March 30, 2013

More on the Paris Commune

There were elections and there were factions.

The elections were undertaken because the Central Committee of the National Guard wanted to legalize its situation (following the defeat of Thier's attempt to take the cannons). Most of the members of the Central Committee of the National Guard were working class and patriotic, hostile to what it perceived as Versailles' (National Government/rural) betrayal (of Paris/republic).

Those elected to the Commune included roughly 18 bohemians/middle class, 35 from the working class. Roughly 40 members had been involved in the French labor movement. The general sense among them was that the working class should make its own revolution, meaning that the bourgeoisie should not reap all the rewards of the revolution. The revolution had to benefit the workers as well. 19 were from the National Guard Central Committee. 

For the most part, in the city the National Guard maintained its independence, taking buildings and refusing to fight when it didn't want to.

Paris was like a festival. "Activity kept many from thinking about the future" (p. 39, The Communards of Paris, 1871, edited by Steward Edwards, Cornell University Press, 1973).

Mar 30, 2013 7:52:41 PM | communism

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Jodi Dean

Jodi Dean is a political theorist.

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