A brief (and somewhat biased) history of the Paris Commune
Gather round. It's time for me to go tl;dr about the Paris Commune.
A lot has been made of the Paris Commune, for various reasons -- mostly because it's where Marx derived the term "communism" from -- and it's been romanticised a lot. I'll say upfront that I'm not exempt from said romanticisation, but I'll try to be as objective as possible (keyword being "try"). I don't doubt there's much better historical scholarship on the Commune than what I'm about to write, but I've got a book of collected and contextualised first-hand accounts ("La Commune de Paris racontée par les Parisiens") next to me and I'm ready to roll.
So let's roll!
First, a bit of context. From July 19 1870 to January 29 1871, France is at war with Prussia. This war ends with the creation of a unified German state, headed by Otto von Bismarck, just according to keikaku (Translator’s note: Keikaku means plan).
This unified German state, the German Empire, or Second Reich, contains a part of France. This part of France is Alsace-Lorraine, a region bordering Germany with a Germanophone majority. According to Bismarck's keikaku of uniting all German-speaking people under one banner, the division of the territory was done along linguistic lines -- hence why the territoire de Belfort, a majorly francophone part of Alsace, remained French.
The French HATE THIS. Dear God, do they hate it. Reclaiming Alsace-Lorraine was the main reason France jumped feet first into WW1. But that's a story for another time.
But let's back up a bit.
In early September 1870, two things happen. One: Paris learns that that the Prussians intend to besiege it. All of Paris: FUCKING COME AT ME, BRO. Two: France decides that the middle of an all-out war is the best time to have a revolution and switches from being an Empire (the Second Empire) to being a Republic (the Third Republic).
Yes, that means the war started with the Second Empire vs the Germans and ended with the Second Empire vs the French.
The siege of Paris lasts from September 17 1870 to January 26 1871. On October 31 1870 and on January 22 1871, there are uprisings with the avowed goal of preventing the French government from surrendering to the Germans. They didn't suffer through a fucking siege just so the government can roll over and surrender!
So when the government does roll over and surrender, Paris is pissed. And when the Prussians start parading down the Champs-Elysées in early March (a condition they imposed in the peace treaty), Paris gets even angrier. But fine.
FINE.
The fuckers from the government fucking surrendered French soil to those German fuckers, but fine. They had to empty the Tuileries of the wounded that were being treated there just so Emperor Wilhelm can get lunch in the Tuileries? Fuck that guy, but fine. FINE.
Paris is dealing. Not well, but Paris is dealing. And then the government of the Third Republic makes a series of COLOSSAL MISTAKES.
In the first elections of the Third Republic, two-thirds of the people elected to the National Assembly are some flavour of monarchists. You've got your bonapartists ("let's put an Emperor Napoleon on the throne!" -- 20), fine, okay, but you've also got your royalists, both legitimists and orleanists ("let's put a Bourbon king on the throne!" -- 182 and 214 respectively, for a total of 396). The people of Paris, who have never been great fans of kings (see: 1358, 1648, 1789...) are severely side-eyeing said National Assembly, because come on! They just got rid of an Emperor, it's not so they can put a king in his place! It's a legitimate fear, too, because France has gone from Republic to Empire or Monarchy before. Nobody wants that to happen again.
MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: The National Assembly does not return to Paris once the siege is over. Instead, it decides, because Paris is "the capital of the revolutionary ideal" (and I quote!), to go siege in Versailles. Versailles, the historical seat of power of the French kings. Oops.
MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: After the end of the war, the National Assembly stop paying the National Guard and reinstate taxes in Paris, pushing many inhabitants either to the edge or straight into bankruptcy. Doesn't exactly convince Paris the government cares about the people.
MISTAKE NUMBER THREE: While the Prussian army is still in the general region of Paris, the French government decides to reclaim the cannons of Paris. Now, it should be mentioned that at least some, if not all, of the cannons were forged by the Parisians themselves. So when the French government tries to take the cannons of Paris, after having subjected its inhabitants to a pointless siege, while the enemy is still at the gates? Fuck that.
FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
At this point in time, on March 18 1871, everyone in Paris resents the government: the popular classes because they feel 'their' revolution of 1870 is being co-opted by the upper classes, the middle classes because they fear the return of the monarchy and the army because they feel they were sacrificed for nothing. When the officers order the army to fire on the crowd that's gathered to stop them from taking the cannons, the army says "no" and the crowd says "and also, fuck you".
And in that moment is born the Paris Commune.
It's the perfect storm of betrayed patriotism, fearful anti-monarchism and angry resentment. It could happen like this in no other time, in no other place. After a near-century of revolutions and counter-revolutions, this is the apotheosis of the Paris rebellion. Paris declares independence and tells France it's going to go it alone.
It doesn't quite start as a political thing, more as a kneejerk reaction to being fucked over the French government. Again.
It doesn't start as a political thing, but it becomes one. Everybody's on the barricades -- left over from the Prussian siege, funny how that works out -- both workers and small business owners. Young, old. Men, women. Everybody. Well. Almost. A lot of the upper-class (those few that hadn't fled during the siege) flees the city for Versailles.
(Aside: during the last week of March 1871, other French cities, mostly in the South, such as Toulouse and Narbonne, also declare a Commune. None of these last longer than a week.)
On March 26, the Commune holds municipal elections. In most boroughs of the city, Communards win the elections. However, in several places, they do not or else there is a sizeable minority who voted for Versailles-aligned candidates. Say what you want about la Commune, but it was an elected government. For Paris, that beats a monarchy, any day.
(Aside: on April 2 1871, the Paris Commune declares the separation of Church and State. This, along with every law of the Commune, will be considered null and void when the Commune ends. However, in 1905, France declares the separation of Church and State again and has been a non-religious country ever since.)
Paris, Communard or not, is united in two things: hate for the Prussians (still hanging out in Saint-Denis) and defending the Republic. Nobody wants a civil war. Nobody, not even Adolphe Thiers, leader of the French government.
And yet.
Fear of the Prussians laying siege to Paris again is polarising public opinion: better deal with the enemy within before the enemy without attacks. The Commune creates a war council. The Versaillais start attacking Communard positions. The Commune decrees that for every shot Communard, 3 hostages will be shot.
The Versaillais start bombarding Paris. They also cut all supply lines to Paris.
(Aside: The Commune starts organising means of production. Resettlement of victims of the bombardments is organised. Working at night is outlawed. Arbitrary arrests are outlawed -- in essence, habeas corpus is installed. It establishes that children born out of wedlock are equal to children born within wedlock in the eyes of the law. In other important feminism news: women of the Commune demand equal pay; for school teachers, this is put in place.)
On May 8, Thiers issues an ultimatum to the people of Paris. The Commune replies by destroying Thiers' Parisian house. Tensions keep rising.
On May 21, the Commune is betrayed and the Versaillais troops enter the city. This begins what is known as "la Semaine Sanglante" ("the Bloody Week") which kind of tells you all you need to know about it.
The people of Paris fight valiantly, men and women alike. Here's Louise Michel*, one of (if not) the most famous Communardes, wearing the Communard uniform.
The Commune executes its hostages, the Versaillais shoot unarmed people in the street. Paris catches fire.
No, I mean, literally.
The Tuileries are on fire. City Hall and the Préfecture de Police burn as well. Paris, quite simply, is burning.
From this point on, there will be no clemency for the Communards. Common wisdom holds that it was the Communards that set Paris on fire, but common wisdom is, as ever, a liar. Did some of the Communards become arsonists in the Commune's dying days? Quite probably. Did the Versaillais use incendiary bombs? Absolutely they did.
Paris is on fire and blood runs in the streets, but it's fire set by both sides and blood shed by both sides.
It's a slaughter. Listen. They use machine guns inside the city walls! Summary execution by Versaillais troops continue even after the end of the civil war.
The Commune's last stand is in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Not to spoil the ending for you or anything, but when you're having your last stand in a cemetery, it's not exactly a good omen, is it?
About two thousand Versaillais (hostages included) are killed. Somewhere between ten and twenty thousand Parisians were killed as Communards. In 2016 (29/11), the Communards are rehabilitated by the French government.
The Commune ends on May 28 1871. It has lasted 72 days. It left behind a wall full of bullets holes in Père Lachaise Cemetery, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica (built on the site of the first insurrection to "expiate the sins of the fédérés") and France as it is today.
Because you know what? We never did get a monarchy again.
No lie, "The Paris Commune survives somehow" is right up there with "Carthage wins the Punic Wars" as far as my favourite alternate history scenario go.
* Louise Michel's really rad. She asked to be shot along with the rest of the Communards -- "Puisqu'il semble que tout cœur qui bat pour la liberté n'a droit aujourd'hui qu'à un peu de plomb, j'en réclame ma part" ("Since it seems every heart that fights for liberty is today given only lead, I demand my share") -- was deported to New Caledonia, sides with the Kanaks against the French government, returns to Paris accalimed by the crowd (shouting "Vive la Commune!" and "Down with the assassins!") and becomes an anarchist. She never stopped fighting. Podcast on Louise Michel (in French).
(I'm also really fond of La danse des bombes, a song based on a poem by Louise Michel.)
This entry was originally posted at https://dhampyresa.dreamwidth.org/170887.html and has
comments over there.
A lot has been made of the Paris Commune, for various reasons -- mostly because it's where Marx derived the term "communism" from -- and it's been romanticised a lot. I'll say upfront that I'm not exempt from said romanticisation, but I'll try to be as objective as possible (keyword being "try"). I don't doubt there's much better historical scholarship on the Commune than what I'm about to write, but I've got a book of collected and contextualised first-hand accounts ("La Commune de Paris racontée par les Parisiens") next to me and I'm ready to roll.
So let's roll!
First, a bit of context. From July 19 1870 to January 29 1871, France is at war with Prussia. This war ends with the creation of a unified German state, headed by Otto von Bismarck, just according to keikaku (Translator’s note: Keikaku means plan).
This unified German state, the German Empire, or Second Reich, contains a part of France. This part of France is Alsace-Lorraine, a region bordering Germany with a Germanophone majority. According to Bismarck's keikaku of uniting all German-speaking people under one banner, the division of the territory was done along linguistic lines -- hence why the territoire de Belfort, a majorly francophone part of Alsace, remained French.
The French HATE THIS. Dear God, do they hate it. Reclaiming Alsace-Lorraine was the main reason France jumped feet first into WW1. But that's a story for another time.
But let's back up a bit.
In early September 1870, two things happen. One: Paris learns that that the Prussians intend to besiege it. All of Paris: FUCKING COME AT ME, BRO. Two: France decides that the middle of an all-out war is the best time to have a revolution and switches from being an Empire (the Second Empire) to being a Republic (the Third Republic).
Yes, that means the war started with the Second Empire vs the Germans and ended with the Second Empire vs the French.
The siege of Paris lasts from September 17 1870 to January 26 1871. On October 31 1870 and on January 22 1871, there are uprisings with the avowed goal of preventing the French government from surrendering to the Germans. They didn't suffer through a fucking siege just so the government can roll over and surrender!
So when the government does roll over and surrender, Paris is pissed. And when the Prussians start parading down the Champs-Elysées in early March (a condition they imposed in the peace treaty), Paris gets even angrier. But fine.
FINE.
The fuckers from the government fucking surrendered French soil to those German fuckers, but fine. They had to empty the Tuileries of the wounded that were being treated there just so Emperor Wilhelm can get lunch in the Tuileries? Fuck that guy, but fine. FINE.
Paris is dealing. Not well, but Paris is dealing. And then the government of the Third Republic makes a series of COLOSSAL MISTAKES.
In the first elections of the Third Republic, two-thirds of the people elected to the National Assembly are some flavour of monarchists. You've got your bonapartists ("let's put an Emperor Napoleon on the throne!" -- 20), fine, okay, but you've also got your royalists, both legitimists and orleanists ("let's put a Bourbon king on the throne!" -- 182 and 214 respectively, for a total of 396). The people of Paris, who have never been great fans of kings (see: 1358, 1648, 1789...) are severely side-eyeing said National Assembly, because come on! They just got rid of an Emperor, it's not so they can put a king in his place! It's a legitimate fear, too, because France has gone from Republic to Empire or Monarchy before. Nobody wants that to happen again.
MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: The National Assembly does not return to Paris once the siege is over. Instead, it decides, because Paris is "the capital of the revolutionary ideal" (and I quote!), to go siege in Versailles. Versailles, the historical seat of power of the French kings. Oops.
MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: After the end of the war, the National Assembly stop paying the National Guard and reinstate taxes in Paris, pushing many inhabitants either to the edge or straight into bankruptcy. Doesn't exactly convince Paris the government cares about the people.
MISTAKE NUMBER THREE: While the Prussian army is still in the general region of Paris, the French government decides to reclaim the cannons of Paris. Now, it should be mentioned that at least some, if not all, of the cannons were forged by the Parisians themselves. So when the French government tries to take the cannons of Paris, after having subjected its inhabitants to a pointless siege, while the enemy is still at the gates? Fuck that.
FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
At this point in time, on March 18 1871, everyone in Paris resents the government: the popular classes because they feel 'their' revolution of 1870 is being co-opted by the upper classes, the middle classes because they fear the return of the monarchy and the army because they feel they were sacrificed for nothing. When the officers order the army to fire on the crowd that's gathered to stop them from taking the cannons, the army says "no" and the crowd says "and also, fuck you".
And in that moment is born the Paris Commune.
It's the perfect storm of betrayed patriotism, fearful anti-monarchism and angry resentment. It could happen like this in no other time, in no other place. After a near-century of revolutions and counter-revolutions, this is the apotheosis of the Paris rebellion. Paris declares independence and tells France it's going to go it alone.
It doesn't quite start as a political thing, more as a kneejerk reaction to being fucked over the French government. Again.
It doesn't start as a political thing, but it becomes one. Everybody's on the barricades -- left over from the Prussian siege, funny how that works out -- both workers and small business owners. Young, old. Men, women. Everybody. Well. Almost. A lot of the upper-class (those few that hadn't fled during the siege) flees the city for Versailles.
(Aside: during the last week of March 1871, other French cities, mostly in the South, such as Toulouse and Narbonne, also declare a Commune. None of these last longer than a week.)
On March 26, the Commune holds municipal elections. In most boroughs of the city, Communards win the elections. However, in several places, they do not or else there is a sizeable minority who voted for Versailles-aligned candidates. Say what you want about la Commune, but it was an elected government. For Paris, that beats a monarchy, any day.
(Aside: on April 2 1871, the Paris Commune declares the separation of Church and State. This, along with every law of the Commune, will be considered null and void when the Commune ends. However, in 1905, France declares the separation of Church and State again and has been a non-religious country ever since.)
Paris, Communard or not, is united in two things: hate for the Prussians (still hanging out in Saint-Denis) and defending the Republic. Nobody wants a civil war. Nobody, not even Adolphe Thiers, leader of the French government.
And yet.
Fear of the Prussians laying siege to Paris again is polarising public opinion: better deal with the enemy within before the enemy without attacks. The Commune creates a war council. The Versaillais start attacking Communard positions. The Commune decrees that for every shot Communard, 3 hostages will be shot.
The Versaillais start bombarding Paris. They also cut all supply lines to Paris.
(Aside: The Commune starts organising means of production. Resettlement of victims of the bombardments is organised. Working at night is outlawed. Arbitrary arrests are outlawed -- in essence, habeas corpus is installed. It establishes that children born out of wedlock are equal to children born within wedlock in the eyes of the law. In other important feminism news: women of the Commune demand equal pay; for school teachers, this is put in place.)
On May 8, Thiers issues an ultimatum to the people of Paris. The Commune replies by destroying Thiers' Parisian house. Tensions keep rising.
On May 21, the Commune is betrayed and the Versaillais troops enter the city. This begins what is known as "la Semaine Sanglante" ("the Bloody Week") which kind of tells you all you need to know about it.
The people of Paris fight valiantly, men and women alike. Here's Louise Michel*, one of (if not) the most famous Communardes, wearing the Communard uniform.
The Commune executes its hostages, the Versaillais shoot unarmed people in the street. Paris catches fire.
No, I mean, literally.
The Tuileries are on fire. City Hall and the Préfecture de Police burn as well. Paris, quite simply, is burning.
From this point on, there will be no clemency for the Communards. Common wisdom holds that it was the Communards that set Paris on fire, but common wisdom is, as ever, a liar. Did some of the Communards become arsonists in the Commune's dying days? Quite probably. Did the Versaillais use incendiary bombs? Absolutely they did.
Paris is on fire and blood runs in the streets, but it's fire set by both sides and blood shed by both sides.
It's a slaughter. Listen. They use machine guns inside the city walls! Summary execution by Versaillais troops continue even after the end of the civil war.
The Commune's last stand is in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Not to spoil the ending for you or anything, but when you're having your last stand in a cemetery, it's not exactly a good omen, is it?
About two thousand Versaillais (hostages included) are killed. Somewhere between ten and twenty thousand Parisians were killed as Communards. In 2016 (29/11), the Communards are rehabilitated by the French government.
The Commune ends on May 28 1871. It has lasted 72 days. It left behind a wall full of bullets holes in Père Lachaise Cemetery, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica (built on the site of the first insurrection to "expiate the sins of the fédérés") and France as it is today.
Because you know what? We never did get a monarchy again.
No lie, "The Paris Commune survives somehow" is right up there with "Carthage wins the Punic Wars" as far as my favourite alternate history scenario go.
* Louise Michel's really rad. She asked to be shot along with the rest of the Communards -- "Puisqu'il semble que tout cœur qui bat pour la liberté n'a droit aujourd'hui qu'à un peu de plomb, j'en réclame ma part" ("Since it seems every heart that fights for liberty is today given only lead, I demand my share") -- was deported to New Caledonia, sides with the Kanaks against the French government, returns to Paris accalimed by the crowd (shouting "Vive la Commune!" and "Down with the assassins!") and becomes an anarchist. She never stopped fighting. Podcast on Louise Michel (in French).
(I'm also really fond of La danse des bombes, a song based on a poem by Louise Michel.)
This entry was originally posted at https://dhampyresa.dreamwidth.org/170887.html and has
comments over there.