Le Père Duchesne
 Cover of issue no. 25 of Hébert's Le Père Duchesne
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Editor | Jacques Hébert |
| Founded | 1790 |
| Political alignment |
Hebertism, Political radicalism |
| Language | French |
| Ceased publication | 24 March 1794 |
| Headquarters | Paris, French Republic |
| Circulation | unknown |
Le Père Duchesne (French pronunciation: [lə pɛʁ dyʃɛn], Old Man Duchesne or Father Duchesne) was an extreme radical newspaper during the French Revolution, edited by Jacques Hébert, who published 385 issues from September 1790 until eleven days before his death by guillotine, which took place on March 24, 1794.
To be denounced as an enemy of the Republic by Le père Duchesne often led to the guillotine. The journal never hesitated to ask, in its own words, that the "carriage with thirty-six doors" lead such and such a "toad of the Marais", "to sneeze in the bag", "to ask the time from the fanlight", "to try on Capet's necktie".
Born in the fairs of the 18th century, Père Duchesne was a character representing the man of the people, always moved to denounce abuses and injustices. This imaginary character is found in a text entitled le plat de Carnaval ("the Carnival dish"), as well as an anonymous minor work in February 1789 called "Journey of Père Duchesne to Versailles" or "Père Duchesne's Anger at the Prospect of Abuses" in the same year.
In 1789, several pamphlets had been published under this name. In 1790, an employee of the post office by the name of Antoine Lemaire and Abbé Jean-Charles Jumel had been attacked in newspapers resorting to the fictional pseudonym Père Duchesne, but the Père Duchesne of Hébert, the one whom the street-criers sold by yelling, "Père Duchesne's damn angry today!" was distinguished by the violence which characterized his style.
From 1790 to 1791, Père Duchesne represented the Jacobin Club, and eulogized King Louis XVI and the Marquis de La Fayette for their attempts to balance out the power of aristocrats and the people of France. After the king's attempted flight to Varennes the writers changed their views of Louis and blamed Marie Antoinette and Jean-Sifrein Maury, the great defender of papal authority against the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. In 1792, the government printed certain issues of Père Duchesne at the expense of the Republic, in order to distribute them to the army to rouse soldiers from a torpor considered dangerous to public safety.
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