The Leaders of the Commune Index
ÒThe
Communal Revolution, begun by the popular initiative of 18 March, inagurates a
new political era, experimental, positive, scientific. It is the end of the old
governmental and clerical world, of militarism, of monopolism, of priviliges to
which the proletariat owes its servitude, the Nation its miseries and
disasters.Ó[1]
The
above passage was one of the CommuneÕs declarations made shortly after its
founding in 1871. The Commune never did devolp a coherent platform or program
that it would attempt to carry out, though it had many individual goals. This
declaration was, essentially, the purpose of the Paris commune: to be an
experimental government, trying everything that could never be attempted under
other circuimstances and making changes that would be impossible under the
typical European aristocracy. There were several factions behind these changes,
and while they contradicted each other, each was devoted to the idea of change
and bringing their new, modern ideas out of the theoretical stages and into the
realm of reality.
The
Reds
The
terms ÔRedÕ was used to describe just about any radical organzation that was on
the far left end of the Parisian political spectrum. This included members of
the Jacobins and Blanquists in particular, not so much the Internationalists
because they were a foreign organization. The term is misleading because it was
not used as a name for any orgaization, but was imposed upon the radical
factions of the population by the government.
Distinct
Political Associations