Nadi was born in
Valence, Drôme. His father, who built roads and bridges, died when Nadi was seven. After graduating from primary school and upper primary school in Valence, Nadi became an employee of the town hall. He started
administrative assistant work when he was sixteen and then, after his
military service, he entered politics at age 26, joining the POF of
Jules Guesde. With François Lattard, Nadi founded the literary journal, ''L'Œuvre'', in July 1897 in Valence; he headed the journal, which was associated with the
Symbolist movement. He left the POF as early as 1900, feeling no attraction to
Marxism and
socialism. He preferred creating autonomous socialist groups; and was an advocate of
freethought,
freemasonry, and the
International League for Human Rights. In 1901, Nadi was appointed mayor of
Romans-sur-Isère, a town near Valence;and in 1905, he founded the Lodge of
Saint-Vallier. A
propagandist, he helped organized the
Fédération Socialiste autonome Ardèche-Drôme, and was unanimously elected secretary of the Federation. Nadi attended the SFIO's 1905
Globe Congress and became secretary of the local federation. Accused of political guilt, in 1907, the new mayor of Romans-sur-Isère, Dr. Ernest Gailly, dismissed Nadi, through the influence of
Joseph Caillaux. The SFIO's 1907 National Council decided to create two alternate delegates, Nadi and
Adéodat Compère-Morel (who was succeeded by
René Cabannes); the remainder of the delegation included
Gaston Levy,
Adrien Pressemane, and
Henri Laudier. Nadi was elected to the
General Council in 1910 for
Canton du Grand-Serre, Drôme, and the
Chamber of Deputies in 1914. During this time, activists from
La Roche-sur-Yon and
Les Sables-d'Olonne appealed to the SFIO, which sent Nadi, a Permanent Delegate, to visit them, resulting in the emergence of additional SFIO groups. Chaired by Nadi, the first Congress was held in La Roche-sur-Yon, from which emerged the Socialist Federation of Vendee, with a hundred members. as Nadi was repelled by
Bolshevism and its requirement to denounce Freemasonry. Nadi rejoined the SFIO with strong anti-communist sentiments. He was again re-elected in 1924 on a common list-SFIO and the
French Radical Party in 1928, by majority vote. In 1925, Nadi "introduced a bill for creating a State monopoly of insurance into the
Chamber of Deputies, but with little chance of success". His personal influence allowed the SFIO to offset the influence of the
Confédération générale du travail unitaire. At his death, the local newspaper
Le Jacquemart, local proponent of the right wing, one he had opposed from his early years, paid tribute to Nadi. ==Partial works==