Talk:Pierre Leroux

The writings of Leroux have no permanent significance in the history of thought
Seems pretty judgemental to me. Says who? How is such an assessment either verifiable or quantifiable? There's nothing like this on the French language page. Helvetius (talk) 13:00, 15 July 2010 (UTC)
 * The line, like much of the entry, is from the 1911 Britannica. Leroux is, alas, largely forgotten in the English-speaking world. Libertatia (talk) 18:09, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

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Some notes that may save frustration for future editors
Main point: Leroux references a work called Histoire due Socialisme which—as far as I can tell after a few hours of research—is more than likely lost, if it was ever written in the first place.

A more thorough summary:

English translations of Leroux's works are few and far between. There is a 2010 translation of "Individualism and Socialism" from Shawn Wilbur on a site called "Libertarian Labyrinth." I've added this resource to the external links section. A footnote by the author from 1850 explains how the word "socialism" took on a new meaning over the following decades.

Wilbur's translation of the footnote: "I can only repeat here, with regard to the use of the word Socialism in all of this extract, what I said previously (pages 121 and 160 of this Volume). When I invented the term Socialism in order to oppose it to the term Individualism, I did not expect that, ten years later, that term would be used to express, in a general fashion, religious Democracy. What I attacked under that name, were the false systems advanced by the alleged disciples of Saint-Simon and by the alleged disciples of Rousseau led astray following Robespierre and Babœuf, without speaking of those who amalgamated at once Saint-Simon and Robespierre with de Maistre and Bonald. I refer the reader to the Histoire du Socialisme (which they will find in one of the following volumes of this edition), contenting myself to protest against those who have taken occasion from this to find me in contradiction with myself. (1850.)"

The full edition Leroux is referencing is simply called "Ouevres de Leroux (1825-1850)," a copy of which was digitized by Google from the Harvard Library. A note in the front of the first volume states that the work is incomplete, with the person who wrote the note stating that it's unclear whether the work was finished as it's so rare. An advertisement in the second volume states that the full collection is three volumes, and the table of contents at the back of the first volume states that the Histoire du Socialisme was intended to be the concluding essay, meaning it would be in the third volume. (<--That sentence is a tragedy sorry).

I poked around on some French library databases for a while, but was not able to find references to copies of the third volume anywhere. However, I did find a 2007 anthology of Leroux's work in French compiled by Bruno Viard. Viard added a footnote at the end of Leroux's reference to Histoire du Socialisme which simply states "Cette œuvre ne verra pas le jour" or "this work will never see the light of day" (per Google translate). It is unclear to me whether this means the third volume as a whole, or the "History of Socialism" in particular.

The etymology of the term "socialism" is obviously of vital importance to world history, so I suspect that I will not be the last person to go down this rabbit hole. Leroux's wording, at least as translated, would imply to me that he had most probably completed the History in 1850. I'm guessing that the turbulence in France in the following years prevented him from publishing the 3rd volume. If this work survives at all (pretty big if), it wasn't available to a French person specifically compiling an anthology of Leroux's work. Treasure hunters beware. The x-phylas (talk) 20:43, 9 February 2023 (UTC)


 * One possibility, with regard to the "Histoire du socialisme," is that the title refers to a series of articles, "Politique et socialisme," which appeared in serial form in Supplément àLa République in late 1849 and early 1850. The item listed before it in the contents for the third volume of Oeuvres, "OCTAVIUS, ou les Socialistes et les Chrétiens," appeared in the same periodical under a slightly different title. Libertatia (talk) Libertatia (talk) 03:52, 23 February 2023 (UTC)