Day, Hem, 1902-

Marcel Dieu (30 May 1902 – 14 August 1969) was a Belgian book dealer, essayist, editor-publisher-compiler, militant antimilitarist and libertarian socialist. Friends and admirers such as the lawyer Paul-Henri Spaak saw a connection between his decision to become a vegetarian and his father's profession as a butcher. In 1933, together with Léo Campion, and in response to government moves to clamp down on pacifist activism and antimilitarism, Marcel Dieu became one of the first to return his "livret militaire", an identity document which in Belgium at this time included a summary record of an individual's military service. His "editorial" output was very considerable, and included a range of pamphlets and leaflets, biographies of libertarian activists, numerous comment pieces and other articles published in the international libertarian press, along with involvement in conferences, participation in meetings dealing with anti-war themes and such topics as asylum rights. Marcel Dieu is frequently identified in sources as Hem Day, the pseudonym under which he wrote, and by which he chose to identify himself while still a teenager during the First World War. For readers with the French of northern France and southern Belgium as their mother tongue, "Hem Day" corresponds approximately to the phonetic spelling of his initials, "M.D.", while avoiding distracting (for an atheist such as Marcel Dieu) associations with God. "Dieu", in addition to being the family name of Marcel Dieu, is the French word for "God".