"Internationalist" betrayal of the Paris Commune?

[Die Neue Zeit]

When the Paris Commune decided very late to establish a Committee of Public Safety to coordinate necessary defenses, not only did the "Internationalists" vote against, but they resigned after the vote was done. They refused to carry out the majority decision.

At that time, democratic centralism had yet to mature in Germany, but should this refusal be considered a betrayal?

[KurtFF8]

I think you should probably contextualize this a bit more as that's a very specific question and without context some folks, like myself, who are not experts on the Commune won't have any idea what you're talking about.

[PhoenixAsh]

What was their motivation?

[Per Levy]

well, the minority really didnt like the name "Committee of Public Safety" because of its history, not to mention that there was way more conflicts between the majority and minority then just the name. also as far as my history book about the paris commune goes the minorty did go back soon after they walked out.


At that time, democratic centralism had yet to mature in Germany, but should this refusal be considered a betrayal?

i dont see what "democratic centralism" in germany had to do with the paris commune, wich was in france.

as for if this was a betrayal, no it wasnt, there many disputes in the commune and many many things were done wrong(in hindsight) and a lot of arguing was done, yet the minority didnt left paris now did they? many of them died in the fightings and the white terror afterwards.

[Die Neue Zeit]

well, the minority really didnt like the name "Committee of Public Safety" because of its history, not to mention that there was way more conflicts between the majority and minority then just the name. also as far as my history book about the paris commune goes the minorty did go back soon after they walked out.

I apologize for that blurb. I should have given more details on the subject.

However, I should also point out that those same "Internationalists," though not really Marx-aligned, didn't like the idea of a more compact body assuming the key powers of the Communal Council in the first place. It is this, and their walkout afterwards, that is the focal point of my criticism.

To put it in a Russian perspective, it would be like those in the Petrograd Soviet and Congress of Soviets that didn't want to establish the Sovnarkom.


i dont see what "democratic centralism" in germany had to do with the paris commune, wich was in france.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_collective_responsibility

Those "Internationalists" were elected to the Communal Council and had the responsibility of carrying out the decision to establish a more compact body assuming the key powers, irrespective of the name (and regardless if that name is associated with the suppression of the sans culottes social strata and of the more radical elements in the French Revolution).