Cournet, Frédéric Étienne

Born Dec. 25 or 29, 1839, in Lorient or Paris; died May 23, 1885, in Paris. Member of the Paris Commune of 1871.

Cournet was a commercial clerk and subsequently he worked on the newspaper Le Réveil During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, he took part in the defense of Paris and commanded a battalion of the National Guard. In February 1871 he became a deputy to the National Assembly. When he was elected a member of the Paris Commune in March 1871, Cournet rejected his mandate as a deputy to the National Assembly. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety, the Executive Committee, and the Military Committee. Cournet belonged to the Blanquist-Jacobin “majority.” After the collapse of the Commune he emigrated to Great Britain and was sentenced to death in absentia. In November 1871 he was elected to the General Council of the First International. He served as a delegate to the Hague Congress (1872) of the First International. After the 1880 amnesty Cournet returned to France; he became one of the leaders of the Blanquists in Lyon and Paris.