PARIS COMMUNE: BACKGROUND, CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2024

The Paris Commune was a revolutionary government established in the French capital in March 1878 and lasting just two months. The insurrection had several causes: social problems, defeat in the war against Prussia or the formation of a deeply conservative National Assembly, among others.

The defeat of France in its confrontation against the Prussians and the capture of the Emperor Napoleon III caused the end of the Second French Empire. Despite the surrender, Paris maintained some resistance, although its National Guard, a body created during the French Revolution, could not prevent the entry of the Prussians into the city.

Barricade of Blanche Square, defended by women, during Bloody Week - Source: unknown lithographer - Own work under public domain

After they left it, the Parisian citizens did not accept the formation of a National Assembly made up of aristocrats and peasants. This body, based in Versailles, had very conservative positions and ordered the disarming of the Parisian National Guard so that no incidents would occur.

However, the people of Paris reacted by taking up arms and forming a popular government by calling elections. The few measures they were able to take sought to favor popular interests. The National Assembly attacked the city in April and, after the so-called Bloody Week, ended the democratic experiment.

Background

After the French Revolution and the return to the monarchy after the Napoleonic defeat, Paris had experienced other popular uprisings. The most important occurred in 1848, which caused the fall of King Louis Philippe of Orleans. Later the Second Republic was established and, through a coup, the Second Empire led by Napoleon III.

Throughout this period, socialist, anarchist, or simply radically democratic ideas had spread throughout the French capital.

Meanwhile, France and Prussia were competing for continental hegemony, which resulted in continuous friction between the two countries.

Franco-Prussian War

The tension between France and Prussia ended up causing war between the two countries. The Prussians were trying to unify the German territories, something that Napoleon III tried to avoid.

The final excuse was related to the vacancy that occurred in the Spanish crown. This was offered to a German, which France opposed. This, together with the manipulation of a telegram on the subject by Chancellor Bismarck, provoked the outbreak of the conflict.

The war began on July 19, 1870. Its development was very rapid in favor of the best prepared Prussians. The Battle of Sedan was the final highlight for the French, who saw Napoleon III captured by his enemies. That was the end of the Second Empire.

The siege of Paris

When the news of the capture of Napoleon III reached the French capital, there was a popular uprising that proclaimed the Third Republic. A Government of National Defense was immediately formed, with General Louis Jules Trochu at the head.

Chancellor Bismarck, for his part, was seeking a swift surrender. To achieve this, he ordered his army to besiege Paris.

Meanwhile, the French had organized a new government, which was in favor of signing the surrender. However, the harsh conditions demanded by the Prussians caused the conflict to continue for a time. However, the French army could not cope with the Prussian fortress.

Capitulation of France

The siege of Paris began to affect its inhabitants. The famines followed one another and, although there was a lot of popular opposition, the government decided to surrender after four months of siege to the capital.

The person in charge of negotiating with the Prussians was Louis-Adolphe Thiers. On January 26, 1871, at the Palace of Versailles, France signed the armistice.

Meanwhile, in the capital, there was an armed body called the National Guard that had been founded after the French Revolution. It was a popular militia with some 200,000 members, all armed. In addition, she was in possession of several cannons, paid for by public subscription.

The French surrender did not convince members of the National Guard and many Parisians. The consequence was the popular uprising of March 1871 and the establishment of the Paris Commune.

Causes

The most immediate cause of the establishment of the Paris Commune was the war against Prussia. However, historians affirm that it was not the only one, but that social, political and ideological reasons also concurred.

In this last respect, the international context was very important, since Marx's ideas were expanding and, in 1864, the First International had been founded.

Economic causes

Despite the revolutionary movements that had occurred in Europe, the quality of life of the working class had hardly improved. France was no exception and the pockets of poverty affected, above all, the workers.

The economic situation in France was further aggravated by the war. Popular class Parisians blamed the government for their worsening conditions.

The war against Prussia

As noted, the war between France and Prussia was the most immediate cause of the revolutionary outbreak in Paris. The capital suffered a harsh siege that lasted several months and those who suffered the most from its effects were the popular classes.

In addition, the sacrifice of the Parisian people was of no use, since the provisional government decided to negotiate the surrender. This caused great anger in a large part of the population.

The feeling of humiliation was greater among the members of the National Guard, which members also had not paid for several months. This armed corps had stood up to the Prussians for six months and felt betrayed by the surrender decided by the government.

Formation of a National Assembly

After the capture of Napoleon III and the consequent end of the Second Empire, a National Assembly had been formed to direct the destinies of the country. This body consisted of aristocrats and peasants, two conservative groups hostile to the democratic claims of the Parisians.

Political causes

During the last years of the Second French Empire, Paris had been one of the European cities in which socialist and anarchist ideas had achieved the greatest influence.

Apart from the presence of these ideas, the Parisians maintained a historical demand: an autonomous government for the city chosen by the citizens. This, already common in other French towns, had been denied to the capital.

Development and facts

The National Guard held an election to elect a central committee in February. The objective was to reorganize the organization in the face of the government's claim to disarm them.

Meanwhile, Prussia had planned to enter Paris on March 1. Among what was negotiated with the Thiers government was that the Prussian troops would enter the capital in a symbolic way and that the French government would be in charge of ending the last pockets of resistance.

The day before the arrival of the Prussians, the National Guard posted signs of mourning throughout the city and recommended avoiding clashes with the occupying forces. Thus, on the scheduled date, the Prussian soldiers marched through the empty streets of Paris. That same day, without incident, they left the capital.

For its part, the provisional government had held elections on February 8 to elect a National Assembly. The result gave an overwhelming majority to the royalists, with the conservative republicans in second place. Both groups were in favor of the peace agreement.

Those elections showed that Paris thought otherwise. In the capital the radical republicans won widely, with men like Victor Hugo, Garibaldi or Louis Blanc topping the lists.

Situation in Paris

On March 3, the National Guard made its next move: elect a committee of 32 people in charge of defending the Republic.

That same day, Thiers, at the head of the national government, appointed Louis d'Aurelle de Paladines, a well-known military supporter of Napoleon III, as head of the National Guard. The Central Committee of the same rejected the appointment.

Seven days later, the government of the country and the Legislative Assembly settled in Versailles. Only Thiers preferred to take up residence in Paris.

The new National Assembly began to enact laws of a very conservative nature. Among them, the suspension of the moratorium on bills of payment, debts and rents, something that condemned many small Parisian companies to bankruptcy. In addition, it abolished the salaries of members of the National Guard.

Other measures taken by the new government were the closing of several republican ideological newspapers and condemning to death some of the leaders of the October 1870 revolt.

The response of the Central Committee of the National Guard was to radicalize in its measures. This did not hurt her popularity among Parisians, but increased it. Given this, the government decided to seize the cannons and machine guns they had.

March 18th

The maneuver to seize the cannons began on March 18, still at dawn. The weapons were stored in Montmartre, Belleville and the Buttes-Chaumont, all high areas.

The residents of the first two neighborhoods, warned by the ringing of bells, took to the streets to prevent the soldiers from requisitioning the cannons, with the women leading the way. The military, instead of continuing with its mission, joined the population. In Montmatre, they even went so far as to disobey a direct order to fire on the unarmed crowd.

That moment marked the beginning of the insurrection that led to the establishment of the Commune. The rebellion grew stronger when other armed units joined in and soon reached the entire city. Thiers had no choice but to order all forces loyal to his government to leave Paris. He himself had to flee to Versailles.

So did the inhabitants of the city's more conservative neighborhoods, leaving all of Paris in the hands of the Central Committee of the National Guard. He called elections for March 26.

Establishment of the Community Council

The elections organized by the National Guard were won by the Jacobins and the Republicans. Behind them stood a group of socialist followers of Proudhon's ideas.

The 92 elected in the voting formed the Communal Council, popularly known as the Commune. Among them were workers, small merchants, artisans, professionals and politicians. The Council appointed Auguste Blanqui as its president, despite the fact that he had been detained since March 17.

One of the problems that the Commune soon encountered was the large number of ideological currents it included. The presence of moderate and radical socialists, Jacobins, anarchists, and other groups made it difficult to make decisions.

Measures taken

Despite the ideological differences and the few sessions they were able to hold, the members of the Commune did approve a series of measures. One of them was declaring the autonomy of Paris as part of a future confederation of communes in France.

On the other hand, the Communal Council, despite the adverse conditions, managed to keep the most important public services in operation.

Likewise, they voted in favor of various social measures, such as the remission of rents until the siege ended; the prohibition of night work in bakeries; the abolition of executions with the guillotine; the right to collect pensions from widows and orphans of those who died in the act of service; or the return of the requisitioned tools to the workers.

The most left-wing also managed to get approval for the workers to take control of their company if it was abandoned by the owner. Furthermore, the separation of Church and State was enacted and religious teaching was excluded from schools.

Another norm related to education was to declare this universal. In some districts, school supplies, food and clothing began to be distributed to students for free.

The Commune returned to using the calendar of the First Republic and replaced the tricolor flag with a red one.

Assault on the Commune

A hypothetical success of the Paris Commune would not only have harmed the French National Assembly, but would also have gone against the interests of the governments of the rest of the European countries. In a context of expansion of socialist ideas and labor movements, the continental powers could not allow this experiment to succeed.

Thus, the National Assembly ordered an attack on the Commune. The assault began on April 2 and was carried out by the government army installed in Versailles. From that day on, Paris was bombarded relentlessly and any negotiating option denied.

At the end of April, the French capital was completely surrounded by the army. The different currents existing in the Commune began to show their differences. The majority Jacobins tried to form a Public Salvation Committee, but at that time it was impossible to make consensual decisions.

For his part, Thiers established negotiations with the Prussians to collaborate in the assault on the Commune. Prussia, in exchange for some concessions, agreed to free part of the French prisoners captured during the war to be part of the assault forces.

On May 21, 1871, an army of more than 100,000 men attacked the French capital.

Bloody week

With the start of the assault, the so-called Bloody Week began. The two sides acted with great cruelty, although it was the government that caused the most casualties among the Parisian population.

As of May 27, the Commune only resisted in a few parts of the city, such as the eastern districts of Belleville.

The surviving members of the Commune understood that any resistance was impossible and proceeded to surrender on May 28.

Bloody Week led to the death of some 20,000 people on the side of the Commune. In addition, thousands of supporters were sentenced to exile. After the fall of the Communal Council, the Third Republic was established in France.

Consequences

At first, other areas of France tried to follow the example of Paris and elect their own communal councils. However, no other territory achieved its objective.

The repression of the Paris Commune represented a great defeat for the country's labor movement. The national government enacted laws to weaken it, and the French capital remained under martial law for the next five years. The First International was also outlawed.

Repression of the commoners

As noted, Bloody Week saw the death of a large number of Parisians, most of them unarmed. Many prisoners were executed as soon as they were captured, without any kind of trial.

Historians have not agreed on the total number killed during the assault. For some authors, Bloody Week was actually a period of summary executions. Some estimates indicate that the number of deaths ranged between 20,000 and 30,000, adding the deaths in combat and those shot.

Other authors, on the other hand, increase the figure to 50,000. Furthermore, the assailants made no distinction between children and adults or between men and women. Apart from the deaths, the ensuing crackdown resulted in around 7,000 people being sent to prisons in New Caledonia. Thousands more suffered in exile.

On the other side, the number of casualties was about 1,000 soldiers. In addition, the community members destroyed several symbolic buildings in the capital.

Repercussions for socialists and anarchists

Despite the defeat, the Paris Commune exerted a great influence on the international labor movement. Later revolutionary uprisings learned from those in the French capital, and Bakunin himself wrote about the successes and errors of the French experience.

The decrees that the comuneros approved to end inequality and the poor living conditions of the workers were an example for the revolutionaries in other parts of the continent. The same happened with laws on gender equality or the creation of free nurseries and schools for the children of workers.

References

1. Briceño, Gabriela. Commune of Paris. Retrieved from euston96.com
2. Muñoz Fernández, Víctor. History of the Paris Commune. Retrieved from redhistoria.com
3. EcuRed. The Paris Commune. Obtained from ecured.cu
4. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Commune of Paris. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. Cole, Nicki Lisa. What You Need to Know About the Paris Commune of 1871. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
6. Gopnik, Adam. The Fires of Paris. Retrieved from newyorker.com
7. New World Encyclopedia. Paris Commune. Retrieved from newworldencyclopedia.org