Charles Louis Eugène Protot

Born Jan. 27, 1839, in Carisey, Yonne; died Feb. 17, 1921, in Paris. Member of the Paris Commune (1871); Blanquist.

The son of a peasant, Protot was a lawyer by profession. He was one of the Blanquists participating in the congress of the First International in Geneva (1866). However, because of a clash with other French members of the International, he was compelled to leave the organization. In 1870, during the Prussian siege of Paris, he commanded a battalion of the National Guard. He was elected to the Commune and was a member of its Commission on Justice and Executive Commission. Protot was wounded in the battle with the Versailles troops during May Week. After the destruction of the Commune he emigrated. In 1872 he was sentenced to death in absentia. He returned to France after the 1880 amnesty but remained outside of political life.