18/03/2026
On 18 March 1871, the Paris commune, one of the most significant early attempts at a working class uprising to create socialism, was established.
France had been defeated by Germany in war, and while the government planned to surrender, the population of Paris refused. So, the French government, collaborating with Germany, sent troops to the city to disarm the national guard and seize their cannons.
Thousands of Parisian women then confronted government troops, positioning themselves between soldiers and the national guard. General Claude Lecomte ordered his soldiers to fire on the crowd, but they refused. Lecomte was then captured and executed. Paris residents then built barricades and succeeded in expelling the army from the city.
Together, mutinous national guardsmen, women, and other workers took control of Paris, dismantled the existing state institutions, and instead and set about re-organising society on a directly democratic, socialist basis.
The communards established a democratic system with universal male suffrage, where all functionaries were elected, paid the salary of an average worker, and were revocable, if they did not implement the will of the workers.
The rebels separated the church and state, socialised or church property, and established the right to universal, free and secular education. They destroyed the guillotine, closed down pawn shops, and took over empty factories and workshops, handing over to their workers to run them collectively. Public kitchens were set up to feed the poor, and empty homes of wealthy people were requisitioned to house poor families. Unmarried women and their children were given the same allowances as married women. Women organised a union, called for gender equality, and organised healthcare and assistance for the defence of the city.
The communards were able to hold the city until late May when, upon retaking the city, troops massacred thousands of workers in bloody revenge.
Learn more in this book by participants in the commune: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/voices-of-the-paris-commune
