Paris Commune

THE HISTORY OF the Paris Commune, a short-lived socialist state in Paris, France, from March to May 1871, is closely tied to the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). As the war ended in defeat for the French, the Prussians thus included in the details of the armistice the occupation of France's capital, Paris. In the face of the threat of foreign occupation, and given the fact that for six months prior the Parisians had withstood the Prussian troops, the local population was greatly defiant of this development—indeed the Parisians merely limited the Parisian occupation by the Prussians to a small section of the city.

The situation was far from suitable for the government of the Third Republic (1870–1945), headed by Louis-Adolphe Adiers, who feared the Parisians would use national guard weaponry to not only arm themselves for protection, but to also provoke the Prussian military forces. On March 18, 1871, French government troops thus entered into Paris with the intention of seizing arms but were met with much resistance. The national guard, for example, refused to hand over their weapons and so the French troops left empty-handed; in so doing forcing the French government to flee the city (to Versailles) and declare war on Paris. While the French government was obviously horrified by the resistance of the Parisian people, to others it was a time of great social hope (including future communists who viewed the events with interest).

The Paris Commune, a worker insurrection, came into being on March 28, 1871, two days after new local government elections were held in Paris. Louis-Auguste Blanqui, a communist who was frequently prepared to use violent means to meet his demands for social justice, headed the new municipal government and within the city much support was found (supporters and members of the regime being known as communards, that is, communists). In the face of war from the national government, the commune passed policies that ended conscription and replaced the previous security force with a new guard created by local citizens—all citizens under the new regime were given the right to bear arms. In addition, all unpaid prewar debts on rent were frozen and pawnshops were forbidden to sell any goods.

The French Revolutionary Calendar was reintroduced (it was previously abolished by Napoleon), all church property also became property of the state, religion was banned from Parisian schools, interest on debts abolished and as noted previously, debt payments suspended. The response by Adiers's government to these developments was to attack the city. The assault began on April 2, 1871, and despite consisting of a much weaker military force, the Parisians were able to maintain control of the city for a number of weeks.

Given their beneficial position, the national government refused to negotiate with the leaders of the Paris Commune and so fighting continued until the commune was forcefully removed. This decision not only meant that large numbers of soldiers (about 900 in total) would be killed, but civilians too. Furthermore, the city, which had received magnificent improvements under Georges Haussmann's scheme, was badly damaged. [Page 339]Fighting continued until each of the 600 or so barricades created by the Parisians fell. During the weeks of resistance by the commune and its supporters, Paris was constantly bombarded by the national government forces. Even though the city wall was breached by late May 1871, the working-class districts of the east still refused to drop their arms and the days from May 21 to May 29, 1871, when the districts of Belleville and Menilmontant continued to resist arrest, is known as La Semaine Sanglante (the blood-soaked week). Estimates of 30,000 deaths have been noted during the period of the Paris Commune as a result of the fighting between French troops and Parisians.

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