Friday, July 31, 2015

V. THE CHANGES TURN OUT TO BE USELESS: LA COMMUNE


"THAT STRANGE SPRING WHEN REVOLT SPRANG OUT OF THE GROUND" BEGAN WHEN THE GOVERNMENT LOST CONTROL OF THE ARMY AND FLED TO VERSAILLES, AND "THE PARIS COMMUNE"* STEPPED INTO THE BREACH

*The name harks back to the popular government that saved the French Revolution against all odds.

So began the civil war between "Versaillais" and "Communards"...

    Zoom

That... 

  • Preserved the republic by reassuring the privileged.

  • Eliminated the City Hall until 1977.

  • Ended resistance to capitalism for a generation.

  • Immeasurably deepened social antagonism.

  • Led to the sinister monument that looms over the city, the church of the Sacré Cœur.

The mainstream tries to ignore that civil war but its memory continues...

Painting of Louise Michel, the emblematic heroine of La Commune, at union headquarters in the blue-collar part of the 18th.

Le cri du peuple, story by Jean Vautrin, illustration by Jacques Tardi (ed. Castermann), 2021
Graphic novel

Commemoration of the 150th anniversary on the site where Communards fought their last battle.