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Rodrigues, Olinde

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Rodrigues, Hippolyte

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Rodriguez

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French economist and reformer; born at Bordeaux Oct. 16, 1794; died at Paris Dec. 26, 1850. He was a pupil of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, where he made a specialty of mathematical studies; later he became assistant professor at the Ecole Polytechnique. In 1823 he made the acquaintance of Saint-Simon, who converted him to his doctrines. On the day of his leader's funeral Rodrigues assembled the former's disciples to consider the project of founding a journal to be based on Saint-Simon's principles. The publication was launched under the title "Le Producteur," and Rodrigues was its editor during 1825-26. In 1829 he succeeded, with the assistance of his brother Eugène, in turning the followers of Saint-Simon's principles into a sect, but in the same year he surrendered the leadership to Bazard and Enfantin. About the close of 1831 Rodrigues had a rupture with Enfantin, on account of certain theories held by the latter on the propriety of the family having published two volumes of the works of Saint-Simon. In 1832 Rodrigues engaged in banking and brokerage. He was also concerned in the building of the Saint-Germain and Orléans Railroad, the first railroad put in active operation in France.

In 1841 he published the "Poésies Sociales des Ouvriers," to show the middle classes the liberality of ideas of the proletariat. In 1848 he supported the republic, and strongly advocated the rights of the working men. His later years were occupied in consolidating the mutual-aid societies, and in preparing the material for a biography of Saint-Simon, which was edited and published by Hubbard in 1857. A pamphlet entitled "Maria Stella," directed against Louis Philippe, has been attributed to Rodrigues, but without foundation. He was the author of "Opinions Littéraires, Philosophiques, et Politiques de Saint-Simon" (1825). He published also, as "Paroles d'un Mort," a parable by Saint-Simon.