Théophile Ferré was a leader of the Paris Commune who was executed by the French government on this day in 1871. Ferré personally authorized the execution of the archbishop of Paris and was the first of 25 Communards to be executed.

Little is known about Ferré's early life, before his participation in the Paris Commune. After Paris was seized by revolutionaries in March 1871, Ferré served on the Commune's Committee of Public Safety, a body given extensive powers to hunt down enemies of the Commune.

On April 5th, the Commune passed a decree that authorized the arrest of any person thought to be loyal to the French government in Versailles, to be held as hostages. Prominent figures arrested included a Catholic priest Georges Darboy and the archbishop of Paris. The Commune hoped to exchange their hostages for Louis-Auguste Blanqui, a revolutionary and honorary President of the Commune, imprisoned by the state.

Following the events of the "Bloody Week", in which the French government summarily executed many suspected Communards, Ferré authorized the execution of several hostages, including Darboy and the archbishop.

After the resistance of the Commune collapsed, Ferré was captured by the army, tried by a military court, and sentenced to death. On November 28th, 1871, he was shot at Satory, an army camp southwest of Versailles. He was the first of twenty-five Communards to be executed for their role in the Paris Commune.

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    • asa_red_heathen [he/him]
      ·
      28 days ago

      Yeah plenty of amature weavers make their own cards from playing cards, though normally they just cut them into squares which is way easier than cutting them into hexagons lol. Its just the right material to be easy to cut while also being strong enough to hold up to the tension of the warp, but you can make them out of anything cardboard, cardstock, wood, bone, metal maybe. I prefer the feel of the plastic cards I usually use; theyre a lot stiffer than playing cards. These do technically work, theyre just a little hard to manipulate. I think I put the holes too close to the edges on these because the thread gets in the way of rotating them pretty easily.

      • someone [comrade/them, they/them]
        ·
        28 days ago

        I'm wondering if PLA plastic cards printed from a regular 3D printer would be a suitable material choice. It would be pretty easy to design whatever size and shape and hole arrangement would work for the weaving.

        • asa_red_heathen [he/him]
          ·
          28 days ago

          Yeah that would totally work. Ive seen 3d printed tablets for sale on etsy. They're a bit thicker but they should work just fine.

          • someone [comrade/them, they/them]
            ·
            28 days ago

            Cool! I've seen weaving-related projects available for download on various places like this one, but I wasn't sure if the PLA plastic would cause unwanted abrasion of the thread or other issues. I have no personal experience with weaving aside from what I've read about jacquard looms in the context of computing history. But it's always fascinated me how such complex arrangements of threads and cards can turn into beautiful patterns.