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. War between "Versaillais" and "Communards" broke out almost immediately, culminating in a repression that foreshadows 20th-century carnage.

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

                Proclamation de la Commune 26 mars 1871 by Daniel Vierge

-- Musée Carnavalet, not exhibited.

"One hundred thousand men are there, their hearts beating in unison" 

-- Maxime Vuillaume, Mes Cahiers rouges, souvenirs de la Commune,1910,

evoking the proclamation of La Commune.

Other sources show the same euphoria.  

La Commune's defeat...

  Zoom

• Preserved the republic by reassuring the privileged.

• Eliminated the Paris City Hall until 1977.

• Brought the monument that looms over the city, the church of the Sacré Cœur.

• Ended resistance to capitalism for a generation.

• Immeasurably deepened social antagonism.

• Victor Hugo's verse still resonates: "The corpse lies on the ground and the idea stands tall."
  

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

In brief

• Readings in English & a movie

• Egalitarianism breaks through

• "The Terrible Year"

• Mystification

• Fraternity that worked

• An omen and a turning point

*     *     *

Next,

6.1.

Reading in English & a movie