Amid the betrayal of the ruling classes and the defeat of the Franco-Prussian war on 18 March 1871, the Parisian workers realized that they had to take power into their own hands if they wanted to improve their position. Adolphe Thiers took over the French government after his unsuccessful attack on the capital, which led to the government and French upper classes moving to Versailles. The Paris Commune introduced its own regime, led by 65 working men who took several measures to improve workers’ conditions. In April, a reinforced Versailles army invaded Paris. The fighting was protracted, but on 21 May, the French government’s army finally broke through the defenses of Paris and the bloody week began. On 28 May, The Paris Commune fell. The Communists placed great emphasis on symbolism, as seen in the massive circulation of newspapers, pamphlets, political posters, and cartoons. Paris was the founder of the movement and the only one that really succeeded in establishing a communist system, even if not all Parisians were on the side of the Commune.
From the writing of literary French authors, we can see that the upper classes accused the Communards of being hostile to the government. The mass official newspapers of he Commune spread their ideas daily among the population of France, and they also spread abroad. On the other hand, the French government was preparing a counterattack and spreading false information about the municipal system and its ideas. The biased reporting of both government and commune newspapers led both sides to ban certain newspapers. The newspapers of the Paris Commune appealed to the provinces to join the fight of the Commune against the French government. Daily development and attempts to establish communes in the provinces were reported in these journals. The gazettes of the Paris Commune also encouraged the Parisians in various ways to continue with their fight.
In Germany, newspapers were initially wary of their reporting and after some time had passed, they mainly reported on the brutal actions in the French capital. In Russia, the press initially criticized the commune for trying to stop the spread of revolutionary ideas. However, when Lenin came to power, the Russian understanding of the Paris Commune changed completely, as Lenin used it as an example of a socialist revolution. By analyzing the Paris Commune, he wanted to show the Russians how to prepare a winning revolution that would change the Russian and international society. The English press mostly supported the commune, accusing the passivity of the English towards the events in France. After the fall of the commune, many communards moved to England where they spread socialist ideas which has changed the English understanding of the Commune.
|
