Raoul Adolphe Georges Rigault, (16 January 1846 in Paris, 24 May 1871 also in Paris) was a journalist and French Socialist revolutionary, best known for his role during 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 ...

of 1871. He is most notable for his execution of Archbishop Darboy, as well as for having saved the life of the French artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...

from a firing squad; for having led a ruthless,

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

-style (''"

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

"'') police operation during the Paris Commune; and for his unrelenting hatred of religion.

Personal life

Upbringing

Rigault was the son of a councilor at the

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prefecture and attended

École polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

Character

The ''New York Times'' in 1884 gives the following description of Rigault... According to the ''Association des Amies et Amis de la Commune de Paris 1871'' (Association of Friends and Friends of the 1871 Paris Commune), Rigault was hated for being a "swagger of perversity", "scoundrel", "aristocrat of the thuggery", for making jokes about how he had improved the guillotine, for his "militant atheism," and for creating a police system of "informants and snitches."

As revolutionary

Rigault had been a revolutionary since his youth. In 1866, he was arrested at a meeting of revolutionaries at the Café de la Renaissance in Saint-Michel, and in 1868, he served three months imprisonment for publishing a journal on

Atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

. Rigault's revolutionary activity was anti-police and anti-establishment. He had "spent long hours with a spyglass propped up on a Seine bookseller's stall, peering into the Prefecture of Police across the water," and with this information, he kept "track of the coming and going of informers and plain-clothes men," and also managed the "undoing of a particularly harsh and licentious judge, Delesvaux, who delighted in sentencing revolutionaries."

Meeting with Renoir

While a fugitive in youth, he was hidden by

, the famous painter, in the forests of Fontainebleau. He would return the favor by noticing Renoir destined for the firing squad in the Paris Commune, and having Renoir immediately pardoned and released.

As Chief of Police

General procedures

While the majority of the Commune's politicians were extremely progressive and far-left wing, The New Yorker describes Rigault as "the backward-looking aspect... A socialist polemicist of appetite and charm, he became, in effect, the head of the Commune's police force." One American woman, Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone, held audience with Rigault as Chief of Police, and described his quarters as barren of furniture, "only the table... ndtwo or three plain chairs... Just such a chamber as

Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

might have occupied during ''his'' republic," claiming that Rigault "took advantage of the unavoidable questions that belong to the making out of a passport."

Freeing of prisoners

Like during most revolutions, his most popular acts as police chief were those in the beginning, when he freed those imprisoned by the imperial French government, which included revolutionaries,

Anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

, and Blanquists.

Blanquist obsession

As police chief, the main occupation that Rigault worried himself with was with freeing

Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism. Biography Early life, political activity and first imprisonment (1805–1848) Bla ...

, then being held by the

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

forces of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. His plan was to do a hostage trade of Archbishop

Georges Darboy Georges Darboy (16 January 181324 May 1871) was a French Catholic priest, later bishop of Nancy then archbishop of Paris. He was among a group of prominent hostages executed as the Paris Commune of 1871 was about to be overthrown. Biography Da ...

in exchange for Blanqui; but when this plan tragically failed, Darboy was executed by Commune forces in a stir of panic and desperation, killing one of the most reform-minded and democratically oriented bishops of France.

Anti-catholicism and anti-religion

If there was one issue over which the Communards instinctively and almost unanimously sympathized with Rigault, "this was his violent

anticlericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

," according to the historian,

Alistair Horne Sir Alistair Allan Horne (9 November 1925 – 25 May 2017) was a British journalist, biographer and historian of Europe, especially of 19th- and 20th-century France. He wrote more than 20 books on travel, history, and biography. Early life, ...

. As chief of police, he searched and investigated churches for evidence of sympathy with

(as with most forms of Revolution in Western Europe, this evidence meant ''any hidden arms''). The arrest of Archbishop Darboy was done at the hand of Rigault. The following famous dialogue took place between a

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and Rigault... One historian of the Paris Commune wrote that, "Atheism was a cardinal tenet of Blanqui's faith, and his disciple Rigault was an adept at priest-baiting."

Death

After the Paris Commune, he was "simply executed with a bullet in the skull, on the street of Gay-Lussac on Wednesday, May 24, 1871." According to a more detailed account, Rigault had worn his National Guard uniform that day, in order to shame those who refused to keep up the fight. In this outfit, he was instantly picked up. At gunpoint by a Versailles officer, he was ordered to shout, "Long Live Versailles!" He responded, ''"You are assassins! Long live the Commune!"'' and was immediately shot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigault, Raoul 1846 births 1871 deaths French journalists French atheists Critics of religions French atheism activists Deaths by firearm in France Pierre-Auguste Renoir Communards French socialists Executed French people French revolutionaries