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

MENU: 6. La Commune

"THAT STRANGE SPRING WHEN REVOLT SPRANG OUT OF THE GROUND..." 

 --Louise Michel

began when the government lost control of the army and fled to Versailles, and "La Commune"* sprang into the breach. 

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

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La Commune's defeat...

• Preserved the republic by reassuring the privileged.

• Eliminated the Paris City Hall until 1977.

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

• Ended resistance to capitalism for a generation.

• Immeasurably deepened social antagonism.

• Led to an extraordinary experiment that still inspires.

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Painting of Louise Michel, emblematic of La Commune, at union headquarters

Le Cri du peuple, novel by Jean Vautrin, drawings by Jacques Tardi (ed. Castermann), 2021

Graphic novel

      Anniversary commemoration on the site where Communards fought their last battle.

In brief

• Egalitarianism breaks through

• 'The Terrible Year"

• Mystification

• Fraternity that worked

• An omen and a turning point

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Next,

V.1.
Egalitarianism breaks through