Jean GRAVE – Set of 7 signed autograph letters.

Jean Grave (1854-1939)

A set of 7 autograph letters signed [to Guillaume Auguste Bordes?]

Six pages in-8° and one page in-4° between 1887 and 1891.

Ink stamps bearing the address of La Révolte , rue Mouffetard in Paris, at the top of the pages. Some splits at the folds and marginal defects.

Remarkable correspondence to a fellow fighter, evoking the great names of the anarchist movement such as Pierre Kropotkine, Louise Michel or Mikhail Bakunin.

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1) [December 1887]. Regarding the lecture given by Kropotkin at the Rivoli Hall [on December 20, 1887, on the French penal system and prisons]: “ The lecture that our friend Kropotkin gave at the Rivoli Hall was, in fact, given for the benefit of a newspaper that some anarchists intend to found , finding that La Révolte does not represent all their desires . Our friend lent them his support, out of solidarity, but he has nothing to do with the creation of the new publication. His contributions remain with La Révolte. I think Louise Michel is better, because I just received a letter from her. I don't know if there are any photographs of LM. As for Kropotkin, there aren't any .”

Attached is a printed leaflet, dated January 1 ^, 1888, indicating that La Révolte could not be published that week due to lack of money and encouraging subscribers to seek new readers, having old copies of the newspaper at their disposal that could be distributed.

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2) [January 16, 1888]. It indicates Kropotkin's address in London and that of Louise Michel, on rue Victor Hugo. "Louise Michel is still on rue Victor Hugo. " Kropotkin's London address is repeated on a tab pasted in the lower margin.

Sentenced to 5 years in prison and 10 years of house arrest in 1883, Kropotkin, the main theorist of the libertarian movement, remained three years in Clairvaux before being released and granted amnesty, drawing from his prison experience a book published in 1887, In Russian and French Prisons (1887) shortly before his move to London.

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3) January 15, 1889. He will forward to Louise Michel a note from his correspondent, specifying Louise Michel's address in Levallois-Perret, and also giving Kropotkin's address. " We will send your note to Louise Michel (...) we will let you know her reply."

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4) [January 30, 1890]. He gives his opinion on the Belgian progressive journal * La Société Nouvelle* , stating, " It's a journal that seems to me less bad than many others ." He indicates that Pottier's book [ *Chants révolutionnaires *, preface by Henri Rochefort] is published by Dentu, then explains that he will note G.A. Bordes's corrected address for a future mailing of his newspaper. He confirms Kropotkin's contact information: "Kropotkin still lives at the same address."

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5) [December 29, 1890]. He will reprint Bordes' address, adding that he does not know Louise Michel's address in London but that she can be contacted through their companion Richard. "Since you insist, I will have your address reprinted. I don't have Louise Michel's address in London."

Having returned from deportation in 1880, Louise Michel became increasingly active in activism until her arrest in 1890, due to her participation in the May Day workers' demonstration ⁱⁿ Vienne (Isère). Once released, she left for England in the summer of 1890.

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6) [February 5, 1891]. He had a special edition copy of Bakunin's portrait sent [by the painter and engraver William Barbotin, contributor to the libertarian press and author of numerous portraits of socialist and anarchist activists].

" We had to send you a copy of the portrait of Bakunin (...) The printer has not yet delivered the etching depicting the Chicago execution. As soon as I have it, I will send it to you. The cost of this one will be 1.50."

In 1887, eight anarchists were hanged in Chicago following the May Day demonstrations ⁱⁿ the United States, during which a bomb thrown into police ranks caused a massacre. In 1893, the innocence of the condemned men was proven, and they were posthumously exonerated.

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7) [February 25, 1891]. " I forwarded your letter to Mr. Barbottin [sic] who instructed me to tell you that the engraving of a portrait like that of Bakunin generally cost 400 francs , and that printing it cost from 12 francs [...] to very expensive, depending on the paper used ."

It was in 1883 that Jean Grave took over the editorship of Le Révolté, founded by Pierre Kropotkine and Élisée Reclus. In 1887, the newspaper was convicted for organizing an unauthorized lottery and changed its name to avoid the fine, becoming La Révolte, a communist-anarchist publication. It appeared under this title until 1894, after which Grave continued his publishing activities with Les Temps nouveaux .

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We are enclosing an autograph letter from the anarchist activist Guillaume Auguste Bordes to his comrade Alexandre [Roy]. One octavo page, with his address in London at the top of the sheet.

Adding a few lines to a letter from their friend Louise Michel, he asked his comrade to circulate a subscription list in his region in support of La Tribune Libre : " we intend to make as much noise as we can for May ^1st . [...] Since La Tribune Libre is the newspaper of all comrades, we appeal to all those who wish to collaborate, to give the individual and collective push that must bring down the current societies, and put in their place, a new, humanitarian society where equality and justice will reign, based on the absolute freedom of all sensible beings ."

It was following the large-scale American workers' demonstrations organized on May 1 ^, 1886 – a date that then corresponded to the first day of the fiscal year for businesses – that the idea of ​​an annual day of protest arose in Europe. In France, the first May Day ^{demonstration} took place in 1890 to demand the eight-hour workday. In 1891, the second "workers' day" led to violent repression, as in Fourmies, in the North, where a shooting left about ten demonstrators dead.

An anarchist activist, G.A. Bordes (born in 1853), sought refuge in London in the late 1880s. He was a contributor to * La Tribune libre *, an "international socialist-revolutionary-anarchist organ" which published four issues, from November 1890 to July 1891. Returning to Paris around 1895, he signed some articles in *Le Libertaire * with the pseudonym "Sedrob," before being forced into exile once again in London. Jean Grave, in his memoirs * Quarante ans de propagande anarchiste* (Forty Years of Anarchist Propaganda ), seems to suspect him of having been an agent of the Paris Police Prefecture.