Octavie Tardif, born Boulongne on (- ) in
Aumale
Aumale (), formerly known as Albemarle," is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. It lies on the River Bresle.
History
The town's Latin name was ''Alba Marla''. It was raised by William th ...
, was a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
activist and member of the
International Workers' Association International Workers' Association may refer to:
* International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at ...
(International), working as a
dressmaker
A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and gown, evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua (clothing), mantua-makers, and are also known as a mod ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. She was involved in the actions undertaken by women in the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
, becoming in particular one of the leaders of the
created by
Elisabeth Dmitrieff
Elisabeth Dmitrieff (born Elizaveta Lukinichna Kusheleva, , also known as Elizaveta Tomanovskaya; 1 November 1850 – probably between 1916 and 1918) was a Russian revolutionary and feminist activist. The illegitimate daughter of a Russian ari ...
and
Nathalie Lemel
Nathalie Lemel (26 August 1827 – 1921), 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.
Bookbinder
Nathalie Lemel was born in B ...
.
Biography
Family
Octavie Victoire Boulongne was born in 1833 in Aumale, daughter and her parents were Pierre Antoine Prudence Boulogne, tailor, and Virginie Leclerc.
In December 1861, having become a tailor herself and living with Martial Tardif, also a tailor, at 18 Boulevard d'Italie in Paris, she gave birth to a boy named Marcelin, the natural son of her partner. The child died eight months later.
In February 1863, Octavie Boulongne and Martial Tardif got married, while she was pregnant : their daughter Henriette was born in August. Four years later, their son Octave was born, but he died four months in
Subligny, Cher, where he had been placed with a nurse.
Martial Tardif died in 1875.
Activism for women's rights to work
In October 1870, Octavie Tardif, along with four other citizens, submitted a complaint to the Paris City Hall, asking that :
able-bodied men who are not physicians or surgeons ereplaced by women in the ambulance service
Their request was accepted.
As one of the leaders of the
13th arrondissement of the Union of Women for the Defense of Paris and the Care of the Wounded, founded on April 11, 1871, Octavie Tardif wrote a collective letter for the women workers addressed to Léo Frankel acting as a "delegate to the writings".
The letter was signed by ten representatives of the women workers of Paris. In this letter, the women state that they were still waiting for a useful job and criticized the fact that the administration of the Commune was primarily concerned with politics. They expressed the opinion that the eradication of misery should be a priority and that politics would be "pure" when the economic question was settled, that is, brought by the emancipation of work, by eliminating the intermediaries and
usurers
Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...
between producers and final consumption of the product of their work. They opposed a feminine vision of "progress" and the “immobilism of your sex“.
On May 3, 1871, Octavie Tardif addressed a petition with 85 signatures to the Commission du travail et d'échange:
We need work, since our brothers, our husbands, our sons cannot provide for the family.
She was the secretary of the Pantheon of the International and, according to a police report of January 14, 1873, had sent the list of members of the International in the 13th arrondissement of Paris to the
Military Justice
Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodie ...
.
Octavie Boulongne, lived at 11 rue du Moulin-des-Prés, died on October 25, 1917 at the
Hôpital Cochin
The Hôpital Cochin is a hospital of public assistance in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques Paris 14e. It houses the central burn treatment centre of the city. The Hôpital Cochin is a section of the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes. It comm ...
.
[Acte de décès 1037 du 17 novembre 1917 (transcription), Paris 13e, Archives de Paris] On her death certificate, it is written that she was the widow of a man named Berney, and “no other informations“.
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tardiff, Octavie
Communards
French anarchists
Members of the International Workingmen's Association
1833 births
People from Seine-Maritime
1917 deaths
19th-century French women politicians