Leo Campion (1905-1992).

French anarchist, free thinker & freemason.

Campion moved to Brussels in 1923, & became friends with the anarchist secondhand bookseller & writer Marcel Dieu (& also as Henri, pseudonyms for Hem Day), who initiates him into freemasonry. Secretary of the freethinkers group in Brussels.

In 1933 he & Hem Day returned their military records, to protest a bill prohibiting pacifist propaganda — which earned them resounding & ubuesque lawsuit on July 19, 1933, where Leo Campion ridicules the legal & military authorities. During the same period they provided lodging for the Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti & Francisco Ascaso with whom they developed close friendships.

During the Nazi occupation of WWII, Campion returned to France but, listed as a conscientious objector (CO), he is interned with other antifascists at the camps of Argelès.

Continues his career of chansonnier after his release & also becomes an actor. Actively supports the Anarchist Federation & provided assistance & solidarity to other libertarians in need.

Leo Campion is the author of works of humor, such as Le petit Campion illustré, & books on freemasonry: Le drapeau noir, l'équerre et le compas (The Black Flag, the Square & the Compass), etc.

"Il y eut toujours des anarchistes et ce bien avant que l'anarchisme soit considéré comme attitude individuelle ou comme système politique et social.

— from Le drapeau noir, l'équerre et le compas

Cited in Ephéméride Anarchiste, in French, http://ytak.club.fr/mars1.html#6

Last updated July 2002, March 2004; minor edits April 2006

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