Autographed letter signed to a contributor to Le Figaro.
Important letter from Zola accelerating his campaign in support of Alfred Dreyfus and launching the publication of his pamphlet " The Dreyfus Affair, a letter to the youth ".
Sold
Émile ZOLA (1840.1902)
Autographed letter signed to a contributor to Le Figaro.
One and a quarter pages in-8°. Paris. December 13, 1897.
An important letter from Zola accelerating his campaign in support of Alfred Dreyfus and launching the publication of his pamphlet " The Dreyfus Affair, a Letter to Youth ." The writer is determined: Truth is on the march.
"My dear colleague, here is the short note that Mr. de Rodays kindly promised to publish. I find it necessary for Le Figaro, and for myself. I am also sending you a proof of the pamphlet. See if it would be appropriate and useful for an extract to accompany the note. I am not asking for anything ; I simply wish you to act in our common interests. Furthermore, I will try to come and shake your hand this evening. Yours sincerely, Emile Zola."
At the end of 1897, Zola, outraged by the injustice of the nationalist press, decided to write several articles in Le Figaro in support of the Dreyfusard movement. The first, entitled " Mr. Scheurer-Kestner ," appeared on November 25, 1897. At the end of this text, the prophetic phrase, the rallying cry of the Dreyfusards, was proclaimed for the first time: " Truth is on the march and nothing will stop it ." During December, Zola continued his fight through another channel: the distribution of pamphlets, thus appealing not just to the readers of a single newspaper but to the entire French population. The first of these pamphlets (mentioned here) was published on December 14, 1897, by Fasquelle, and titled " The Dreyfus Affair, a Letter to Youth ." On January 13, 1898, Zola would give the Dreyfus Affair yet another dimension. Outraged by Esterhazy's acquittal three days earlier, the author decided to make a statement and published a six-column front-page article L'Aurore J'accuse ".
Emile ZOLA. Letter to Youth. O youth, youth! I implore you, think of the great task that awaits you. You are the future builders; you will lay the foundations of this coming century, which, we firmly believe, will resolve the problems of truth and equity posed by the century drawing to a close. We, the old, the elders, leave you the formidable mass of our research, many contradictions and obscurities perhaps, but certainly the most passionate effort that any century has made toward the light, the most honest and solid documents, and the very foundations of this vast edifice of science that you must continue to build for your honor and your happiness. And we ask only that you be even more generous, more free-spirited, that you surpass us with your love of life lived normally, with your wholehearted dedication to your work, this fruitfulness of humankind and the earth that will finally bring forth the overflowing harvest of joy, under the radiant sun. And we will fraternally yield our place to you, happy to disappear and rest from our share of the task accomplished, in the peaceful sleep of death, knowing that you continue us and fulfill our dreams.
Youth, youth! Remember the suffering your fathers endured, the terrible battles they had to fight to win the freedom you enjoy now. If you feel independent, if you can come and go as you please, say what you think in the press, have an opinion and express it publicly, it is because your fathers gave their intelligence and their blood. You were not born under tyranny; you do not know what it is like to wake up every morning with a master's boot on your chest; you did not fight to escape the dictator's sword, the false scales of the corrupt judge. Thank your fathers, and do not commit the crime of applauding lies, of campaigning with brute force, the intolerance of fanatics, and the voracity of the ambitious. Dictatorship awaits. Youth, youth! Always stand with justice. If the idea of justice were to become clouded within you, you would be heading for all sorts of dangers. And I'm not talking about the justice of our legal codes, which is merely the guarantee of social bonds.
Certainly, it must be respected, but there is a higher notion: justice, which posits as a principle that all human judgment is fallible and which admits the possible innocence of a condemned person, without believing it insults the judges. Is this not an adventure that should ignite your burning passion for the law? Who will rise up to demand that justice be done, if not you, who are not involved in our struggles of interests and personalities, who are not yet implicated or compromised in any shady affair, who can speak out, in all purity and good faith?
Youth, youth! Be humane, be generous. Even if we are mistaken, stand with us when we say that an innocent person is suffering an unimaginable punishment and that our outraged hearts break with anguish. Admit for a single moment the possibility of error in the face of such an excessive punishment, and our chests tighten, tears stream from our eyes. Certainly, the prison guards remain unmoved, but you, you who still weep, who must be moved by all suffering, by all pity! How can you not dream this chivalrous dream, if somewhere there is a martyr succumbing to hatred, of defending his cause and freeing him? Who, if not you, will attempt this sublime adventure, embark on a dangerous and magnificent cause, stand up to a people, in the name of ideal justice? And aren't you ashamed, finally, that it's the elders, the old people who are passionate, who are doing your work of generous folly today?
Where are you going, young people, where are you going, students, who throng the streets, demonstrating, throwing into the midst of our discord the bravery and hope of our twenty years? "We are going towards humanity, towards truth, towards justice!".