Perron, Charles Eugène

Charles Eugène Perron (December 6, 1837 - March 7, 1909) was a Swiss journalist, cartographer, and painter. While he was a primary Swiss figure of anti-authoritarian internationalism, he is primarily known for his cartographic collaboration with fellow geographer-anarchist Jacques Élisée Reclus (March 15, 1830 - July 4, 1905), for whom Perron was the primary mapmaker. He was born in a suburb of Geneva; his painter father trained him in that art; he was further trained as an enamel painter. At twenty, he traveled to Russia, remaining for five years. On his return, he set up his own trade as an enamel painter and photographic retoucher. In 1872, he began drawing maps, from the start in collaboration with Reclus as a contribution to the latter geographer's journal Le Travailleur. He would go on to draw most of the maps of Reclus' Nouvelle Géographie universelle The two geographers amassed an impressive map collection; when Reclus returned to Paris, he left the collection with Perron. He, in turn, would donate the collection to the city of Geneva in 1893. Politically, his return to Geneva was marked by his association with Russian political refugees and social activists, and he joined the International Workingmen's Association at that time. He remained active, participating in the first congress of the International League for Peace and Freedom (September 1867) and becoming a delegate to the third congress of the Brussels International in 1868. He co-founded the newspaper L'Égalité in 1869 and would contribute to the journal. His activism extended beyond the printed page: in 1871, he aided in the emigration of French Communards to Switzerland and took part in the Bern commemoration of the Commune in 1877, which ended in a brawl with the police.