DELESCLUZE, LOUIS CHARLES mem ber of the Paris commune, was born at Dreux (Eure-et-Loir) on Oct. 2, 1809. Under Louis Philippe he adopted extreme republican views, fought in the insurrection of June 1832 and in 1836 was forced to leave France. In 184o he returned, settled at Valen ciennes, and took up republican journalism. On the success of the revolution of 1848 he was appointed prefect of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments. He was afterwards the only com munard leader with administrative experience. He resigned his post on the meeting of the National Assembly, went to Paris and combated the growing conservatism of the Government by means of his journal La Revolution Democratique et Sociale, and by a society called Republican Solidarity intended to defend the repub lic in the provinces. On the failure of the radical emeute in June 1849 he was forced to fly to England. He returned in 1853, was betrayed by a spy and taken to a convict plantation in French Guiana. In 18S9 he returned to France, broken in health, and re sumed journalism. He was personally hostile to Blanqui (q.v.), but in reality his policy was impregnated with Blanqui's ideas; he was commonly classified neither as a socialist nor as an inter nationalist, but as a "jacobin." After a further imprisonment he fled to Belgium in 187o, returning on the fall of the empire. He was elected a member of the National Assembly and also of the Paris commune in 18 7 1 ; he chose to sit in the latter, and his seniority, ability and high character gave him the most authorita tive position. His energies were not, indeed, equal to producing order in the chaotic administration of the commune (see CoM MUNE) in two months, but he was its most capable and disinter ested leader. On May 9 he took over the department of war, but it was too late for reorganization. The Government troops broke in on May 22, and the Communard forces separated into their local sections. Delescluze for the next three days attempted to combine and organize the defence, himself fighting with reckless courage ; but on May 25, perceiving that defeat was certain, he dressed himself in civilian clothes, with the broad red sash of a member of the commune, and climbed, unarmed, a barricade at the Chateau d'Eau which was under heavy fire. When he reached the crest and his insignia could be seen by the Government troops, he was immediately, as he had hoped, killed by a bullet.
See his De Paris a Cayenne, journal d'un transports (Eng. trans. 1872) ; P. Larousse, Dictionnaire du XIXe siecle (187o) s.v. "Deles cluze" ; and the books cited under COMMUNE. (R. W. P.)