The Paris Commune was a radical socialist and revolutionary government that formed in Paris on this day in 1871, existing for just a few months before being defeated by the French National Army on May 21st that year.

A hotbed of working-class radicalism, the Paris Commune was a watershed moment in revolutionary left history. A few months after it was formed, the commune was attacked and defeated by the French National Army on May 21st, 1871, beginning the so-called "Bloody Week".

The government of the Paris Commune developed a set of policies that tended towards a progressive, secular, and highly democratic social democracy, although its existence was too brief to implement these ideas. Among these policies were the separation of church and state, abolition of child labor, abolishment of interest on some forms of debt, as well as the right of employees to take over and run an enterprise if it was deserted by its original owner.

The Paris Commune was analyzed by many communist thinkers, including Karl Marx, who called it a "dictatorship of the proletariat." Vladimir Lenin danced in the snow in celebration when the newly formed Bolshevik government lasted longer than the Paris Commune.

The uprising inspired similar revolutionary attempts around the world, including communes in Moscow (1905), Petrograd (1917), Shanghai (1927 and 1967), and Seattle (2020).

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    • DeathToBritain [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      this kinda stuff is why I've always been wary of Assad posting and the like. anti America =/= on out side and good. I have Russian friends and comrades who have felt the boot of the Russian state

    • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Ouch. You'd think they'd have a more principled stance than that, just blindly boosting anyone who's against NATO aggression.

    • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      just a few days ago someone was giving me shit for my pointing out their unprincipled approach to this and their tendency to use/ come to right-wing conclusions or talking points or analysis

      Like, they're young people mostly raised in the imperial core, of course they'll have these weird anglo rightoid brainworms, and the only defense against them is being principled and doin self crit regularly. There's hope for them yet, but they are certainly no vanguard lol

      • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Man, I can't wait for a wave of people with usernames like "freespeechnazbol1488" being like "I used to be a principled communist supporting based communist countries like Syria and Poland until the mods banned me, now I know that the conservatives were right all along. They won't violate my free speech!"