The Paris Commune, AKA the Fourth French Revolution, was a socialist government that governed France from the 18th of March to the 28th of May in 1871i The French Commune rose from the ashes of the Franco—Prussian war, when multiple revolts destroyed France’s frayed political unityl Rallying under the slogan ”In Republique démocratique et social”, the democratic and social republic, they pushed through many new reforms, considering the short time of their existence, before being squashed by French regulars. After France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the nation was gripped by class revolts. In Paris and Lyon, the Canut Revolts protested wage decreases in the silk weaving industry. This discontent quickly spread to other industries and in an effort to escape unfair rule, Paris successfully petitioned to govern itself, a right that was enjoyed by many smaller cities but had been denied to Paris because of its rowdy population.
Because France believed in a democratic republic, they allowed Parisians to vote on their own government The Paris Commune was elected to become the first city council of Paris, but its power quickly spread to encompass all of France. Once the Paris Commune had control of the entire nation, and had the support of the National Guard, it instituted a marvelous amount of reform for workers and lower-class citizens. The Paris Commune adopted a policy of disestablishment, abolished night work for all Parisian bakeries, granted a pension to the unmarried partners and children of National Guard members who were killed in active duty, mandated the free return of all workman’s tools from pawn shops, postponed commercial debt obligations, and gave workers to take over and operate businesses if abandoned by the rightful owner US. held by these ideals while the French quietly abandoned them more and more as the years went by and as the French Revolution gave way to violent and bloody grabs for power.
I’m sure if one could acquire a time machine and ask Maximillian Robespierre if he was a believer in the ideas of the French Enlightenment he would ardently say that he was. In fact, Robespierre often cited Jean-Jacques Rousseau as particularly important to his beliefs His actions though, tell a far different story. Ultimately, Maximillian Robespierre appears to have gone down in history as just another bloody dictator, though with a populist twistt It is perhaps a bit tragic that such a justified revolution, one partially founded on the beliefs of the most progressive thinkers that their time had to offer, would devolve into what it did. The French Revolution stands as somewhat of a cautionary tale for what not to do after a successful revolution. It may have been founded on the Enlightenment ideas of John Locke, Rousseau, and others but in the end it failed to live up to their lofty visions of the future.
