individualism led him to reject the label anarchist . In May 1891 he founded the magazine Endehors (German: outside), a weekly magazine, the title of which summarized his thoughts. From Endehors 91 issues were published until 1893; the title was taken up again in 1922 by Émile Armand . The magazine's staff were not all anarchists, and among them were Tristan Bernard , Georges Darien , Lucien Descaves , Sébastien Faure , Félix Fénéon , Bernard Lazare , Errico Malatesta , Charles Malato , Louise Michel, and Octave Mirbeau . In an atmosphere of factual propaganda and assassinations, L'En dehors was quickly targeted by the authorities and was subjected to searches, persecutions and arrests. D'Axa, Louis Matha and Lecoq were ultimately convicted.

After Ravachol and his comrades were arrested, d'Axa started a subscription for the prisoners' children and gave money to the families, which led to his own arrest for "joining a fraternity". Secretly incarcerated in Mazas Prison , without the right to visit family members or a lawyer, he refused to be interrogated or to sign any documents. When he was released on withdrawal at the end of the month, he explained ironically: “ Our poor freedom, always only on withdrawal! "

After his release, Zo d'Axa increased its publishing activities. Because of an article by Jules Méry, which was considered an insult to the army, d'Axa suffered renewed persecution and went to London, where he was Charles Malato, Louise Michel - who knew his grandfather - Georges Darien, Émile Pouget and the painters Maximilien Luce , Camille Pissarro and James Whistler met. He then went to the Netherlands and Germany with a troupe of traveling musicians, where he lived briefly with woodcutters from the Black Forest.

He then went to Milan, where a trial against anarchists was taking place. In the middle of the night he was seized and expelled from Italy along with other anarchists. After organizing a revolt on board the ship, the ship went to Greece, where he visited Athens and slept in the ruins of the Parthenon . He then went to Constantinople , where he was briefly arrested, and then went to Jaffa in January 1893 . He was arrested there too and observed for a few weeks. He fled to the consulate of Great Britain, but was nevertheless embarked on the boat La Gironde to be handed over to the French authorities in Marseille. There he spent a few days in prison as a prisoner under local law. Spent to Paris, he spent eighteen months in Sainte-Pélagie prison as a political prisoner, where he declined the opportunity to sign a pardon.

Zo d'Axa was released in July 1894. He then published De Mazas à Jérusalem , which he had written while in custody, and received excellent reviews. Despite this success, he was in great debt, his newspaper was dead, and his collaborators were scattered. So he stopped all public activities until the Dreyfus Affair . He became a Dreyfus follower because of the principle of justice and in order to oppose the army, although he was not sympathetic to Dreyfus: “ If this gentleman was not a traitor, he was a captain; Swam over it. “He founded a new magazine, La Feuille (German: Das Blatt), where he wrote the essential texts, which were illustrated by Steinlen , Luce, Anquetin , Willette and Hermann-Paul , among others .

Until 1899, Zo d'Axa published various anti-militarist and anti-capitalist articles in La Feuille . He launched a campaign against child prisons. In the elections, La Feuille chose a donkey as the official candidate; while he was being taken for a walk through Paris, he caused a scandal. On the day of the ballot, Zo allowed himself to be pulled through the city by a tank pulled by the white donkey, followed by a large, laughing crowd. The police appeared and wanted to put an end to the demonstration and bring the donkey to the shelter, whereupon a riot broke out and Zo d'Axa the donkey with the words “ This is no longer important, this is now an official candidate! “Released.

All of these activities resulted in fatigue. From 1900 he went again to Great Britain and Canada, Mexico and Brazil, China, Japan and India. From all these countries he sent articles that reflected his thirst for justice. In the United States, he, for example, visited the widow of Gaetano Brescis , the Italian King Umberto I was killed.

Back in France, he lived on a barge near Marseille, where he led a bored life, pessimistic about human nature, and decided on August 30, 1930 to put an end to it.

Publications

Web links

Commons : Zo d'Axa  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Axa, Zo d '
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pérouse, Alphonse Gallaud de la
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author and anarchist
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1930
Place of death Marseille