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The Paris Commune 1871: lessons for democracy?An experiment in people power |
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The Paris Commune 1871: lessons for democracy?An experiment in people power |
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Like all complex historical events, the Commune has been interpreted in many different ways. At one extreme we have had the view that the Commune was a passing episode of mob rule, quelled by soldiers loyal to the legitimate government. At the other extreme, the Commune has been claimed as the first example of a so-called "workers' state" and compared with the USSR in 1917. |
| This site contains information which today is generally accepted as being correct. It makes a modest start in translating some primary sources (including actual sessions of the Commune) which have not hitherto appeared in English. And it links to numerous other web resources, as well as listing books and organisations, many of which have a distinct political stance. The site does not, itself, adopt a political position. But it does concentrate on a feature of the Commune which could have the greatest relevance for us today. (And - oh yes - it also gives a page to the best-known song of the Commune, Le temps des cerises, a verse of which has been streamed for your instant listening. If you enjoy it, you will be in the company of thousands of Parisians, for it has retained its popularity into our own days, and more than one restaurant is named after it!) Here goes with the summary...
There had been a war (the Franco-Prussian War) which had ended with a long siege of Paris. During the siege the government had rather unwillingly allowed a large "National Guard" to form, in which all Parisian males could enrol. (The men in our pictures were members.)
So on 18th March 1871 regular soldiers were sent to seize the Guard's cannon, which were in depots at Montmartre and other places in Paris. But things went very wrong. Instead of doing their "duty", the government's soldiers fraternised with the Guard and with the ordinary people! The government took fright, and fled to Versailles, with those soldiers who remained loyal.
Instead, the Commune flourished and quickly became the de facto authority in Paris. Its success in incredibly difficult circumstances was due chiefly to the continuing, democratic participation of the people who had elected it. These organisations were often called "clubs" and worked largely through general meetings, debates and consensus. When the Commune was elected its members (paid only the wage of a skilled craftsman) often worked closely with the local organs of self-management ("autogestion"), whose activities became, if anything, even more crucial. Meanwhile, in Versailles the former government was trying to rebuild (with Prussian help) its defeated professional army. It had been forced to accept that Paris, with its own Communal government, could thrive. The Parisians and their elected representatives - who were, in fact, delegates rather than representatives, subject to recall and always answerable to their voters - managed to run all the vital services. They didn't get round to resuming the war with Germany, whose troops continued to remain encamped around Paris. But they made a start on some very progressive social reforms - though the Commune was denied time to implement them all:
The clubs remained active, like the club Michel, which organised the fight against speculators, and the club Ambroise which organised the requisition of necessities in its district. Of course, several political tendencies were represented in the Commune: some of its members were supporters of Marx's International of Workingmen, others embraced a Jacobinism which had its roots in the French Revolution, there were admirers of Blanqui and Proudhon, as well as many with no political affiliation at all. It is also true that the vision of a society not based on a commodity economy, without wage-labour and whose dynamic would not be profit, was barely glimpsed. On the other hand, for most delegates, human needs took precedence over those of the capitalist market.
There have been other attempts to introduce social and political structures which involve true participatory democracy and self-management. However, these have always been on a small scale or in simple, backward and undeveloped societies.
After 2 months, the government attacked and re-occupied the city. The horrors which accompanied the repression of the Paris Commune are a sad reminder of the profound fear many of us have, of truly radical social change. |
Selected web sitesLinks on the web are numerous but not always very informative. The ones here are recommended.
Additional information: An interesting account of the association as it was in 1997 is given in a DEA (Ph.D thesis) by Marc César, which can be read at CUJAS, the inter-university library in Paris. The press mark is 24.421/1997/966_A. The organisation was for several years associated with the PCF (French Communist Party.) After the collapse of Stalinist "communism" it had an influx of members who were more interested in learning about an alternative model to market capitalism than in the electoral fortunes of the PCF, and this development has begun to be reflected in its orientation.
Paris, 1968
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Recommended books
POPULAR GENERAL HISTORIES
FilmographyAll films produced in France unless otherwise stated.
DOCUMENTARY FILMS ON THE COMMUNE
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The men in the pictures don't look much like professional soldiers, do they?
And that's because they aren't - or rather, weren't. Seen here on ceremonial parade,
they were ordinary Paris workmen or perhaps small shopkeepers. But despite their un-martial appearance they were prepared to die in the defence of their city council or "commune".
Paris, if not France, was now without a government. And so the the National Guard organised elections for a commune (which from now on should receive a capital "C") and the members duly took office on 26th March.
The government had taken with it to Versailles its bureaucrats and as many "specialists" (from engineers and doctors, to postmasters, with their stock of stamps!) as were willing to come. It was confident that without "experts" the newly-elected Commune would collapse within a week or two.