Antoine Perrare

Antoine Perrare was born on 24 January 1841, in Saint-Didier-sur-Beaujeu, in the Rhône department.^[1][2]

Perrare was known as a skilled worker and lived in Lyon from at least the 1860s to the 1870s, on Rue Bougeaud.^[1][2] He also ran a wine shop in Lyon which, according to the police, was frequented exclusively by revolutionaries.^[2] In 1871, he became a notable figure in the Commune of Lyon and a member of its provisional commission, being a delegate in charge of doing the link between the population and the commission.^[1][2] After the Commune's destruction by the French state, he managed to escape to Geneva to avoid repression and joined the First International (IWA) in its central Geneva section, which was then Marxist.^[2] Perrare was subsequently sentenced in absentia by a military court to deportation to a fortified prison in September 1871.^[1][2]

Following the schism of the First International (1872) between anarchists on one side and Marxists on the other, Perrare joined the Anti-authoritarian International, the anarchist organization that succeeded the First International.^[1][2]

He joined alongside Paul Brousse and Charles Alerini, and all three spoke at its sixth congress in September 1873.^[1][2] Among other things, he argued that the organization should be reserved for manual workers, proposing an amendment to the second article of the statutes.^[1][2] While the proposed statutes stated that any person could be admitted under the responsibility of the local section, he requested that the organization be reserved for manual workers.^[1][2][3]

This position was criticized by the anarchist James Guillaume as an 'attack against intelligence' but in reality reflected a fear of bourgeois infiltration into anarchist bodies at a time of rupture with the Marxists, who were accused of this.^[3] He stated:

If you leave the bourgeoisie and workers in contact within the International, it will only be to the detriment of the latter, because the bourgeoisie, being more educated, will acquire a certain influence in the sections that will always be bad for the manual worker.^[3]

In the years that followed, Perrare continued his anarchist activism within the Anti-authoritarian International.^[1][2] In 1876, he was a member of the L'Avenir ('The Future') group in Geneva, which Max Nettlau considers to be the first to defend anarcho-communism.^[2] In 1881, he spoke with Peter Kropotkin—a major theorist of this tendency of anarchism—to commemorate the assassination of Alexander II.^[1][2]

Perrare initially refused the amnesty offered to former Communards and remained in Geneva, where he was connected to Jean Grave and the presses of La Révolte, the newspaper run by Kropotkin and Grave.^[2] He belonged to the propaganda section of the Anti-authoritarian International and ran a mechanics workshop where he only hired political refugees fleeing France.^[2]

In 1889, however, Antoine Perrare was expelled from Geneva for participating in a meeting of deserters.^[2] He then returned to France, settling first in Lyon and later in Paris.^[2] In Paris, Perrare opened a mechanical construction workshop, but it burned down in 1890.^[2] He then moved to Meurthe-et-Moselle, where a member of the Reclus family helped him find a job.^[2] In 1892, he likely participated in meetings of the International Anarchist Circle in Paris.^[2]

The anarchist continued his activism, speaking at numerous meetings.^[1][2] The French authorities noted him as a fervent supporter of propaganda by the deed.^[1][2] Perrare later moved to Nice, where he set up a bicycle shop. He died there on 5 March 1912.^[1][2][4]

During his lifetime, Perrare was nicknamed 'Chicago' in the anarchist circles in which he was involved.^[2]

After his death, both Le Libertaire and Les Temps Nouveaux paid tribute to him.^[1][2] Both publications emphasized Perrare's unwavering commitment, presenting him as one of the rare anarchists who never betrayed his ideas and remained an anarchist until his death.^[1][2] The tribute article in Les Temps Nouveaux was signed by his former companion, Jean Grave.^[1][2] Max Nettlau considered him one of the first anarcho-communists.^[1][2]

His police mugshot is part of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET).^[5]