Cité libre

Cité libre, magazine founded 1950, bringing together Québec intellectuals who opposed Maurice DUPLESSIS. Inspired by Emmanuel Mounier's philosophic system that took man as its fundamental measure of value, the editorial board, which included Gérard PELLETIER and Pierre Elliott TRUDEAU, assumed that universal man was to be defended from totalitarianism. This abstract philosophy was never translated into concrete social and political objectives. The journal was humanist, progressive and nondoctrinaire - Pierre VADEBONCOEUR and Pierre Vallières rubbed shoulders with Jean Le Moyne and Maurice Blain - and its content demonstrated the unease prevalent in Québec society.

Secular and anticlericalist in orientation, Cité libre explored religious issues in depth. The journal met intellectual mediocrity and intolerance with a rationalism inspired by the great liberal thinkers. Cité libre sometimes took audacious stands on socioeconomic issues, yet never questioned basic social structures: it argued instead for gradual reform. It was antinationalist and, in politics, primarily concerned with the ethical issues of teaching democratic morality and fighting corruption. Its search for new values and an identity was more evident in its first series of issues (1950-59) than in its second (1960-66). In the interval, the QUIET REVOLUTION had begun.

See also LITERARY PERIODICALS IN FRENCH.

Author BENOIT MELANÇON