Gabriel Ranvier

Ranvier, Gabriel 

Born July 8, 1828, in Baugy, Cher; died Nov. 27, 1879, in Paris. Member of the Paris Commune of 1871; a Blanquist. Stage designer.

Ranvier commanded a battalion of the National Guard during the Prussian siege of Paris in 1870. One of the organizers of the uprising against the Government of National Defense on Oct. 31, 1870, he was a member of the Central Committee of the 20 arrondissements, the Central Committee of the National Guard, the Military Commission of the Paris Commune, and the Committee of Public Safety. During May Week, Ranvier led the armed struggle in the XIX Arrondissement (Belleville). He emigrated to Great Britain after the fall of the Commune and was sentenced in absentia to hard labor in 1871; in 1874 the sentence was changed to death. Ranvier became a member of the General Council of the First International in November 1871 but later left the International because he disagreed with the decision of The Hague Congress (1872) to transfer the seat of the General Council to New York. He returned to France in 1879.