The Paris Commune was a popular democratic and socialist government that ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871.
Inspired by Marxist politics and the revolutionary goals of the International Workers' Organization (also known as the First International), the workers of Paris united to overthrow the French regime existing.
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The Commune's elected council passed socialist policies and oversaw city functions for just over two months, until that the French army retook the city for the French government, massacring tens of thousands of Parisians of the upper class. hardworking.
The Paris Commune was formed in the wake of an armistice signed between the Third Republic of France and the Prussians, who besieged the city of Paris from September 1870 to January 1871. The siege ended with the surrender of the French army to the Prussians and the signing of an armistice to end the Franco-Prussian war.
At this time, Paris had a sizable working-class population—about half a million industrial and industrial workers. hundreds of thousands of others – who were economically and politically oppressed by the rulers and the production.
Many of these workers served as soldiers in the National Guard, a volunteer army that worked to protect the city and its inhabitants during the siege.
When the armistice was signed and the Third Republic began its rule, the workers of Paris feared that the new government would put the country back under a monarchy. When the Commune began to form, National Guard members supported the cause and began to fight the French army and the existing government.
Before the armistice, Parisians regularly demonstrated their demand for a democratically elected government for their city. Tensions between supporters of a new government and the existing government increased after news of the French surrender in October 1880.
After the National Guard took over the main places of government and army in Paris in March 1871, the Commune began to take over form when members of a Central Committee organized a democratic election of councilors who would govern the city on behalf of the people.
Sixty councilors were elected and included workers, business people, office workers, journalists, as well as academics and writers. The council ruled that the Commune would have no single leader or anyone with more power than others. Instead, they functioned democratically and made decisions by consensus.
After the council was elected, councilors implemented a series of policies and practices that defined what a socialist government should look like. His policies focused on leveling existing power hierarchies that privileged those in power and the upper classes and oppressed the rest of society.
The Commune abolished the death penalty and compulsory military conscription. Seeking to break down the hierarchies of economic power, they ended night work in the city's bakeries, granted pensions to the families of those who were killed while defending the Commune and abolished the accrual of interest on debts.
Protecting workers' rights vis-à-vis business owners, the Commune ruled that workers could take over a business if it is abandoned by its owner and prohibit employers from fining workers as a form of discipline.
The Commune also governed with secular principles and instituted the separation of church and state. The Council decreed that religion should not be a part of the school and that church property should be public property for all to use.
Communists advocated the establishment of communes in other cities in France. During his reign, others were established in Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Marseille.
The short existence of the Paris Commune was filled with attacks by the French army, acting on behalf of the Third Republic, which moved to Versailles. On May 21, 1871, the army invaded the city and killed tens of thousands of Parisians, including women and children, in the name of retaking the city for the Third Republic.
Members of the Commune and National Guard fought back, but by 28 May the army had defeated the National Guard and the Commune was no more.
In addition, tens of thousands were taken prisoner by the army, many of whom were executed. Those who were killed during the “bloody week” and those executed as prisoners were buried in unmarked graves around the city. One of the sites of a massacre of Communards was at the famous Père-Lachaise cemetery, where there is now a memorial to the dead.
Those familiar with Karl Marx's writing may recognize his politics in the motivation behind the Paris Commune and the values that guided it during its short duration. This is because the advisers, including Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Louis Auguste Blanqui, were affiliated with and inspired by the values and policies of the International Workingmen's Association (also known as the First International).
This organization served as an international unifying center for leftist, communist, socialist, and labor movements. Founded in London in 1864, Marx was an influential member, and the organization's principles and aims reflected those declared by Marx and Engels in 'The Manifesto of the Communist Party'.
One can see in the motives and actions of the communes the class consciousness that Marx believed was necessary for a workers' revolution. Indeed, Marx wrote about the Commune as it was happening and described it as a model of revolutionary and participatory government.