Paris Commune
140 years ago, the people of Paris came together to provide us with an alternative model of society and democracy. Our goal is to draw attention to the history and research relating to The Commune of Paris, the Communes of the Province and the movements around The Commune which developed in France in 1871. We hope this will open new paths of knowledge and expand the geographical and temporal scope of the Commune so that lessons from the Commune may inform modern forms of activism and social struggle. Nov 14
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The secular priests and the religious who were murdered in Paris , in May 1871, on account of their sacred calling. They may be divided into three groups: The revolutionary party which took possession of the city after the siege of Paris by the Prussians began, in the last days of March, to arrest the priests and religious to whom personal character or official position gave a certain prominence. No reason was given for these arbitrary measures, except the hatred with which the leaders of the Commune regarded the Catholic Church and her ministers . (1) At the head of the first group of martyrs is the Archbishop of Paris , Monseigneur Georges Darboy , to whom the discomforts of his prison life were peculiarly trying on account of his feeble health.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Martyrs of the Paris Commune
“The classical workers movement must be reexamined without any illusions, particularly without any illusions regarding its various political and pseudotheoretical heirs, because all they have inherited is its failure. The apparent successes of this movement are actually its fundamental failures (reformism or the establishment of a state bureaucracy), while its failures (the Paris Commune or the 1934 Asturian revolt) are its most promising successes so far, for us and for the future” ( Internationale Situationniste #7). The Commune was the biggest festival of the nineteenth century. Underlying the events of that spring of 1871 one can see the insurgents’ feeling that they had become the masters of their own history, not so much on the level of “governmental” politics as on the level of their everyday life.
Theses on the Paris Commune (Debord, Kotanyi & Vaneigem)
The Paris Commune
This work, like all my published work, of which there has not been a great deal, is an outgrowth of events. It is the natural continuation of my Letters to a Frenchman (September 1870), wherein I had the easy but painful distinction of foreseeing and foretelling the dire calamities which now beset France and the whole civilized world, the only cure for which is the Social Revolution. My purpose now is to prove the need for such a revolution. I shall review the historical development of society and what is now taking place in Europe, right before our eyes. Thus all those who sincerely thirst for truth can accept it and proclaim openly and unequivocally the philosophical principles and practical aims which are at the very core of what we call the Social Revolution.
The Paris Commune of 1871 and the Bibliotheque Nationale | Library Trends | Find Articles
During the Paris Commune of 1871, communards assumed responsibility for administration of the Bibliotheque Nationale. On April 1 the Commune appointed Citizen Jules Vincent the library's supervisor. Three weeks later, the Commune dismissed Vincent when it discovered that he had embezzled 10,000 francs that had been allocated to meet library expenses.Perhaps it’s one of history’s surprises that the popular uprising surging through Spain today (and which is beginning to reverberate throughout the rest of Europe) was sparked on the 140th anniversary of the Paris Commune, a heroic moment in which the fundamental demand was also that of democracy. But a democracy conceived as a government by, for, and of the people, and not as a regime serving corporate interests of the propertied classes while the people’s interests are inexorably subordinated to the imperative of business profits. This is precisely the reason why the demands of the “indignant” resonate in a way that immediately brings to mind those women and men who, with weapons in hand, came out to defend the Paris Commune during those heroic days in 1871, culminating with the constitution of the first working class government in history, albeit one restricted to the confines of the city of Paris.
Boron on Spain’s “Indignant” and the Paris Commune | Machetera
One of the powers of art is its ability to convey the human aspects of political events, ranging from war to revolution to sexual liberation. Art can also transform society, a theme that pervades this fascinating survey on art, artists, and anarchism since the nineteenth century. In numerous essays, Allan Antliff interrogates moments of engagement when artists, poets, philosophers, and critics have confronted pivotal events over the past 140 years.
Anarchy and Art: From the Paris Commune to the Fall of the Berlin Wall :: AK Press
This subject was designed and produced in close cooperation with the BHVP (Historical Library of the City of Paris): Jean Dérens, Head Curator, Henri Louvet, Claude Billaud and Jean Baronnet. Jean Baronnet, filmmaker, and Henri Louvet, of the Historical Library of the City of Paris (BHVP), analyse four pictures to explain the role and use of photography during the Paris Commune: pictures of combatants on the barricades, the first reportage photo, reconstituted photos.
An event in pictures - old pictures paris, paris commune pictures
Theses on the Paris Commune - Situationist International | libcom.org
The Situationists reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of a great revolutionary moment; " the biggest festival of the nineteenth century". ". ..it is time we examine the Commune not just as an outmoded example of revolutionary primitivism, all of whose mistakes can easily be overcome, but as a positive experiment whose whole truth has yet to be rediscovered and fulfilled. " “The classical workers movement must be reexamined without any illusions, particularly without any illusions regarding its various political and pseudotheoretical heirs, because all they have inherited is its failure.The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State - Mikhail Bakunin | libcom.org
This work, like all my published work, of which there has not been a great deal, is an outgrowth of events. It is the natural continuation of my Letters to a Frenchman (September 1870), wherein I had the easy but painful distinction of foreseeing and foretelling the dire calamities which now beset France and the whole civilized world, the only cure for which is the Social Revolution. My purpose now is to prove the need for such a revolution. I shall review the historical development of society and what is now taking place in Europe, right before our eyes.
Article about a workers' co-op during the Paris commune uprising. We need to learn from the limitations of the Paris Commune as well as its achievements.
A workers' cooperative during the Paris Commune - Robert Tombs | libcom.org
Storming Heaven: The Paris Commune | Counterfire
P √®re Lachaise cemetery in Paris’s 20th arrondissement is a place of silent, crumbling beauty and a destination for those seeking the last resting places of political and cultural figures from Wilde and Balzac to Jim Morrison. 140 years ago this week it was far from silent. In the last days of May 1871 its avenues of tombs, gravestones were the macabre setting for a battle and provided the last line of defence of the world’s first experiment in workers’ self-government. P√®re Lachaise is where the Paris Commune was finally crushed by the Versailles government. But for a little over two months, the Commune saw the working class take the tiller of history and begin to offer a concrete vision of what a society without exploitation might look like.Le 18 mars 1871 commençait la Commune de Paris - Paperblog
Il y a 118 ans, le 18 mars 1871, tandis qu' Adolphe Thiers , chef du gouvernement provisoire de la République, s'enfuiyait à Versailles avec tous les corps constitués, commençait la Commune : les artisans, ouvriers et femmes du peuple prenaient le pouvoir à Paris. " Le Comité central de la Garde nationale prit alors les choses en main. Il décida de relever le défi, d'assurer le ravitaillement et de diriger la cité jusqu'à l'organisation d'élections de nouveaux représentants à la tête de la Commune. Lors de ces élections, le 26 mars, de nombreux militants connus pour leurs idées révolutionnaires furent élus. Pendant les deux mois de liberté qui allaient suivre, une intense vie démocratique anima les quartiers, la population intervint librement dans les clubs. Les services publics (postes, monnaie, éclairage, pompiers, santé) furent réorganisés grâce au bon sens et au dévouement des volontaires.Montels, Jules, 1843-1916 | libcom.org
A short biography of anarchist, Paris Communard and tutor to Leo Tolstoy's children, Jules Montels. Jules Montels was born in France at Gignac in the Herault department, on 25th March 1843. As a young boy he experienced the uprising in 1851 against the coup of Louis Napoleon, which was followed by savage repression. These left bitter memories for him. Working either as a clerk or commercial traveller, he was in Paris when the Commune broke out.La Commune de Paris
Paris Commune
Chants de la Commune de Paris
Commune de Paris