Career
Malon came from a poor peasant family. An opportunity to escape the life of a rural labourer presented itself when Benoît was admitted to a seminary school in Lyon. In 1863 he left the seminary and moved to Paris, where he worked in a factory as a dyer.
Through Camélinat and Longuet, Malon became involved in the French section of the First International, which he joined in 1865.
Malon was active in organising factory workers and led several strikes. In 1868 and 1870, Malon was among the defendants in the sedition trials of the French Section of the International.
He was sentenced to prison both times. 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.
When the Paris Commune rose against the Thiers government at Versailles, Malon was elected to the Council of the Commune. He also served on the Committee on Labour and Trade. Malon opposed the Jacobin faction in the Commune, associated with Félix Pyat.
Malon voted against the creation of a new Committee of Public Safety.
He was horrified by the "bloody week" when several hostages were shot. 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. They entered a "free marriage" in 1872.
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.
In 1885, Malon founded the journal Revue Socialiste. In 1889, he became editor of the newspaper Egalité. When Malon died in 1893, his funeral at the Père-Lachaise cemetery was attended by a crowd of over 10,000 mourners.
In 1913, a monument to Malon was established, and Jean Jaurès gave the dedication speech.
