Gabriel Giroud

French anarchist militant and néo-Malthusian propagandis. Giroud suffered from pleurisy and typhoid fever whilst still in school and their after affects would affected him throughout his life. After leaving the École Normale at the age of twenty, he became the editor of the short-lived 'L'unpatriotic' (Paris, 2 issues in July 1891), whose motto was "Ni Dieu, ni maître! Fais ce que veux!". An adherent of the thought and action of Paul Robin, Giroud was a lifelong activist and propagandist, in speech and writing, of integrated education and néo-Malthusianism in France and abroad, in England and to New York where he went after the First World War. He collaborated on a number of Robin's publications: 'L'Education Intégrale' (1903-04), paper of the Ligue pour la défense de l'enfant, and 'Régénération' (1900-08). He then continued his activities on Jeanne and Eugène Humbert's newspaper 'Génération consciente' (1908-1914), and participates on Albert Gros' review 'Le Malthusien' (1908-1920), the magazine 'L'Ecole Renovated' (Brussels, 1908-1909) and on Lorulot's 'L'Idée libre'. In 1914, when WWI broke out, he joined the "union sacrée" and was in favour of 'armed pacifism but, after loosing his son in the fighting, abandoned the position. In 1916, he published 'Le Néo-Malthusien' but it was banned, as were its successors 'La Grande Question' and the 'Néo-Malthusisme' (only 4 copies of which would appear during the war). In 1918, he joined the opponents of the war in the newspaper 'La Plèbe'.

The 'Néo-Malthusisme' reappeared in March 1919, with twenty issued published up til July 1920. He was later involved in campaigning against laws prohibiting the advertising of contraceptives, worker on 'La Grande Réforme' (1931-39), published by Jeanne and Eugène Humbert, and paticipated on Sébastien Faure's 'L'Encyclopédie Anarchiste'. His wife Lucie dies on November 28, 1942, and after WWII, he participated in the relaunch of 'Le Libertaire' and Louis Louvet's 'Ce Qu'il Faut Dire'. He also wrote a number of books and pamphlets, including: 'La Loi de Malthus. Exposé et réponse aux objections' (The Law of Malthus. Presentation and response to objections; 1904); 'Néo-malthusianisme et socialisme. Controverse avec Alfred Naquet' (Neo-Malthusianism and socialism. Discussion with Alfred Naquet; 1910); 'La Vasectomie: Stérilisation de l'homme' (Vasectomy: Male Sterilisation; 1913); 'Moyens d'éviter la grossesse' (Ways to avoid pregnancy; 1908); etc. Gabriel Giroud died in Paris of a heart attack on September 16, 1945.