Paris Commune Dissolves (1871)
Sun May 21, 1871
Image: A barricade in the Paris Commune, March 18th, 1871. [Wikipedia]
On this day in 1871, the Paris Commune, a hotbed of radical working class politics and watershed moment in revolutionary anti-capitalist history, was crushed by the French National Army. 20,000 people were killed and 44,000 arrested.
The Paris Commune was a radical socialist government that had formed in Paris a few months earlier, on March 18th, 1871. The Commune developed a set of progressive, secular, and social democratic policies, although its existence was too brief to implement all of them.
Among these policies were the separation of church and state, abolition of child labor, abolishment of interest on some forms of debt, as well as the right of employees to take over and run an enterprise if it was deserted by its original owner.
The Commune was attacked by the French National Army on May 21st, 1871, beginning the so-called "Bloody Week" which defeated the revolutionary movement. After crushing the rebellion, the French government imprisoned approximately 44,000 people for their role in the uprising. Estimated deaths from the fighting are around 20,000.
The Paris Commune was analyzed by many communist thinkers, including Karl Marx, who identified it as a dictatorship of the proletariat. Vladimir Lenin danced in the snow when the newly formed Bolshevik government lasted longer than the Paris Commune.
The episode inspired similar revolutionary attempts around the world, including in Moscow (1905), Petrograd (1917), and Shanghai (1927 and 1967).
- Date: 1871-05-21
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.jacobinmag.com.
- Tags: #Marxism.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org