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Ideology and propaganda · International Workingmen's Association (First International) people 1

Ideology and propaganda × International Workingmen's Association (First International) ×

Charles Delescluze

Charles Delescluze
Ideology and propaganda International Workingmen's Association (First International) France France 1809–1871 ✕ Killed in action

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 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.