An
individualist and
aesthete, d'Axa justified the use of
violence as an anarchist, seeing
propaganda of the deed as akin to works of art. "It is simple enough.", d'Axa proclaimed of his contemporaries, "If our extraordinary flights (
nos fugues inattendues) throw people out a little, the reason is that we speak of everyday things as the primitive barbarian would, were he brought across them." D'Axa was a
bohemian who "exulted in his outsider status", and praised the anti-capitalist lifestyle of itinerant anarchist bandit precursors of the French
illegalists. He expressed contempt for the masses and hatred for their rulers. He was an important anarchist interpreter of the
philosophy of
individualist anarchist Max Stirner, defender of
Alfred Dreyfus during the
Dreyfus affair and opponent of prisons and penitentiaries. ==Publications==