1904 b. Paris. French Surrealist Writer and sociologist. He was a prominent member of the Investigating Sex group of Surrealist thinkers. His friend Raymond Queneau introduced him to surrealist circles, and he in turn introduced Jacques-Andre Boiffard to them.
1921 - 1924 founded periodical L'Oeuf dur with Philippe Soupault; joined by Francis Gerard, Max Jacob, Louis Aragon and Blaise Cendrars. 1924 Photo -> Jacques Baron, Raymond Queneau, Andre Breton, Jacques-Andre Boiffard, Giorgio de Chirico, Roger Vitrac, Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault, Robert Desnos, Louis Aragon, Pierre Naville, Simone Breton, Max Morise and Marie-Louise Soupault 1924 - 1929 Initial director of La Revolution Surrealiste with Benjamin Peret. His father financed the rent of the office of the Bureau of Surrealisme which also houses the office of La Revolution Surrealiste. 1925 Signed the Declaration of January 27 1925. Falls out with Andre Breton. Called up for military service. 1926 joined to the French Communist Party, for which he managed the publication Clarte. 1927 part of a delegation which visited Leon Trotsky -> in Moscow. Signs Manifesto Hands Off Love in defense of Charlie Chaplin. 1928 Expelled from the Communist Party for deviationism; became Trotskyist. m. Denise Levy who was the cousin of Andre Breton's first wife Simone Kahn). He was her second husband. 1939 Left the Surrealist Group and broke with Trotskyists. Organized the publication Revue Internationale. 1947 Appointed director of research at the CNRS. He worked with Georges Friedmann -> at the Centre d'Etudes sociologiques. Among his many correspondents were the mathematician Laurent Schwartz -> and the historian of mathematics Jean van Heijenoort ->, both, like himself, marxists. 1970 death of Denise Levy. 1993? d. Paris. See obit -> and wiki (Fr.) -> See Timeline