Édouard Vaillant

Born in Vierzon, Cher, son of a lawyer, Édouard Vaillant studied engineering at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, graduating in 1862, and then law at the Sorbonne.

Vaillant opposed the Government of National Defence, and took part in the revolts on 31 October 1870 and 22 January 1871.

Following the bloody suppression of the Commune in late May 1871, Vaillant fled France with Eugène Baudin for Great Britain where he was part of the Blanquist tendency of the First International.

He was among the founder members of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), a socialist party uniting revolutionary and reformist groups.

Vaillant supported a general strike to prevent French participation in the First World War, but following the assassination of Jaurès and the outbreak of war, he joined the majority of socialists in supporting the Union sacrée and harshly criticised pacifist members of the SFIO in his speeches.