Jacobin journalist of 1830 and 1848 who became the Commune’s war delegate and walked to his death on a barricade
On 25 May 1871, the final day of Bloody Week, Commune war delegate Delescluze walked unarmed to the barricade at the Place du Château-d’Eau and was shot dead amid the fighting.
Born in Dreux, he fought in the July Revolution of 1830, published republican papers after February 1848 and went into exile. Arrested under the Second Empire, he served time in the penal colony of Cayenne in Guiana, and in 1868 founded the newspaper Le Réveil. Elected to the National Assembly in February 1871, he resigned to join the Commune. A Jacobin “independent revolutionary”, he sat on the Commune's Committee of Public Safety and on 11 May became war delegate as a civilian. On 25 May, with defeat certain, he climbed onto the barricade at the Château-d’Eau and was shot dead.
Career timeline
- 1830Took part in the July Revolution.
- 1848Worked as a republican journalist after the February Revolution and later went into exile.
- 1868Founded the newspaper Le Réveil.
- 1871After election to the National Assembly, resigned and joined the Paris Commune, serving on its Committee of Public Safety and as its war delegate.
Textile designer and poet, a member of the Commune, who wrote the words of “The Internationale” in hiding after Bloody Week
After the Paris Commune's defeat, he wrote the words of “The Internationale” while hiding in Paris in June 1871. In exile in the United States, he organized solidarity for deported Communards.
Born to a Paris box-maker, he worked as a textile designer and wrote songs and poems from the 1830s, taking part in the June Days of 1848. He founded a designers’ union and joined the International. Elected to the Commune in an April 1871 by-election for the 2nd arrondissement, he wrote “The Internationale” in hiding in June after Bloody Week. Condemned to death in absentia, he fled to the United States and returned under the 1880 amnesty. He died poor in 1887; the next year Pierre De Geyter set “The Internationale” to music and it became the anthem of the world labour movement.
Career timeline
- 1830Composed his first song, “Long Live Liberty.”
- 1848Took part in the 1848 Revolution.
- 1864Helped found the textile designers’ union, which later joined the First International.
- 1871Elected to the Paris Commune, he served on its Public Services Commission and fought during Bloody Week.
- 1880Returned to France after the amnesty.
- 1887Chants révolutionnaires, the first collection to print the words of “The Internationale,” was published.
French bookbinder and activist in the Women's Union of the Paris Commune
Born in Brest in Brittany, Le Mel worked as a bookbinder in Paris and joined the workers' movement. In 1865 she helped win equal pay for women and men in bookbinding, joined the International Workingmen's Association, and ran the cooperative restaurant La Marmite with Eugène Varlin. During the 1871 Paris Commune she was a leading activist in the Women's Union and fought on the barricades. Arrested after the Commune's defeat, she was deported to New Caledonia with Louise Michel and returned to Paris under the 1880 amnesty.
Career timeline
- 1865Helped win equal pay for women and men in bookbinding; joined the International Workingmen's Association.
- 1860s–1871Ran the cooperative restaurant La Marmite with Eugène Varlin.
- 1871Worked in the Women's Union of the Paris Commune and fought on the barricades.
- 1871–1880Arrested and deported to New Caledonia; returned to Paris under the 1880 amnesty.
