The Paris Commune
AP European History
Although short lived, the Paris Commune represents one of the more significant political challenges in history. In a formal
sense, the Paris Commune simply acted as the local authority, the city council (in French, the "commune"), which exercised
power in Paris for two months in the spring of 1871. However, the conditions in which it formed, its controversial decrees,
and its violent end make its tenure one of the more important political episodes of the time. It is the first time that the
“working class” rule a government and it builds off of the previous revolutions of the 19th Century.
Commune of Paris, also called Paris Commune, French Commune de Paris, (1871), insurrection of Paris against the
French government from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It occurred in the wake of France’s defeat in the Franco-German War
and the collapse of Napoleon III’s Second Empire (1852–70).
The National Assembly, which was elected in February 1871 to conclude a peace with Germany, had a royalist majority,
reflecting the conservative attitude of the provinces. The republican Parisians feared that the National Assembly meeting in
Versailles would restore the monarchy.
To ensure order in Paris, Adolphe Thiers, executive head of the provisional national government, decided to disarm the
National Guard (composed largely of workers who fought during the siege of Paris). On March 18 resistance broke out in
Paris in response to an attempt to remove the cannons of the guard overlooking the city. Then, on March 26, municipal
elections, organized by the central committee of the guard, resulted in victory for the revolutionaries, who formed the
Commune government. Among those in the new government were the so-called Jacobins, who followed in the French
Revolutionary tradition of 1793 and wanted the Paris Commune to control the Revolution; the Proudhonists, socialists who
supported a federation of communes throughout the country; and the Blanquistes, socialists who demanded violent action.
(Britannica Encyclopedia)
Go to http://www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/
Timeline of events: Click on Timeline
Scroll down and read through the events starting on April 8th and look for events that show social, economic and political
changes to Paris by the Commune.
Using 2-3 specific economic examples, how do these changes represent the ideals of the working class? How are these
changes a reaction to the ruling party? How do these policies represent the anti-capitalist views of socialists and or
communists?
Using specific examples, what type of political and social policies does the Commune government implement? What is the
Commune government using as a model government for these policies?
In the end, how is the Paris Commune shut down?
Documents of the Commune – CHOOSE 3-4 OF THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS AND ANSWER THE
QUESTIONS ASSOCIATED.
A. Click on Manifesto of the Paris Commune (1871) and read the ideals and aims of the Commune
What type of government does the Commune want to create?
Who does the Commune see as the enemy to the people?
B. Click on Le Salut Public (1871)
To what organization is this document saluting? What type of language does it use to emphasize its points?
C. Click on To All Defenders of the Revolution (1871 but in the undated section)
What terms or ideas does the author use to incite both feelings of nationalism and radicalism in the reader? What is the
significance of the author stating “Garibaldi is in France!”
D. Click on Photos and then click on Caricatures
Click on image # par000789
Describe what you see in this image and describe how it portrays the pulling down of the Victory Column on the Place
Vendôme (you can go back to the timeline on April 12 for a description of this)
E. Click on image “Swatting Flies”
How does this image reflect the aims of the Commune? What specific images does the cartoonist use to convey those aims?
F. Click on either “Napoleon III on the Vendome Column” or “Current Events”
Describe what you see in this image and explain how the images convey the aims of the Commune
G. Paris Destroyed and Civil War to see actual photographs of the city and the radicals in Paris. Describe what is
happening.