Victor d'Hupay

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Victor d'Hupay
Portrait of Victor d'Hupay (ca.1790)
Born	1746 La Tour-d'Aigues, Provence, France
Died	1818 (Aged 72) Fuveau, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Nationality	French

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 term communism in its modern sense.^[1] He wished to transform the ideals of the Enlightenment philosophers into practice.^[1]

Life and works

In 1746 Victor d'Hupay was born into an aristocratic family in the village of La Tour-d'Aigues in the Luberon, Provence.

d'Hupay began writing his first texts on the

He followed the example 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 a follower of Rousseau, 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 the

In 1785, he defined himself as a communist author - a word that has existed since the twelfth century to designate certain forms of pooling of goods - in the sense of a supporter of the community of goods. Around this time, just before the

During the Revolution, Victor d'Hupay became enthusiastic about new ideas. He corresponded with Mirabeau and

• Grandjonc, Jacques (1983), "Quelques dates à propos des termes communiste et communisme", Mots, 7 (1): 143–148,
  doi:10.3406/mots.1983.1122

• Website devoted to Victor d'Hupay