Jacobin Leaders
Delescluze
Charles
Delescluze was a radical republican and student activist during the uprising of
1830, during which he was forced to flee France to Brussels because he was
implicated in an attempt on the life of King Louis-Phillipe. He returned to
Paris in 1841 at which time he began working for the radical movements as a
journalist and editor, eventually founding the journal La RŽvolution
DŽmocratique et Sociale in which
he attacked the established monarchy. Eventually, he was again thrown out of
the country and traveled to England before returning illegally in 1853. As a
result of this trespass, he was sent to the prison in French Guiana. He
eventually returned to Paris and was elected to the new National Assembly in
1871 and joined the Commune. He became leader of the Commune following the
death or arrest of the initial leaders, and was eventually killed in its
defense. He was the leader of the Jacobin party and a firm believer in the idea
of change that was advocated by the Commune. His death was essentially a
suicide, where he placed himself into the line of fire and allowed himself to
be killed when it became clear that he would be unable to save the Commune.
Rochefort
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Portrait of Henri Rochefort by Manet |
During
the years under Louis-Phillipe prior to the Paris Commune, Henri Rochefort was a
journalist and a writer for a paper which quickly found itself under fire from
the government for their opposition to the monarchy. He eventually became a
supporter of the Paris Commune. Rochefort, however, was more aristocratic than
most of the Jacobin party, and while he was a supporter he was not avidly so,
and did not stand for election to an office. Rochefort was transported to a
penal colony but was there for only four months. He returned to Paris and
changed his alliances from the radical Republicans to the socialists and back,
and then in the last years of his life he wrote more conservative articles
which were more in favor of the government. He died shortly before the outbreak
of World War One.
Rochefort
was a skilled writer and journalist, and his written works in the papers helped
to organize support for the Commune, especially since he was not known to be a
member of the more radial element. During the commune he wrote for the paper he
founded in 1869, La Marseillaise and another paper, Le Mot dÕOrdre, or The Word of Order.
His written works supported the changes that were made by the Commune and were
well regarded, giving more legitimacy to the Commune.
Pyat
FŽlix Pyat was a journalist who had previously studied law. In 1848 he had been a member of the radical parties and acted as a deputy. In 1849 he was forced to flee France for his part in various insurrections and he remained out of France for twenty years. While in exile, he was a key member of several socialistorganizations in Switzerland, Belgium, and England. He eventually returned to France and wrote enough radical pieces in the media that he was forced to flee for a second time. He returned some time later and was elected to the Paris Commune when it took power. His position as a journalist and later, a member of the new Committee of Public Safety, and a devout Jacobin supporter gave him the opportunity and the motive to spread socialist and radical democratic propaganda throughout France and the other countries where he was exiled. His membership in socialist organizations throughout Europe and his experience made him an important piece in the growth of socialism in Europe.