Benoît Malon (23 June 1841 – 13 September 1893), was a French Socialist, writer, communard, and political leader.

An opportunity to escape the life of a rural labourer presented itself when Benoît was admitted to a seminary school in Lyon.

With the fall of Napoléon III in 1870, Malon was freed from prison and helped organise relief for the poor during the Prussian siege of Paris.

In 1871 Malon was elected to the National Assembly of the new Third Republic, but he resigned in protest against the peace treaty, which ceded Alsace-Lorraine to Prussia.

[citation needed] After the suppression of the Commune he escaped to Lugano, Switzerland, where he joined the Jura Federation, dominated by Bakuninists.

Around this time, Malon began a romantic relationship with Léodile Champseix (better known under her literary pseudonym André Léo), an author and feminist.

A general amnesty in 1880 enabled Malon to return to France, where he resumed work as a journalist and became involved in the new French Workers' Party (POF) of Jules Guesde.