Le Fils du Père Duchêne

Le Fils du Père Duchêne ("The Son of Father Duchêne") was a Communard caricature newspaper. Published by Maxime Vuillaume and Eugène Vermersch, who involved many Parisian caricaturists of the period, the publication followed almost the entire Paris Commune until the Semaine sanglante ('Bloody Week'), which it described in its final issue.

Le Fils du Père Duchêne

Front page of the first issue of the journal (21 April 1871) - Père Duchêne facing the statue of Napoléon Bonaparte at the top of the Vendôme Column. The caption reads: Sooo! you dirty bugger, you're gonna get screwed down there like that scumbag nephew of yours [i.e.: Napoleon III]!...
Founder(s)	Maxime Vuillaume Eugène Vermersch
Founded	1871
Language	French
Ceased publication	1871
Headquarters	Paris

Its longevity and striking use of caricature make this publication one of the examples of art produced during the Paris Commune.

History

Context

After the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War, the Parisian people, exhausted by the siege of the city and feeling betrayed by the provisional government, became increasingly revolutionary.^[1] This highly tense situation ultimately led to the birth of a significant insurrectionary and communal movement, the Paris Commune.^[1]

In this Communard and revolutionary context, the Neo-Hébertist press, in reference to the very radical Jacques-René Hébert during the French Revolution, founder of Le Père Duchesne, was reborn.^[2] Multiple newspaper titles were published during the Commune that referenced the legacy of Hébert or of 1793; such as "Le Pair du Chêne, Le Testament du Père Duchêne, Le Vrai Duchêne, Je suis le véritable Père Duchêne, Foutre!, followed by Les Mémoires du Père Duchêne, Duchêne réactionnaire [...] and, more simply, Le Fils Duchêne, La Tante Duchêne, La Mère Duchêne".^[2][3]

Le Fils du Père Duchêne

In this context, Le Fils du Père Duchêne was founded on 20 April 1871, by Maxime Vuillaume and Eugène Vermersch.^[4] Comprising a total of ten issues, running from 20 April until the end of the Commune, and even depicting the Semaine sanglante in its final issue, it distinguished itself by using the Republican calendar of the French Revolution, for instance, by publishing in Floréal.^[5]

The newspaper quickly became an important publication for caricatures, an art form that flourished during the Commune.^[6][7] It employed a good portion of the 80 to 100 caricaturists then living in Paris, most of whom were Communards.^[6]

Le Fils du Père Duchêne illustré was one of the Commune's longest-running publications.^[8] It took stances on political issues affecting the Commune, for example, defending Jarosław Dąbrowski, general of the Communard forces.^[9] It wrote about him in the caption of the related caricature, calling him "a good fellow!"^[9] It was also polemical towards Adolphe Thiers, the leader of the 'Versaillais', calling him a "dictator" and depicting him riding a snail.^[7]

Legacy

Material culture

The original copies of the newspaper are relatively rare, like other newspapers from the period.^[10] The Heidelberg University, among others, holds copies.^[10]

Studies

In 2021, during a symposium organized for the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, historian Samy Lagrange studied the representations of masculinity in the newspaper, comparing them to those Émile Zola made in his discourses.^[11] He showed that the newspaper portrayed an insurrectionary masculinity, whereas Zola acted differently.^[11]