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Victor d'Hupay | |
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.png) Portrait of Victor d'Hupay (ca.1790) | |
| Born | 1746 |
| Died | 1818 (Aged 72) |
Joseph Alexandre Victor d'Hupay (1746–1818) was a French writer and philosopher. He is known for being perhaps the first writer to use the termcommunism in its modern sense.[1] He wished to transform the ideals of theEnlightenment philosophers into practice.[1]
In 1746 Victor d'Hupay was born into anaristocratic family in the village ofLa Tour-d'Aigues in theLuberon,Provence.
d'Hupay began writing his first texts concerning therural economy when he was seventeen years old. He believed agriculture to be the basis of wealth, and endorsed thephysiocrats that advocated an economy based upon it just asMarquis de Mirabeau did.
He approved of Baron de La Tour-d'Aigues, who was interested in land development and had one of the largest libraries of the time on this subject. d'Hupay challenged the display of wealth of Bruny, and other barons, because he, as an advocate ofRousseau, wanted a simpler more rural life away from the tumult of cities. He read Enlightenment philosophers, and wished to put their ideas into action.
In 1770, he bought thebastide of Puget inFuveau, thus acquiring his rights as a nobleman. During his life, Victor d'Hupay divided his time between La Tour-d'Aigues,Aix-en-Provence and the neighbouring village of Fuveau, to the south ofMontagne Sainte-Victoire. The restored family bastide in Fuveau was run according to his principles. Once his country house in Fuveau was restored, he published his first book,Projet de communauté philosophe, which promoted the idea of living in a sort ofcommune. In the book, he told how he wanted to gather in his new home a group of friends for a life in community.
In 1785, he defined himself as a communist author[2] – a word that had existed since the twelfth century to designate certain forms of pooling of goods – in the sense of an advocate of the community of goods. About this time, just before theFrench Revolution, he was referred to as acommunist in a book review byRestif de la Bretonne; according to some sources, this was the first time that the word "communism" was used in print in its modern sense.
During the Revolution, Victor d'Hupay became enthusiastic about some new ideas. He corresponded with Mirabeau andBernardin de Saint-Pierre. He presented several projects of national education and models of government to the National Assembly, and militated for the abolition of marriage, which he saw as a form of property owning. Despite his commitment to the revolution, he was imprisoned during theTerror and his house was looted. He wrote a little during the Empire and died at Fuveau in 1818, at the age of seventy-two.
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