Jean-Baptiste Clément

Jean-Baptiste Clément (31 May, 1836, Seine – 23 February, 1903, Paris) was a French chansonnier, journalist, socialist activist and communard. He is mostly known for his work Le Temps des cerises, which is strongly associated with the Paris Commune.

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Clément by Félix Nadar. 1900

Biography

Clément was born in to the family of a wealthy miller.[1] He left his family as a teenager and became a metal worker. He soon began to become active in socialist circles as a journalist and became associated with prominent activists such as Jules Vallès. In 1867 he had to flee to Belgium, where he published Le Temps des cerises later on.[2][3]

He returned to Paris and continued his activism against the Second French Empire which eventually got him arrested and imprisoned in the Sainte-Pélagie Prison. Clément was released after the after the Republican protests and abdication of Napoleon III. He became a member of the National Guard and participated in protests against the Government of National Defence.[4]

After the proclamation of the Paris Commune he was elected to the Commune Council and fought in the defense barricades during the semaine sanglante.

After the fall of the Commune he managed to flee Paris and through Belgium he settled in Britain for a short time. He was sentenced to death in absentia and during this period lived clandestinely with his family in Montfermeil. He returned to Paris of the general amnesty of 1880.[5]

Clément participated in the founding of the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party of Jean Allemane. He also a member of the Grand Orient de France.[4]

Tomb of Jean-Baptiste Clément at the Père Lachaise Cemetery

Jean-Baptiste Clément died on 23 February, 1903 in Paris aged 66.[1]

Selected songs
  • Au moulin de Bagnolet (1863)
  • Le Moulin des larmes (1865)
  • Le Temps des cerises (1866)
  • La Semaine sanglante (1871)
  • La Chanson du semeur (1882)
  • Les Traîne-misère (1883)
  • Aux loups (1884)
  • La Grève (1893)
  • En avant paysans ! (1900)
  • Dansons la capucine (1860-1870 ?)
  • Le Capitaine « Au mur »
  • La Marjolaine
  • Bonjour printemps
  • Quatre-vingt-neuf
  • L'Eau va toujours à la rivière
  • Fournaise
  • Ah le joli temps !
  • Le Chasse neige
  • Le Bonheur des champs
  • Le Couteau de Jeannette
  • Fille des champs
  • Le Barde Gaulois
  • J'n'en ai pas le courage
  • Le Chant du ruisseau
  • Je vais chez la meunière

References
  1. "CLÉMENT Jean-Baptiste - Maitron". maitron.fr. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  2. "7532-1 : Jean Batiste Clément ou La fraternité en chanson..." www.ledifice.net. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  3. Clemenz-Kirsch, Gertraude. "Gertraude Clemenz-Kirsch: Flanieren an der Seine – Jean-Baptiste Clément und Eugène Pottier, Sänger der Commune". das-blaettchen.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  4. "Biography on histoiredefrance.net". Archived from the original on 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  5. "Jean-Baptiste Clément (archive)". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23.
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