Édouard Vaillant

Paris Commune (1871) Revolutionary socialism 1840–1915 ○ Natural causes

Socialist who was the Commune's delegate for education, led the Blanquists after exile and helped found the SFIO

Born in Vierzon in 1840, he studied at the École Centrale and the Sorbonne. A reader of Proudhon, he joined the International Workingmen's Association and went to study in Germany in 1866. In the siege he met Blanqui, took part in the risings of 31 October 1870 and 22 January 1871 against the Government of National Defence and co-wrote the Red Poster calling for a Commune. Elected to the Commune council in March 1871, he was its delegate for public education and sought to ban religious teaching in schools. After the Bloody Week he fled to London, where he stood with the Blanquist tendency in the International until breaking with it in 1872. Returning under the amnesty of 1880, he led the Central Revolutionary Committee and then the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and sat as a deputy from 1893 until his death. He helped found the SFIO in 1905 and supported the Union sacrée in 1914.

Also known as: Marie Édouard Vaillant

Activities and affiliations

Career Timeline