In 1870, Louis Bonaparte of France (Napoleon III) launched a war of aggression against Prussia which ended in his military defeat at Sedan. In response, his regime was overthrown in France and a “Republic” with a majority of monarchists was erected in its place. When this government signed a treaty with Prussia which ceded control of Paris to the Prussian army, the working-class of that city arose and instituted the first dictatorship of the proletariat. Until the Russian Revolution, the Commune served as the major point of study and inspiration for several generations of socialist militants who saw in it the only example of proletarian rule in a revolutionary conjuncture. Its lesson affected the outlook and strategy of many revolutionaries and was instrumental in providing a bountiful reserve of experience out of which Marxist theory was able to produce new knowledge for dealing with new, concrete situations. As an important political and theoretical event in the development of our movement, an understanding of the Paris Commune is crucial to making sense of our movement today.
1. What were some of the achievements of the Paris Commune and their meaning for the proletarian dictatorship? Why can we call the Paris Commune a dictatorship of the proletariat? How does this relate to the necessity of smashing the state apparatus?
2. Marx and Lenin both pointed out instances where the Communards could have gone further in their revolution. What can we learn from the halfway measures that aided in the defeat of the Commune?
3. What characterized the approach of its various participants towards the Commune? What does this say about the conjuncture, the state of the proletarian party, the relation of spontaneity to centralism, the state of theory and fusion and the sophistication of political line? How do these aspects of the Commune find expression in our movement and why must this be so?
4. How did Lenin use the lessons of the Commune as a tool in the Political struggles of his day and how might we do the same?
From Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin, Civil War in France: the Paris Commune:
Marx: “Address of the General Council,” pp. 54-69;
“Letters to Dr. Kugelmann on the Paris Commune,” pp. 86-87;
Lenin on the Commune: pp. 91-104.
V. I. Lenin, State and Revolution, Chpt. 3.
William Z. Foster, History of the Three Internationals, pp. 90-101.