MAJOR OMISSIONS, PLUS ERRORS
Other schoolbooks may not have made as flagrant mistakes, but French national programs have the same point of view.
La Commune (1871)
- Pointless erudition: "Provisional Chief of the executive power:" No explanation is given for the clumsy title,* which takes up more than a full line in the short text.
* It left the form of government open, in hopes of restoring monarchy later.
- An unforgivable error: "The latter [Thiers] seizes the cannons to disarm the capital." No! He tries to do so, fails and flees, leaving the vacuum that allows La Commune.
As well, what cannons?
- A major omission: It [The Commune] takes measures that are social (free schooling) and anti-clerical (nationalization of ecclesiastical property)." All western industrialized nations adopt those practices. Commune innovations that challenged the social hierarchy are left out.
- Glossing over massacre: "In May during 'Bloody Week,' the army crushes the Parisian revolt, executing between 20,000 and 30,000 people." The worst massacre to take place in Europe before the Shoah obtains one line more than the ponderous 'Provisional Chief of the executive power' title.
A choice of illustration shows that
La Commune is seen mainly
as a prelude to the Third Republic.
That the Republic was at least as conservative
as would have been a monarchy
is not said.
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