Frans De Maegd

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The Paris Commune of 1871
was the first socialist state
The dictatorship of the proletariat
had become a reality
Maegd Frans - March 18, 2021
The Paris Commune began on March 18, 1871
Although it lasted only 72 days, the Paris Commune was the first
successful proletarian revolution, by which the working class destroyed
the old bourgeois state power and established the dictatorship of the
proletariat. Frederic Engels explicitly called the Commune the
dictatorship of the proletariat, although all the so-called "Marxists" of all
languages try to hide this fact.
Already during the Paris Commune, at the beginning of May, when its
defeat was certain, Karl Marx, in his work “The Civil War in France”,
underlined the historical importance of the Commune for the
communists of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
As president of the First International, Karl Marx wrote that "Even if the
Commune is crushed, the fight will only be postponed".
In the summer of 1917, in "State and Revolution", Lenin took the
experience of the Paris Commune as the base to prepare the October
revolution and the Soviet power. The Bolsheviks adopted all the
positive aspects of the Paris Commune, and consciously fend off all its
negative aspects.
The Paris Commune was decisive for the Soviet power.
The Paris Commune was born out of the first modern Franco-German
war of 1870 and 1871. In July 1870, to prevent the unification of
Germany under Bismarck, Napoleon the Third launched a war against

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Prussia and Bavaria.
Napoleon was defeated at Sedan, at the Franco-German border. The
people of Paris revolted and proclaimed the Third Republic. The new
government of national defense was led by the bourgeoisie. Instead of
defending itself, it prepared for capitulation (just as the French
government would do in May 1940, during the invasion of France by
Nazi Germany).
In September 1870, the German army had completely surrounded
Paris, and through famine and bombardments, it tried to force it to
capitulate. But the Parisians held on. The rich had long fled the city, as
had the government.
Now the workers had the arms, and had formed a total of 200
battalions and around 100,000 National Guards. People had bought
their own weapons to defend the city.
On February 28, the Thiers government signed the capitulation with
terrible consequences for France and the French people: the loss of
Alsace-Lorraine, the payment of billions of war taxes reparations. The
Parisians, ordered to hand over their weapons, refused to do.
On March 18, government troops sneaked into Paris to drag the
Communards' cannons to the Butte Montmartre (where the horrible
"Sacré Coeur" church stands today), but failed in their attempt. Paris
revolted, and, in the evening, the insurgents occupied the City Hall, and
the National Guard took power.
On March 26, elections were held. Out of the 86 people elected, 30
were members of the International, the Marxists being a minority
among those.
The Commune took crucial political decisions
One of the first measures adopted was the abolition of the permanent
army, which was replaced by the National Guard, the people's militia.
Another was that the members of the Commune could be replaced at
any time. Most of them were workers or recognized representatives of
the working class. The Commune was not intended to be a

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parliamentary body. It was rather a working body having both executive
and legislative functions. The members of the Commune and those of
the Civil Service worked for a laborer's salary."
By abolishing the two most expensive expenses of the old state, those
of the army and the bureaucracy, and by giving all the power to the
people, the Commune was a government at low cost. Many tasks,
formerly carried out by civil servants, were taken over by the workers
themselves, usually at their spare time.
The Commune proclaimed the separation of Church and State.
The Commune also had an international character. It elected a
Hungarian named Frankel as labor commissioner, and two Polish
generals, Dombrowski and Wroblewski, to lead the military defense of
Paris.
The Commune also established a series of fundamental social
measures, including the following:
- Abandoned workshops were to be transformed into cooperatives
placed under the control of the workers.
- A minimum wage was established.
- Legal actions and legal assistance became free of charge.
- Education became free, and a great attention was given to girls’
education.
- Pensions for widows and orphans of war victims.
- Food banks and canteens for the poor.
- Gambling and street prostitution were prohibited.
- The guillotine was burned on April 6.
But the Commune did not manage to expropriate the Bank of France,
which continued to finance the Thiers government, and disperse the
Thiers government, which had withdrawn from Paris and taken refuge

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in Versailles. These conditions would have assured the victory of the
revolution throughout France.
The fall of the Commune
From April, the Thiers government prepared the counter-attack with the
help of Germans, and by freeing 100,000 prisoners to reinforce its
army.
Again Paris was surrounded, in the north by the Germans, and in the
south by government troops.
On May 21, the Tiers government troops succeeded in entering Paris,
and carried out what was called the "Bloody week", during which Paris
was reconquered. The repression was terrible. 30,000 Parisians,
including women and children, lost their lives in the fighting. Some
45,000 people were sentenced, some of whom were deported to New
Caledonia. 100,000 Parisians fled to London where they were
welcomed by the International, Marx and his daughters.
Better the next time
This terrible defeat was a great trauma for the international labor
movement, and the cause of a deep division within the International.
The reformist current of the right declared that "it was the failure of a
beautiful dream". This should never happen again. We have to choose
another path”.
As for the Marxist and revolutionary current, it declared that "it was a
heroic attempt. It will be better next time". We must choose the same
path".
And this happened with the October 1917 Revolution.
Long life to the Commune!
Long live the socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat!