In 1955 he hit the headlines when he was convicted for printing a poster condemning the war in
Indo-China and the writer
Albert Camus publicly came to his defence.[2]
Life
Provenance and early years
Maurice Laisant came from a political family. His grandfather was the radical
Deputy for
Nantes,
Charles-Ange Laisant. Maurice and his younger brother Charles Laisant
[3] inherited their libertarian beliefs from their parents.
He was initiated into the
Free Masons in 1926, joining the "Concordia" lodge of the
Grand Orient de France. Normal minimum age requirements were waived because his father was already a member. However, his father died shortly afterwards, on 28 November 1928, and he was required to quit. Despite this unhappy experience he would later defend the Masons from criticism, notably among any fellow anarchists hostile to free masonry.[4]
He joined the Young Pacifists' Union (Union des Jeunesses pacifistes de France /UJPF) in 1935. In 1939 he began working on
Le Libertaire, the weekly newspaper which at this time was published by the "Anarchist Union".
Co-founder of the Anarchist federation
After the
Second World War ended in May 1945 Maurice Laisant was one of a number of individuals who co-founded, in December 1945, the
Anarchist Federation. The co-founders also included Robert Joulin,
Maurice Fayolle,
Maurice Joyeux,
Roger Caron and
Henri Bouyé. In 1946 he started to work with
Louis Louvet on the anti-militarist weekly publication,
"Ce qu'il faut dire" ("What needs to be said") [
fr]. He attended the first congress of the "General Pacifist Federation" (Confédération générale pacifiste / CGP), held in Paris in November 1946, participating as a member of the propaganda commission.
Laisant frequently intervened in support of
conscientious objectors even where his personal position on conscientious objection was more nuanced.
Maurice Rajsfus recalled a debate on fundamentals within the
Anarchist Federation in which Maurice Laisant, while inviting discussion, nevertheless set forth his own point of view with great coherence:
"What is conscientious objection if it is not the refusal of a man to bend himself to laws and current customs? In every age and place there has been conscientious objection, individually or in groups, of man against the established order .... I have never advocated conscientious objection, because I judge that it can only be a personal matter, and not something that can ever be judged by anyone other than the individual directly affected: I also should not wish to impose on others a path that I have not myself had the courage to pursue."[5][6]
Following fragmentation within the
Anarchist Federation Maurice Laisant was one of those who set about reconstructing the group in 1953, in the process becoming one of its leading members. In 1956, together with
Maurice Joyeux, he joined the editorial committee of
Le Monde libertaire, the Federation's (by now monthly) magazine.
At the start of the 1950s he was a member of "Free Forces for Peace" ("Forces Libres de la Paix"), becoming the group's propaganda secretary in 1952.
The poster affair
In October 1954 Laisant faced charges following the publication of a forceful poster calling for the ending of
hostilities in Indo-China. The poster failed to include the requisite legal notice, and it had been printed on white paper.[7] In February 1955 he was condemned by a Paris court and required to pay a large fine.[8] One of those who spoke up for Laisant at his trial was
Albert Camus, already an influential supporter of French liberal traditions.[2][9]
Camus told the court:
"I got to know Camus in a meeting where we joined together to call for the freedom of men condemned to death in a neighbouring country. Since then I have on various occasions had to admire his willingness to struggle against the scourge that menaces humanity. I find it impossible that anyone could ever condemn a man whose actions are so completely aligned with the interests of every other person. People prepared to stand up against a danger to humanity that grows more terriuble every day are too rare".[10][11][12][13]
Camus was clearly impressed by the activism of Maurice Laisant.[14]
Later years
In June 1957, at their congress in
Nantes, Laisant was appointed Secretary General of the
Anarchist Federation, a post he would continue to hold till 1975.
In May 1978, after the
Ris-Orangis congress at which the
Anarchist Federation recognised the class struggle, he took issue with the federation for its drift towards Marxism. With various other groups out of sympathy with this trend, he launched a new edition of
Le Libertaire, publication of which had lapsed a few years earlier. It was on the basis of this latest split that in November 1979 he was among the founders of the
Union of Anarchists: he remained a member till he died.
^« Qu'est-ce que l'objection de conscience, sinon le refus d'un homme de se plier aux lois, aux usages ayant cours. Dans tous les domaines, et dans tous les temps, il y eut objection de conscience, individuelle ou collective, des hommes devant l'ordre établi. .... Je n'ai jamais prôné l'objection de conscience, estimant que ce ne pouvait être qu'un acte personnel que nul autre n'a à juger que l'intéressé, par surcroît parce que j'aurais assez mauvaise posture pour engager des hommes dans une voie que je n'ai pas eu moi-même le courage de suivre »
^Maurice Laisant (October 1954).
"Les Forces Libres de la Paix". Comme légalement rien, dans le texte, ne pouvait être poursuivi, le chef d’accusation se réfère à une loi du 29 juillet 1881, tombée en désuétude, et par laquelle l’usage du papier blanc est interdit pour toute affiche, quelle que soit la couleur de l’encre employée. Fédération internationale des centres d’études et de documentation libertaires (Archives du Monde libertaire (1954-2009)). Retrieved 9 August 2015.
^Édouard Jourdain. L'anarchisme. La Découverte, coll. reprinted, 2013. p. 100.
^" J'ai connu Laisant dans un meeting où nous réclamions ensemble la libération d'hommes condamnés à mort dans un pays voisin. Depuis. je l'ai parfois revu et j'ai pu admirer sa volonté de lutter contre le fléau qui menace le genre humain. Il me semble impossible que l'on puisse condamner un homme dont l'action s'identifie si complètement avec l'intérêt de tous les autres hommes. Trop rares sont ceux qui se lèvent contre un danger chaque jour plus terrible pour l'humanité."
^Herbert R. Lottman (1985). Albert Camus. Editions du Seuil, (digitalised University of California 2011).
ISBN978-2020086929.