MikeDunnAuthor on Nostr: Today in Writing History May 22, 1880: Victor Hugo died. Hugo wrote poetry, novels ...

Today in Writing History May 22, 1880: Victor Hugo died. Hugo wrote poetry, novels and drama over the course of sixty years. His most famous works include Les Miserables (1862) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831). Though he was a conservative early in his life, he broke with the conservatives in 1848, calling for the end of misery and poverty. He also supported universal suffrage and free education for all children. Additionally, he was known worldwide for his advocacy to abolish the death penalty and slavery. In 1859, he asked the U.S. to spare John Brown’s life. He also begged Benito Juarez to spare the life of Maximilian I.

When Napoleon seized power, Hugo publicly called him a traitor. After that, he lived in exile from 1855 to 1870. While in exile, he published his most famous political pamphlets, Napoleon le Petit and Histoire d’un Crime. Both were banned in France. However, in spite of these progressive views, he supported colonialism because of its “civilizing” effects on the colonized peoples. And he wrote that the Paris Commune was as “idiotic as the National Assembly is ferocious. From both sides, folly.” But he did offer his support to Commune participants when they were being brutalized.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #johnbrown #victorhugo #pariscommune #poverty #racism #exile #censorship #freespeech #slavery #abolition #poetry #novels #fiction #writer #author [@bookstadon](https://a.gup.pe/u/bookstadon )