GUARDS BECOME A COUNTER-POWER

THE SIEGE TURNS THE BOURGEOIS PRAETORIAN GUARD 

INTO A WORKERS' ARMY 

"The King Gives Flags to the National Guard, August 29, 1830" by Joseph Désiré Court / zoom

Fifty kilometers of ramparts with 16 forts circle the city:

Zoom

Europe's only modern fortifications were built in 1840-41 when war with England seemed likely. They were demolished after World War I and now the superhighway that circles Paris occupies their site.

• Defending them meant admitting, training and arming 340,000 men from the working-class periphery, and some women:

"Woman at City Hall, 2nd day of the Commune," 1871 by Daniel Vierge and "Scouts of the Seine, 1871" by James Tissot / Ma Commune de Paris

 

• Guards are often shown in front of the fortifications they protect:

Other photos

• Many are raring to fight, but they are called up only for the last battle, whose point is to show that resistance is useless:

"Battalions of the National Guard take the heights of Buzenval"

-- Claretie

Of the roughly 40,000 guards who join 50,000 soldiers, some flee and in their panic even shoot at their own troops. Others fight with heroism and efficiency, as the caption of this conservative account implies.

That defeat, the shooting, the armistice and the royalist electoral victory lead middle-and-working-class militia to federate* as the National Guard
(200 of 260 battalions, on February 15)  

* So the term "fédérés"

Ma Commune de Paris

The man in the top hat shows how the siege leads different strata to ally.

Its Central Committee becomes a state within a State:

• Guards elect their officers except for the top command, which makes them independent of the army. 

• That militia become the de facto authority in the blue-collar east.

• The Assembly humiliates them by turning their pay into alms, saying they must prove indigence to collect it. Of course they are indigent, since production stopped during the siege and has not resumed.

• That ruling brings a tumultuous meeting in which delegates vote unanimously to unite as a Central Committee. 

Raspou'team

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At the same time, thousands demonstrate at Bastille:

* On February 24, 25, 26, anniversary of the February Revolution

     "Demonstrators around the July Column" by Gustave Doré, 1871 /  zoom

Musée Carnavalet, not exhibited at the times that I visited

• The red flag reappears for the first time since June.

• An undercover policeman is unmasked and lynched. For an account from the point of view of the modern police, please click (in French).

• Troops sent to stop the demonstration fraternize instead.

The preliminary peace treaty confirms the loss of Alsace- Lorraine.

(On February 26)

 Added next day:

The Prussians will have a victory march

on the Champs-Elysées on March 1.

France keeps the Alsatian town of Belfort in exchange,

but the announcement does not say so.

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Next,

Cannons the army neglects