Eugène Varlin
Encyclopedia
Eugène Varlin was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 socialist, communard
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...

 and member of the First International. He was one of the pioneers of French syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...

.

Early Activism

Louis-Eugène Varlin was born on October 5, 1839, at Claye-Souilly
Claye-Souilly
Claye-Souilly is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-People:*Jules de Poliganc was born here in 1745. He was the husband of Madame de Polignac, friend of Marie Antoinette*Mancini family...

 (Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...

), into a poor peasant family. Apprenticed as a painter, he moved to Paris and became a bookbinder by profession. As a young man he read the writings of the anarchist social critic Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first person to call himself an "anarchist". He is considered among the most influential theorists and organisers of anarchism...

, which greatly influenced him. In 1857, Varlin participated in founding a bookbinders' mutual aid society, which became the nucleus of a bookbinders' trade union. Varlin was one of the principal organisers of the very first strike of the Parisian bookbinders in 1864. The strike was a success, so in 1865, the bookbinders repeated the exercise; this time the results were less encouraging. Varlin also founded the bookbinders' mutual savings and credit association, organised along Proudhonist lines. As a firm believer in the equality of the sexes, he promoted the anarchist and feminist Nathalie Lemel
Nathalie Lemel
Nathalie Lemel , was a militant anarchist and feminist who participated on the barricades at the Commune de Paris of 1871. She was deported to Nouvelle Calédonie with Louise Michel.-The Bookbinder:...

 (1827–1921) to a leading position in the bank.

Varlin led the bookbinders' union into the International Working Men's Association (the First International), founded in 1864. He was a delegate to the London congress of the International in 1865, to the Geneva congress in 1866, along with Lemel, and to the Basel congress in 1869. He was a defendant in the second and third trials of the French section of the International in 1869 and 1870. In the controversy between Proudhonists and Marxists in the International, Varlin took the side of the Proudhonists. He became a close friend and associate of leading Proudhonists, such as Henri Tolain
Henri Tolain
Henri Tolain , was a leading member of the French trade union and socialist movement and a founding member of the First International and follower of Proudhon.- Life :...

 and Benoît Malon
Benoît Malon
Benoît Malon , was a French Socialist, writer, communard, and political leader....

. Varlin believed that the nascent trade unions should overcome their professional, local and national particularism and form a united international labour movement, dedicated, as the statutes of his bookbinders' union put it, "to the constant improvement of the conditions of existence of ... the workers of all professions and all countries, and to [bringing] workers into possession of the instruments of their labour." On November 14, 1869, Varlin helped found the Parisian Federation of Workers' Associations, a confederation of trade unions that became the nucleus of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the main organisation of the syndicalist movement.

Varlin was also active in a number of other projects. In 1867 he helped found a co-operative called La Ménagère. In 1868 he co-founded La Marmite, a co-operative restaurant, which remained in business until after the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...

. He was involved in numerous strikes and helped organise branches of the First International at Lyons, Creusot and Lille. Trade unions were not fully legal, and the International was treated as a dangerous conspiracy, so Varlin was arrested numerous times. In 1870 he helped organise protests against the impending war between France and Prussia and co-authored the anti-war manifesto of the Parisian section of the International. In 1870 Varlin briefly fled to Belgium, fearing political persecution. He returned to Paris after the revolution of September 4, which overthrew Napoléon III. Although he had opposed the war, Varlin participated in the defence of Paris. He became commander of the 193rd battalion of the National Guard in Paris.

The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune

The Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 went badly for Napoléon III. When his government fell, Varlin became a member of the Republican Central Committee in Paris. He also became a member of the Central Committee of the National Guard. Varlin's involvement in the premature insurrection of October 31, 1870, caused the government of Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...

 to revoke his command. Varlin also participated in the uprising on January 22.
During the siege of Paris by the Prussians, Varlin devoted himself to organising relief for the population; his care packages became known as 'Varlin's marmites' (named after his co-operative restaurant). Varlin also became secretary for the French section of the First International. In February 1871, Varlin ran unsuccessfully as a Socialist-Revolutionary candidate in the elections to the National Assembly
National Assembly
National Assembly is either a legislature, or the lower house of a bicameral legislature in some countries. The best known National Assembly, and the first legislature to be known by this title, was that established during the French Revolution in 1789, known as the Assemblée nationale...

.

On March 18, 1871, Varlin participated in storming the Vendôme place. He was one of the authors of the Manifesto of the Parisian section of the International on March 24. In March 26 he was elected by a landslide to the Council of the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...

, representing the sixth, twelfth and seventeenth arondissements (districts). He became the Commune's commissioner of finance and was the Commune's point man on labour relations. Among the various political factions which participated in the Paris Commune, Varlin sided with the Proudhonists, belonging to the left wing of that group. However, his tireless energy and idealism made him a popular figure in many quarters. On May 1, Varlin sided with the minority which voted against creating a 'Committee of Public Safety', modelled on that of the French Revolution. On May 5, he became a member of the Commune's war commission. During the 'Bloody Week' he tried in vain to save the lives of several hostages shot by the Communards. Varlin participated actively in the fighting against the troops of the Versailles government and was in charge of the defence of the sixth and eleventh arrondissements. When the Commune was suppressed, Varlin was captured, and taken to Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...

, where he was tortured and blinded by a mob and finally shot. He died on May 28, 1871.

Several streets and schools in Paris and Lyons bear Eugène Varlin's name.

Sources

  • Varlin, E., and P. Lejeune (ed)., Pratique militante & écrits d'un ouvrier communard. Maspero, 1977.
  • Noël, B. (ed.), Dictionnaire de la Commune. Flammarion, 1978.
  • Bruhat, J., Eugène Varlin: Militant ouvrier, révolutionnaire et communard. Paris, 1975.
  • Cordillot, M., Eugène Varlin: Chronique d'un espoir assassiné. Editions de l'Atelier, 1991.
  • Shafer, D.A., The Paris Commune: French politics, Culture, and Society at the Crossroads of the Revolutionary Tradition and Revolutionary Socialism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
  • The Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Moscow, 1979.
  • http://periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/EspacoAcademico/article/view/12645/6701





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