E. Armand (March 26, 1872 – February 19, 1963), pseudonym of Ernest-Lucien Juin, was an influential French individualist anarchist at the beginning of the 20th century[1][2] and also a dedicated free love/polyamory, intentional community, and pacifist/antimilitarist writer, propagandist and activist.

[3] Armand collaborated in anarchist and pacifist journals such as La Misère, L'Universel and Le Cri de révolte.

In it he argued that these experiments were ways of resistance and propaganda by the deed of the possibility of living differently according to affinity groups will.

[5] In this way he revitalized utopian socialist thought and practice of thinkers such as Robert Owen and especially Charles Fourier with whom he could also connect with his viewpoints on free love and freedom of personal exploration.

He also maintained a fluid contact with important individualist anarchists of the time such as the American Benjamin Tucker and the French Han Ryner.

[8] He says the individualist is "a presentist" and "he could not, without bad reasoning and illogic, think of sacrificing his being, or his having, to the coming of a state of things he will not immediately enjoy".

In this way he manifests "So the anarchist individualist tends to reproduce himself, to perpetuate his spirit in other individuals who will share his views and who will make it possible for a state of affairs to be established from which authoritarianism has been banished.

[8] Armand’s "ideas about freedom in sexual matters come from Fourier’s “theory of the four movements”, which was as disdained by some “puritan” anarchists as Proudhon was.

Fourier explains that humans have to follow the patterns of a markedly sexual universe which always moves in harmony, proposing a new organization of the amorous world in which everyone would be able to express their individuality in the plurality of encounters, which would permit all forms of love, encouraging every imaginable kind of associations.

Life is beautiful for whoever goes beyond the borders of conventional existence, whoever evades the hell of industrialism and commercialism, whoever rejects the stink of the alleys and taverns.

[10] For this a hedonistic logic is put forward and so Armand does not "classify pleasures as superior or inferior, good or bad, useful or harmful, favorable or inconvenient.

Armand seized this opportunity to outline his theses supporting revolutionary sexualism and camaraderie amoureuse that differed from the traditional views of the partisans of free love in several respects.

[11] "The camaraderie amoureuse thesis entails a free contract of association (that may be annulled without notice, following prior agreement) reached between anarchist individualists of different genders, adhering to the necessary standards of sexual hygiene, with a view toward protecting the other parties to the contract from certain risks of the amorous experience, such as rejection, rupture, exclusivism, possessiveness, unicity, coquetry, whims, indifference, flirtatiousness, disregard for others, and prostitution.

[11] In a text from 1937, he mentioned among the individualist objectives the practice of forming voluntary associations for purely sexual purposes of heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual nature or of a combination thereof.

He also supported the right of individuals to change sex and stated his willingness to rehabilitate forbidden pleasures, non-conformist caresses (he was personally inclined toward voyeurism), as well as sodomy.

[11] His militancy also included translating texts from people such as Alexandra Kollontai and Wilhelm Reich and establishments of free love associations which tried to put into practice la camaraderie amoureuse through actual sexual experiences.