In the early 1890s, a new generation of young intellectuals in France, unsatisfied with the predominant culture of French society, came under the influence of
anarchism,
socialism and
syndicalism while studying at university. In 1892, a group of university students, who described themselves as the "intellectual proletariat", established the International Revolutionary Socialist Students (; ESRI). At a national students' congress the following year, the ESRI issued a manifesto calling for students to join the "intellectual proletariat" and "rebel against all orders of exploiters". The group considered "study, propaganda and socialist action" to be its main objectives. The ESRI studied the works of
Karl Marx, some of which were rather obscure at the time, and their meetings were frequented by the syndicalist
Georges Sorel. The group championed
proletarian internationalism and opened itself to workers and students from any country; half of its members would consist of foreign-born exiles from
Romania,
Russia and
Poland. The group grew in strength following a series of riots in the
Latin Quarter, which had been provoked following the arrest of a student at the
École des Beaux-Arts in July 1893. Confrontations between students and the police brought the student movement into close contact with the organised labour movement, which united against the French state. Although initially a multi-tendency organisation, by 1897,
Marie Goldsmith and
Léon Rémy had influenced the ESRI to take a more staunchly anarchist position. Goldsmith also directed the publication of a series of pamphlets by the organisation, which wrote on subjects such as
anarchist feminism and
anti-Zionism, all signed collectively under the organisation's initials. The group's headquarters were at 89
Rue Mouffetard, close by the offices of
Jean Grave's newspaper
Le Révolté. Several members of the ESRI, including Goldsmith, Rémy,
Marc Pierrot and
Georges Willaume, contributed to Grave's publications. In the group's 1897 pamphlet
Misère et mortalité, published by
Jean Allemane, a physician drew attention to how poor working conditions and overwork threatened workers' health by weakening their bodies and immune systems. By 1903, the ESRI had dissolved. Its last secretary was
Pierre Monatte. ==Members==