Chantel E.
H. Crosby
HIS 102-W08
March 31, 2013
The Paris Commune 1871 One of the most inspiring and greatest events for the working class in history is The Paris Commune of 1871. In March of 1871, the citizens of Paris declined the authority of the French government. The working class people were able to replace the state government with their own branch of government and held power until their decline. Causes of the Communes origins lie in the Franco-Prussian War as well as the siege of Paris. During this time, people were experiencing intense isolation from France and uproar of patriotism which caused socialist aspects to come about among the lower class Parisians. With the defeat of France and the end of the siege, people
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Since this rejection of power was done openly, Thiers called an immediate evacuation of government from Paris. The army and many of the bureaucracy left the city and went to Versailles. Citizens now had control of Paris. The newly formed Central Committee of the National Guard came out as the main authority during the government’s swift retreat. The immediate concern of the committee was to have municipal elections and move power to the Commune as quickly as possible. On March 26, the elections brought a Paris Commune that was to the left of the Assembly at Versailles. Many of the districts elected officials that were in opposition of the government. Of the ninety one representatives, thirty five were manual laborers, mostly craftsmen in little workshops. Members of the Commune had little to no experience politically. They often rambled during their debates which caused many matters to be dropped rather than addressed (Magraw 88). Politically, the Commune had no direction. This was a very important aspect because it was needed in order to win a civil war. One of the Commune’s most effective measures was to do away with payment of rent that accumulated over the course of the siege. For lower classes, this was a big relief and helped to get more support for the Commune. However, actions such as this were very rare. With no apparent leader, the Commune was always shifting different
Lamartine over-estimated the power of the Capital and how inactive France was. Walter liked to believe it was how blunt Lamartine was and how he was partly sneaking around with the enemy that saved the country, while it ruined Lamartine. The members of the mountain, who were detained in the government separated themselves from the socialists. Walter writes that Blanqui came in and demanded an army to departure to Poland, removal of the troops in Paris, and refused the beating to arms. Blanqui also warned that if none of this was to happen, any non-conformers would be treated as traitors. The National Assembly was so obsessed with this thought that “one might have said that it read civil war on the four walls of the house…” For the first time in 60 years, the provinces grew resistant to Paris and entertained the idea of revolt. The republic became more hateful as more issues presented themselves including the dread of socialism and universal war. This hatred showed itself in the secrecy of the ballet. In general, the men who represented Monarchy were elected. It was at that moment, Walter says, the name Louis Napoleon was
The King additionally played an important role in influencing popular protest in Paris through his inability to co-operate with the Third Estate and the demands of the people of France. His decisions
During the late 1840s, France had suffered commercial decline. France had begun construction on a large scale rail network, but failed to budget their construction properly, leaving the construction unfinished, and it’s backers bankrupt. This cascaded further than the initial investors, as smelters who relied on the railways to buy their metal lost a major purchaser. The resulting economic fallout lead to unemployment across several industries. The lack of work for the majority of the populace led many to poverty. At the time, bread prices began rising prices, further straining the economic situation of the working class.
Citizens were not permitted to vote as individuals. Instead one vote was given to each of the three estates, the clergy (first), aristocrats (second), and everyone else excluded from the first two, who were most commonly peasants and the working class (third) (Roberts et al. 646). Unsurprisingly, the Third Estate was outvoted and citizens within became furious. They, “…insisted that those who worked [for low wages] and pay taxes were the nation…” (Roberts et al. 646) Shortly afterward, the National Assembly was born and was determined to take France’s future into its own (Belloc, 93).
In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.
The published letter of the king’s reasoning for departure also served the public with rage, and, “equally significant for the future of the Revolution was the dramatic change in attitude toward the king…everything was transformed by the king’s flight.” (Tackett, 101) People in the streets of Paris were throwing out their portraits of the royal family and were seeing the king, the one they praised a week ago, as a deserter and conspirator to their newly-formed and praised government. The use of rumor and newspapers by members of The Cordelier Club also helped spread certain radical ideals in which prompted the idea of turning France into a republic, and of dissembling the monarchy and the king altogether. It was this power in the streets of Paris that would soon grow with every day after the king fled, as, “Outside the Legislative Assembly, however, the more radical revolutionaries had managed to hold the loyalty of most of the provincial club network, giving them a powerful propaganda tool.” (Popkin, 58) The National Assembly was still strong in its number of members favorable of this new constitutional monarchy, but it was in the streets and with the people that the actual aspect of the Revolution was shifting. Members of the National Assembly were getting restless
The Working class that made up around 80% of society had little or no bargaining power with their employers resulting in the continuation of unfair working hours, bad wages, and unsanitary and hazardous working conditions. The workers could not even fight for their rights in the political system as only the rich were eligible to vote.
Not only did the bourgeoisie run the businesses, but also political matters. The power was shifting to the side of the owners, causing the gap between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie to grow bigger and bigger. The dominant force in Europe was actually creating a weapon without the realization of what they were doing. The labors, living conditions, and status of the proletariats created tension within the structure of the French society. The peasants even paid for the way of others, "it was on the peasants that all the abuses in the assessment
On the one hand, since Marxist writers, E. Hobsbawm, H. Lefebvre, M. Castells etc., legitimate Paris Commune 1871 the first left-wing, violent urban conflict event led a “progressive” bottom-up proletarian led an utopias modern city to be born. On the other, during the occasions in Paris Commune 1871, a French photographer Eugene Appert has remained to us 9 documentary frames of the dramatic studio shots. The scenario set the anti-Commune French gunman allied aimed at an acting figure of the Communade leader and after several “cut and paste” procedures the studio-made image reproduced into several photo-image to made-believed the official intension of the Communard heads were killed and that made-known to the general mass. To my hypothesis,
The Paris Commune, which was the insurrection of Paris against the French government, resurrected the idea of communism that had been banished for good just a few years after the Manifesto’s publishing. It created widespread interest of the Manifesto among the
The economic distress of the lower class and the raise of the middle class due to industrialization fueled the unrest of the time. The middle class got richer building and operating factories while the lower
The final group of the Old Regime was the third estate. This was France’s workforce. These people made up ninety-seven percent of the population, but were only allotted seventy percent of the land. The third estate had sub-groups of its own. The first group was the Bourgeoisie. This translates into “city dwelling” but is commonly known as the middle class. Those that made p this group were doctors, lawyers, and merchants. These people were fairly well off and had a bit of extra money. The main difference between the Bourgeoisie and the others in the third estate was that the Bourgeoisies were educated, specifically in enlightenment ideas. They later helped to steer the French Revolution. The next group within the third estate was laborers and artisans. This group consisted of the skilled craftsman in society. Along with the others in the third estate, they had low wages and high taxes. The third group of the third estate was the peasants. Making up roughly eighty percent of the population, the peasants were at the bottom of society. They lost nearly half their wages to taxes even though they had miniscule wages in the first place. They were forced to pay a tax to the church (tithe) and could not influence society. They disliked the first estate because they were the tax collectors and the second estate because they were the government officials. They fought this by
November 13, 2015, a series of coordinated terrorists attacks, consisting of mass shootings, suicide bombers, and hostage-takings, occurred in Paris. Beginning at 9:20pm, killing over 120 people. There were three suicide bombings outside the Stade De France in Saint-Denis, along with another suicide bombing and mass shootings at four locations in Paris. The attacks were the deadliest on France since World War II, and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. French investigators said that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of the Paris terrorist attacks, died on Wednesday November 18, in a major police operation. Another key suspect linked to Friday's atrocities by ISIS attackers in the French capital
To satisfy the wants of the revolutionaries, Louis XVI stepped down from the throne. He
In essence, the Estate General members converted themselves into a National Assembly and issued the ‘Declaration of Right of Man’, which stated ‘men are born free and equal in rights’. As a result, this facet gave the French Revolution its solang of ‘Liberty, ‘Equality’ and ‘Fertunity’. This meant, that France will no longer be ruled on an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and churches. Furthermore, the Estate General now known as the National Assembly seized all the wealthy churches properties and took the king and queen captive. Thus, the city was left in their hands.