Paris Commune

The term "Paris Commune" originally referred to the government of Paris during the French Revolution. However, the term more commonly refers to the socialist government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 (more formally from March 26) to May 28, 1871.

The assault

The Commune was assaulted from April 2 by the government forces of the Versailles Army, and the city was constantly bombarded. The government advantage was such that from mid-April on they refused to negotiate.

Related Topics:
April 2 - Versailles Army

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The outer suburb of Courbevoie was captured, and a delayed attempt by the Commune's own forces to march on Versailles failed ignominiously. Defence and survival became overriding considerations. The working-class women of Paris now played a steadily more important role. They served with the National Guard and even formed a battalion of their own which later fought heroically to defend the Place Blanche, a key to Montmartre. (But it should be noted that even under the Commune women did not have the vote, and there were no female members of the Council.)

Related Topics:
Courbevoie - Place Blanche

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Strong support came also from the large foreign community of political refugees and exiles in Paris: one of them, the Polish ex-officer and nationalist Jaros?aw D?browski, was to be the Commune's best general. The Council was fully committed to internationalism, and it was in the name of brotherhood that the Vendôme Column, celebrating the victories of Napoleon I, and considered by the Commune to be a monument to chauvinism, was pulled down.

Related Topics:
Polish - Jaros?aw D?browski - Internationalism - Vendôme Column - Napoleon I - Chauvinism

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Abroad, there were rallies and messages of goodwill sent by trade union and socialist organisations, including some in Germany. But any hopes of getting serious help from other French cities were soon dashed. Thiers and his ministers in Versailles managed to prevent almost all information from leaking out of Paris; and in provincial and rural France there had always been a sceptical attitude towards the activities of the metropolis. Movements at Narbonne, Limoges, and Marseille were rapidly crushed.

Related Topics:
Trade union - Germany - Narbonne - Limoges - Marseille

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As the situation deteriorated further, a section of the Council won a vote (opposed by bookbinder Eugène Varlin, a correspondent of Karl Marx, and by other moderates) for the creation of a "Committee of Public Safety", modelled on the Jacobin organ with the same title, formed in 1792. Its powers were extensive and ruthless. But the time when a strong central authority could have helped was now almost past.

Related Topics:
Karl Marx - The Jacobin organ with the same title

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On May 21 a gate in the western part of the fortified city wall of Paris was forced (or, more probably, betrayed) and Versaillese troops began the reconquest of the city, first occupying the prosperous western districts where they were made welcome by those residents who had not left Paris after the armistice.

Related Topics:
May 21 - City wall

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The strong local loyalties which had been a positive feature of the Commune now became something of a disadvantage: instead of an overall planned defence, each "quartier" fought desperately for survival and was overcome in its turn. The webs of narrow streets which made entire districts nearly impregnable in earlier Parisian revolutions had been largely replaced by wide boulevards. The Versaillese enjoyed a centralised command and had modern artillery.

Related Topics:
Boulevard - Artillery

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During the assault, the government troops were culpable in the slaughter of unarmed citizens: prisoners were shot out of hand and multiple executions were commonplace. In a futile gesture of defiance on May 27, a mob seized and brutally murdered 50 hostages, several of them priests, who had been held by the Commune. In all, government losses were around nine hundred. These deaths were to be avenged many times over.

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The toughest resistance came in the more working-class districts of the east, where fighting continued for a further eight days of vicious street fighting (La Semaine sanglante, the bloody week). By the May 27 only a few pockets of resistance remained, notably the poorer eastern districts of Belleville and Ménilmontant.

Related Topics:
May 27 - Belleville - Ménilmontant

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At four o'clock in the afternoon of the next day the last barricade, in the rue Ramponeau in Belleville, fell, and Marshall MacMahon issued a proclamation: "To the inhabitants of Paris. The French army has come to save you. Paris is freed! At 4 o'clock our soldiers took the last insurgent position. Today the fight is over. Order, work and security will be reborn."

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Reprisals now began in earnest. Having supported the Commune in any way was declared a crime, of which thousands could be, and were, accused. Some of the Communards were shot against what is now known as the Communards' Wall in the Père Lachaise cemetery while thousands of others were marched to Versailles for trials. Few Communards escaped, mainly through the Prussian lines to the north. For many days endless columns of men, women and children made a painful way under military escort to temporary prison quarters in Versailles. Later they were tried; a few were executed; many were condemned to hard labour; many more were deported for long terms or for life to virtually uninhabited French islands in the Pacific. The number of killed during La Semaine Sanglante can never be established for certain but the best estimates are 30,000 dead, many more wounded, and perhaps as many as 50,000 later executed or imprisoned; 7,000 were exiled to New Caledonia. For the imprisoned there was a general amnesty in 1889.

Related Topics:
Communards' Wall - Père Lachaise - Cemetery - French islands in the Pacific - New Caledonia

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Paris remained under martial law for five years.

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