1. Zo d'Axa was a sort of Socialist condottieri, a dandy, a rake, and a natural adventurer.
10 Facts About Zo d'Axa
1. 2.
Zo d'Axa spent the next few years being pursued from one country to the next by the police, before taking advantage of the general amnesty and returning to France.
3.
At this point, having led "a most disreputable life", and being an agitator by temperament, Zo d'Axa gravitated towards the anarchist movement.
4.
Zo d'Axa founded the famous anarchist newspaper L'EnDehors in May 1891 in which numerous contributors such as Jean Grave, Louise Michel, Sebastien Faure, Octave Mirbeau, Tristan Bernard and Emile Verhaeren developed libertarian ideas.
5.
D'Axa and L'EnDehors rapidly became the target of the authorities after attacks by Ravachol and Zo d'Axa was arrested, charged with 'association to commit crimes' and kept in Mazas Prison.
6.
Zo d'Axa was again arrested in Jaffa, and transferred to Sainte-Pelagie Prison, Paris, where he spent 18 months before his release in july 1894.
7.
Zo d'Axa died from suicide in 1930, burning most of his papers the previous night.
8.
An individualist and aesthete, Zo d'Axa justified the use of violence as an anarchist, seeing propaganda of the deed as akin to works of art.
9.
Zo d'Axa expressed contempt for the masses and hatred for their rulers.
10.
Zo d'Axa was an important anarchist interpreter of the philosophy of individualist anarchist Max Stirner, defender of Alfred Dreyfus during the Dreyfus affair and opponent of prisons and penitentiaries.