Louis Lecoin
| Louis Lecoin | |
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| Born | 30 September 1888 Saint-Amand-Montrond, Cher, France |
| Died | 23 June 1971 (aged 82) |
Louis Lecoin (30 September 1888 – 23 June 1971) was a French anarcho-pacifist. He was at the center of the foundation of the Union pacifiste de France.
Louis Lecoin was born into a very poor family in Saint-Amand-Montrond in the Cher département. His parents were illiterate (he himself did not gain any qualification beyond the basic certificat d'études). He became a proof-reader at a printing press after having tried out being a manual labourer, gardener, cement worker and a beggar. He had a life partnership with a worker for the PTT, Marie Morand, which lasted until her death in 1958. Over the course of his life he edited several publications: Ce qu’il faut dire, Le Libertaire, Défense de l’Homme and Liberté.
He spent twelve years of his life in prison for his ideas. In October 1910, a young recruit, he received the order with his regiment to break a railway workers' strike. He refused, which got him 6 months in prison. Demobilized in 1912, he went to Paris and, having made contact with anarchist circles, he became secretary of the Fédération anarchiste communiste.
During World War I, he was called before a military court for insubordination on the 18 December 1917. He was sentenced to 5 years of military prison as well as 18 months of prison for disturbing public order, without being given the opportunity to defend himself.
In 1921, at the congress of the CGT in Lille, faced with strong-arm threats from the leadership, he fired his revolver in the air so that the revolutionary syndicalists could express themselves.
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