Can somebody explain to me Paris Commune?

[Tovarisch]

Not sure if this is in the right board, so mods please move it to another board if it is not

Can somebody please explain to me what the Paris Commune was about? I looked on Wikipedia, but their explanation was a bit confusing. From what I understand, a big group of workers revolted against the oppressive bourgeoisie and forged a government. How did it collapse, and what did the communards accomplish? If somebody could explain it to me, it would be appreciated, thanks

[ellipsis]

good question, wrong forum, moved to learning.

[mykittyhasaboner]

If you scroll down a bit, you'll find a short narrative about the Commune along with some great sketches.

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/coldoffthepresses/tracutenberg/pariscommune.html


Of course, if you really want to get an idea of what the Paris Commune was all about then you should read Marx's The Civil War in France.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm

[Olentzero]

A very good brief "people's history" of the Commune is Donny Gluckstein's The Paris Commune: A Revolutionary Democracy (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/The-Paris-Commune) which goes into some good detail around the Franco-Prussian War, which was more or less the main impetus for the Commune. I second kitty there in reading Marx' Civil War in France, but I suggest the Gluckstein first to get yourself oriented to the situation. Marx was writing about it in the thick of things to people who knew who was who and what was going on; it's pretty hard to tell the players without a scorecard.

Basically, France got solidly thumped in the war and its terms of surrender left Paris - already strained to the breaking point with rapidly accelerating class differences - starving. As part of an employment scheme, the city had organized citizen's militias, and at some point those militias took up collections to buy their own cannon. Shortly after the end of the war the French military decided they were going to seize those cannons - something about an armed citizenry made them uneasy - and the day they moved in to seize them the workers of Paris rallied to hold on to them. It was from there they started trying to run the city for themselves; disorganized and weak as it was for its seventy-one days, it was the first time the working class really stepped onto the stage of history.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Not sure if this is in the right board, so mods please move it to another board if it is not

Can somebody please explain to me what the Paris Commune was about? I looked on Wikipedia, but their explanation was a bit confusing. From what I understand, a big group of workers revolted against the oppressive bourgeoisie and forged a government. How did it collapse, and what did the communards accomplish? If somebody could explain it to me, it would be appreciated, thanks

People pretty much answered the "what was it" question. I'd just add that some of the background is that because of the war there was an uprising which led to a new "Republican" government and when the city of Paris was under siege the French government hired people to be militiamen in order to keep people occupied and receiving a welfare-type wage. The side effect was that then there were a bunch of armed unemployed workers hanging out together and - most importantly - electing and voting for their officers. The working class militiamen wanted the population armed to resist the siege and the Prussians but the French government wanted to negotiate while the population starved. So that's why people in Paris wanted to control the defensive weapons when they slowly began to realize that the government wasn't interested in their welfare - also they were angry shop-owners were hording and profiteering off the siege.

Although there were internal problems with the Commune, it didn't collapse, it was crushed by the French military which put more effort in crushing Parisian revolutionaries than defending the city.

[NineOneFour]

I wrote my thesis on the Paris Commune. I can probably talk anyone's head off about the subject until everyone is bored but will refrain from inflicting that level of pain. :D

[Stalin Ate My Homework]

I wrote my thesis on the Paris Commune. I can probably talk anyone's head off about the subject until everyone is bored but will refrain from inflicting that level of pain. :D

If you have your thesis stored on your computer, why not share it with us comrade?:)

[NineOneFour]

If you have your thesis stored on your computer, why not share it with us comrade?:)


I would if I did. :(

Great screen name though! :thumbup1:

[Revolution starts with U]

Talk at length brother. That's what we're here for.

[NineOneFour]

Talk at length brother. That's what we're here for.

Well, that's refreshing to say the least.

My thesis examined the class background of the leaders of the Commune and determined that at least a third were bourgeosie, and linked the Commune to previous revolts in Paris. The idea that the Commune was solely a Communist and pro-Marxist uprising is really a myth that was perpetuated later on. Blanc and Blanqui were the inspirations for the Commune to some extent. There were dedicated Marxists among the leadership, but they were hardly even a large majority. Marx's influence grew during and after the Commune.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Well, that's refreshing to say the least.

My thesis examined the class background of the leaders of the Commune and determined that at least a third were bourgeosie, and linked the Commune to previous revolts in Paris. The idea that the Commune was solely a Communist and pro-Marxist uprising is really a myth that was perpetuated later on. Blanc and Blanqui were the inspirations for the Commune to some extent. There were dedicated Marxists among the leadership, but they were hardly even a large majority. Marx's influence grew during and after the Commune.
I've also read that the middle-class delegates to the Commune were the ones who were proposing the radical ideas, whereas the rather small working-class delegates put forth moderate reforms.