Wróblewski, Walery Antoni

Born Dec. 15 (27), 1836, in Zohidek, in present-day Grodno Oblast; died Aug. 5, 1908, in Ouarville, France. Active in the Polish and international revolutionary movements. Wroblewski was of small-gentry origin.

Wróblewski studied at the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg. During the Polish Uprising of 1863-64 he commanded rebel detachments in Grodno and Lublin provinces. On Jan. 7(19), 1864, Wróblewski was severely wounded in battle. He emigrated to France. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 he joined the National Guard and participated in the defense of Paris. After the proclamation of the Paris Commune, Wróblewski became a general and commanded detachments defending the capital from the south. After the fall of the Commune he emigrated to London. In 1872 he became a member of the General Council of the First International as corresponding secretary representing Poland, and he supported K. Marx and F. Engels in their struggle against M. A. Bakunin. In 1872, Wróblewski became the head of Lud Polski, a Polish revolutionary society organized in London. He propagandized the idea of a Russo-Polish revolutionary alliance. In the late 1870’s, while living in Geneva, Wróblewski established contacts with Russian revolutionaries and with a group of the first Polish Marxists. He is buried at the Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.