Commune de Paris

[Catbus]

What is the general oppinion of the Paris Commune? Could it be considered a temporary workers "state?" Or was there something wrong with it that I'm missing, because it sounds like it was a pretty good thing while it lasted.

[Red_Dialectics]

As Marx said, it was the first Workers Government. The Paris Commune was a brief glimpse of what is possible.

[fmlnleft]

Sorry for asking but who were the Paris Commune?

[Catbus]

Sorry for asking but who were the Paris Commune?


Look up "Commune de Paris" on wikipedia, they have a really good description of what it was.

Essentially it was the first (decent) self-managed workers state. But they ended up getting smashed by the Versailles army.

[Bastable]

Why ask to be told what to believe?

If you want to believe that the Paris commune was a workers state then believe it was a workers state, if you don't, then don't.

[Black Sheep]

Well according to Marx, it was "a workers' state, which had still the characteristics of the bourgeoisie state".That was the reason according to Marx that the whole thing failed.

[Catbus]

Why ask to be told what to believe?

If you want to believe that the Paris commune was a workers state then believe it was a workers state, if you don't, then don't.

I'm not asking what to be told to believe, I'm just wondering what other leftists think about it.

[Tower of Bebel]

Well according to Marx, it was "a workers' state, which had still the characteristics of the bourgeoisie state".That was the reason according to Marx that the whole thing failed.
I don't know. I think Marx only said that a proletarian uprising would be premature (and he was right), but unlike Plechanov during the revolution of 1905 Marx supported the Parisians when they finally did revolt.

It failed because it could not link up to the rest of the country (though many other cities with proletarian masses tried to aid the Commune) and because the revolutionaries fought a defensive war even when an offensive against Versailles (where the bourgeoisie had formed a government) was possible.

The Commune was a workers' government, though when it started the petit-bourgeoisie held the majority of the representatives.

Those who want to know more should read Engels' preface (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/postscript.htm) on the "Civil war in France".