Esprit (magazine) - Personalism and The Non-conformists

Personalism and The Non-conformists

In the 1930s, Esprit was the main mouthpiece of the Personalists and of the Non-conformists of the 1930s. A presentation of the magazine by its authors in 1933 stated that it opposed the "compromission" of spiritual values with the established order (which Mounier called "established disorder") and aimed at denouncing their "exploitation by the powers of Money, in the social regime, in the government, in the press, etc. " Esprit opposed partial reforms and aimed at a global rebuilding of the basis of the social edifice. It targeted as opponents "individualist materialism", claiming that the "capitalist jungle was its ultimate product"; "collectivist materialism", which linked both Communism and Capitalism, despite their oppositions, in the "same metaphysics"; and the "false Fascist spiritualism," which seemed to share the same opponents, but in reality turned towards the "tyrannic idolatry of inferior spiritualities: racist exaltation, national passion, anonymous discipline, devotion to the state or the leader" or plain "safeguard of economic interests. " The magazine posited itself for the "rebirth" of a "community of personalities," in opposing of both liberal individualism and collectivism, in one word, mass society:

"Tout homme, sans exception, a le droit et le devoir de développer sa personalité." (Any man, without exception, has the right and the duty to develop his personality.)