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The term "Paris Commune" (French: La Commune de Paris) originally referred to the government of Paris during the French Revolution. However, the term more commonly refers to the socialist government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 (more formally from March 26) to May 28, 1871.
In a formal sense the Paris Commune of 1871 was simply the local authority (council of a town or district — French "commune") which exercised power in Paris for two months in the spring of 1871. But the conditions in which it was formed, its controversial decrees and tortured end make it one of the more important political episodes of the time.
Background
The Commune was the result of an uprising of republicans, democrats and patriots within Paris after the Franco-Prussian War ended with French defeat. The war with Prussia, started by Napoleon III ("Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte") in July 1870, turned out disastrously for the French and by September Paris itself was under siege. The gap between rich and poor in the capital had widened in recent years and now food shortages, military failures, and finally a German bombardment were adding to an already widespread discontent. Parisians, especially workers and the lower-middle classes, had long been supporters of a democratic republic. A specific demand was that Paris should be self-governing, with its own elected council, something enjoyed by smaller French towns, but denied to Paris by a government wary of the capital's unruly populace. An associated but more vague wish was for a fairer, if not necessarily socialist, way of managing the economy, summed up in the popular cry for "la république démocratique et sociale!" More on [ Paris Commune ]
Franco Prussian War :: Wars and Conflicts
Revolution :: Politics
Socialism :: Politics
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Vaneigem) - Situationist theses on the Paris Commune of 1871
Meta Description: [ Situationist theses on the Paris Commune of 1871 ]
CLR James on the Paris Commune - Appeared under a pseudonym in the 18 March 1946 issue of Labor Action, newspaper of the Workers Party of the United States.
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English Historical Review: The Paris Commune, 1871 - John M. Roberts reviews the book by Robert Tombs.
Franco Prussian War and the Paris Commune - Background information as well as a guide to documents held by the British Library.
History of the Paris Commune - History of the first workers government ever created. Timeline of events, image gallery, overview of how the Commune operated and works on the Paris Commune by Karl Marx, Jenny Marx and Henri Lissagaray.
Meta Description: [ History of the first workers government ever created; Paris France, 1871 ]
Last Stand of the Paris Commune - Article published in Metropole Paris.
Lessons of the Paris Commune - February 1921 article by Leon Trotsky.
Meta Description: [ Lessons of the Paris Commune ]
Martyrs of the Paris Commune - Article from the Catholic Encyclopedia on the priests who were killed in Paris in May 1871.
Meta Description: [ Article on the priests who were killed in Paris in May 1871 ]
One Day Under the Paris Commune, 1871 - Contemporary article written by a journalist who was in Paris during the uprising.
Paris Commune - March 1998 article from La Forge, organ of the Communist Party of the Workers of France.
Paris Commune Archive - Contemporary articles and documents, analysis, bibliography and images from the Commune.
Paris Commune: Myth vs. Reality - Anarchist critique of Marxist views on the Paris Commune.
The Paris Commune - Anarchist essay and critique of Karl Marx's views on the Paris Commune.
The Paris Commune (1871) - Article from the Workers Solidarity Movement.
The Paris Commune 1871: When Workers First Took State Power - Matthew Jones writes about the Commune from a socialist perspective.
The Paris Commune of 1871 - Norman Barth recounts the story of the Paris Commune.
The Paris Commune told in pictures - A series of etchings tell the story of the revolutionary government formed in 1871.
Meta Description: [ The Paris Commune told in pictures | ]
The Paris Commune, by Courbet and the Camera - Mary Blume of the International Herald Tribune on an exhibition of photographs of the Commune by Gustave Courbet.
Meta Description: [ Search from The International Herald Tribune, The world's daily newspaper, edited and printed in Paris. ]
Wikipedia: Paris Commune - Article on the revolutionary government formed in Paris in 1871.
| pour la nuit et pour mardi matin". La neige est aussi tombée sur Paris, la capitale, mais avait fondu dans la journée ... | |
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