Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Eugène Varlin, a bookbinder born to a family of republican farmers in Voisins near Paris who became a vigorous proponent of workers' associations and cooperatives, was one of the most memorable participants in the Paris Commune of 1871. As a young man, Varlin participated in a successful strike of male and female bookbinders in 1864 and an unsuccessful one in 1865, an experience which taught him that workers' liberation could only come through their own organizations. In 1866 he founded the Société civile d'épargne et de crédit mutuel des ouvriers relieurs de Paris (Parisian Bookbinders' Civil Society for Savings and Mutual Credit) in which, true to his commitment to equal rights, he promoted Nathalie Lemel (1826–1921), a militant anarchist and feminist who later participated on the barricades in the Commune, to full membership in the administration commission. He also founded the Caisse du sou (Penny Box), a simple, yet effective, contributions system to be used in case of strikes, and, with Lemel, a cooperative restaurant called “La Marmite.” Varlin's bookbinders' association very quickly joined the Association Internationale des Travailleurs (the International Workingmen's Association) (AIT/IWA), the French section of which had been founded by Varlin's friends Henri Tolain and Ernest Fribourg. Among the most active members of the IWA, imprisoned more than once for his role ... log in or subscribe to read full text