Auguste Vaillant

Auguste Vaillant (27 December 1861 – 5 February 1894) was a French anarchist, most famous for his bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1893.[1] The government's reaction to this attack was the passing of the infamous repressive Lois scélérates.

Auguste Vaillant
Auguste Vaillant
Born27 December 1861
Mézières, Ardennes, France
Died5 February 1894 (aged 32)
Paris, France
Cause of deathExecution by guillotine
Vaillant about to be guillotined

Vaillant threw the home-made device from the public gallery and was immediately arrested. The weakness of the device meant that the explosion only caused slight injuries to twenty deputies.[2] At his trial in Paris he was defended by Fernand Labori. Vaillant claimed that his aim was not to kill but to wound as many deputies as possible in revenge for the execution of Ravachol. Despite this, Vaillant was sentenced to death. He was put to death by the guillotine on 5 February 1894.

His bombing and execution in turn inspired the attacks of Émile Henry and Sante Geronimo Caserio (who stabbed to death Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of the French Third Republic)[3] and Bhagat Singh (who threw a low-intensity bomb into the Central Legislative Assembly in British India, and was hanged later). Vaillant's last words were "Death to the Bourgeoisie! Long live Anarchy!"

References
  1. "The Guillotine's Sure Work; Details of the Execution of Vaillant, the Anarchist", The New York Times, 1984-02-06.
  2. The Anarchist Encyclopedia – Auguste Vaillant entry Archived 23 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Goldman, Emma (1970). Living My Life (reprint ed.). p. 152. ISBN 0486225437.
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