Claude Guillon

Claude Guillon (17 September 1952 – 19 January 2023) was a French writer and philosopher.^[1] A libertarian communist, he advocated for situationist opinions. He gained notoriety in 1982 with the book Suicide, mode d'emploi [fr], which sold over 100,000 copies before being banned.

Claude Guillon
Born	17 September 1952 Paris, France
Died	19 January 2023(2023-01-19) (aged 70)
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Writer Philosopher

Biography

Guillon was born in Paris on 17 September 1952 to an upper-middle-class family. His parents were dental surgeons in the public sector and his grandfather, also named Claude [fr], was a deputy of the National Assembly from 1928 to 1932. He studied at the Lycée de Meudon and graduated in 1970. He was a member of the Revolutionary Anarchist Organization in a small chapter in Meudon. A conscientious objector, he refused his conscription, both military and civil.

In 1977, he became a freelance objector for Libération and was an activist within the "sexual revolution" within the French movement for family planning [fr]. In 1982, he published Suicide, mode d'emploi.

From 1990 to 1994, Guillon was an editor of the magazine Mordicus [fr] alongside Serge Quadruppani [fr]. On 28 August 1996, he was the victim of police violence during a demonstration against the expulsion of undocumented immigrants from Saint-Bernard de la Chapelle.^[2] The following month, he appeared in court for his actions during the protest.^[2]

The year after Guillon's book was published, the Senate adopted a bill against "incitement to suicide", which was passed by the National Assembly in 1987.^[3] The book was mentioned in debates in the National Assembly as an example of what the law intended to prohibit.^[4] In 1991, the book was officially banned in France.^[5] In 1997, he published À la vie, à la mort - Maîtrise de la douleur et droit à la mort, which discussed the denial of pain in children.

Guillon died on 19 January 2023, at the age of 70.^[6]

Publications

• Pour en finir avec Reich (1978)
• Ni vieux ni maîtres, guide à l’usage des 10-18 ans (1979)
• Suicide, mode d’emploi, Histoire, technique, actualité (1982)
• De la révolution : 1989 l'inventaire des rêves et des armes (1988)
• Deux enragés de la Révolution : Leclerc de Lyon et Pauline Léon (1993)
• Gare au TGV ! (1993)
• 42 bonnes raisons pour les femmes de m’éviter (1993)
• Le Spectacle du Monde (1996)
• À la vie à la mort, maîtrise de la douleur et droit à la mort (1997)
• Économie de la misère (1999)
• Le Siège de l’âme, éloge de la sodomie (1999)
• Dommages de guerre (Paris-Pristina-Belgrade-1999) (2000)
• Pièces à conviction. Textes libertaires 1970-2000 (2001)
• Le Droit à la mort, "Suicide, mode d’emploi", ses lecteurs et ses juges (2004)
• Je chante le corps critique (2008)
• Notre patience est à bout, 1792-1793, les écrits des Enragé(e)s (2009)
• La Terrorisation démocratique (2009)
• Comment peut-on être anarchiste ? (2015)
• Abécédaire de la sodomie (2019)

Texts

• La parole à... Joseph Déjacque (2013)^[7]