LA COMMUNE NOW OCCUPIES A FOUR-METER PASSAGE, WEDGED BETWEEN SPACES ABOUT ELITES
The first space is devoted to the Baron Haussmann...
The second to the privileged of 1900:
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La Commune is inserted in the short corridor between them. At its start a small picture of washerwomen. It is a rare work in the museum to show working-class people, but has no connection with what is supposed to be the topic.
Next to it is an account with the same bias as that of the textbook just described. As well, the letters are so small that the account is hard to read.
The 72 days of the Commune of Paris
(March 18 - May 28 1871)
The defeat leaves France divided. The decapitalization of Paris in March is rejected by the Parisian population. [No mention of social measures.] The national guards create a republican federation (hence the name "fédérés") and regroup on the heights of Montmartre and Belleville. [And throughout the underclass east, north and south]. Adolf Thiers, head of the executive power, orders that 277 cannons [no, 177: an error that reveals the writer's ignorance, as here and here] of Montmartre be taken back, but his troops retreat to Versailles. The political leader and writer Jules Vallès writes, "Paris is reconquered." [An individual replaces the humble population.] On March 26 a general council is elected, in homage to the insurrectional commune of 1792-1794. It is the first experience of communal self-government in [untrue for Paris and for a number of European cities] revolutionary history. The Commune is proclaimed on March 28. A number of measures are adopted (separation of Church and State, recognition of concubinage, election of officials and judges, citizens' control of officials, education of girls... ) [Skips measures that contest the social hierarchy]. But on May 21 mai, Thiers's army invades south-western Paris. The Communards set fire to a number of public buildings on May 23 and 24 [Nothing on army destructions]. 7000 - 10,000 people [a number that is much too low] die during Bloody Week (May 21-28 1871), which marks the end of the Commune.
- Then comes a work about communicating by balloon during the siege of Paris, a service whose cost reserved it to the wealthy. It eats into a large part of La Commune's minuscule space.
In the area that remains:
- On one side of the passage, figures who were secondary at best:
The balloon painting on the left takes up part of the passage.
From left to right
- Auguste Blanqui. As a prisoner of Versailles he played no role in La Commune.
- Jules Vallès's compagnon in the 1880's, who was 13 at the time of La Commune.
- Bust of the marquis Henri de Rochefort, a journalist who later changed sides.
- Louise Michel, obligatory now but little known then.
On the other side of the passage
- The announcements that stand out by their large black letters mean nothing to the spectator. The arrow points to a reflection of the Rochefort bust.
- Under the proclamations are two small images of carnage: That behind the arrow is almost invisible and the firing squad is hard to see.
The museum renews the exhibit by replacing these with other images of army violence, which are as small and as difficult to decipher.
Around the corner is emphasis on the burning of the Tuileries and City Hall...
The objects in the niche above the picture of ruined City Hall concern its past to emphasize its loss.
...but nothing about destruction by the army.
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I happened to be present when a high school class arrived. The teacher mentioned Baron Haussmann and the Second Empire...
...then walked through the passage without mentioning La Commune.
# # #
I asked young guards how to find that exhibit.
They did not know
and had never heard of La Commune.
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Next,
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