Alain Dalotel

Alain Dalotel, born on February 24, 1943, in Suresnes, France, and died on May 29, 2020, in Bagnolet, France, at the age of 77, was a French historian specializing in the Paris Commune of 1871. He published numerous books and articles between 1978 and 2006 before ceasing his activities following a stroke.

Alain Dalotel led an atypical career as an employee of a pension fund while simultaneously developing an independent academic path, marked by his involvement in the social struggles of the post-1968 era. He was one of the first non-baccalaureate-holding working students at the University of Vincennes, where he prepared a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Jacques Rougerie entitled "Outline of a History of the Democratic and Social Republic in Popincourt: 1870-1871." He rejected a traditional academic career to pursue engaged research on the popular figures of the Commune, such as Ranvier, Avrial, Amouroux, and Raoul Rigault. A working-class activist with revolutionary ideals, h...