Paradise by storm | Page 12

March 18 marked the 150th anniversary of a momentous event: the Paris Commune of 1871. It was the first revolution dominated by the working class. In 1789, the lower people supported the bourgeoisie in this insurrectionary and founding act that was the French Revolution. But he was not the protagonist of this exploit which would lead to the Terror of Robespierre and Saint-Just, and to the imperial dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Paris Commune had an arc of possibilities that made it possible. France was at war with the Prussia of Bismarck and William II. And not only was he at war, he was losing it without any appeal. The “iron chancellor” (Bismarck) was a great strategist and knew better how to move his troops than Napoleon the Small (Napoleon III), whose glory was exhausted by bearing the name of Napoleon Bonaparte, but only that, since he had not inherited his military genius or his political skills. Napoleon III is taken prisoner by the Prussian generals who thus incline the war in his favor. The minimum, certainly angry and bloody, Thiers remains at the head of the French Republic. The National Guard refuses to shoot members of the insurgent community and more: it takes their side. Now, the Commune has in its power the big city of the country. He has the fervor, he has the weapons and a dynamic government plan. Which is the following:

– The army and police were replaced by the National Guard, made up of ordinary citizens, such as craftsmen, day laborers and other professions.

– The separation between Church and State has been established.

– The public functions were subjected to popular elections and would be governed by the principle of the revocation of mandate.

– They stopped teaching religion classes in schools because it was a matter of personal decision.

– The abandoned factories were occupied by workers.

– Paris was divided into neighborhoods, localities endowed with a certain autonomy which cooperate with the central organization. Civil servants received a salary similar to that of workers.

– The rental price was controlled by the Municipality.

– Widows and orphans of the National Guard were claimed with pensions.

What a magnificent plan! In no country during a current pandemic could this apply. Women have a preponderant and even powerful role in the struggle. The Commune, as Karl Marx puts it, wanted to “storm the sky”. But he didn’t take it. Perhaps inexplicably, they did not break into the Banque Nationale de France, where the country’s wealth has accumulated. These riches were taken by Thiers to rearm his army. Thiers had fled to Versailles, taking refuge in what he knew to be the heart of the monarchical, joyful and wasteful aristocracy. Until the end of the party with the massive rebel masses of 1789. And with the guillotine of Robespierre, who had no pity on anyone and less than Louis XVI

However, in Versailles, there was Thiers. And then an unusual event occurs. France and Prussia are suspending the war between nations because “the internationalist hydra” (as Nietzsche called the Commune) had seized one of them. Ah no, not that, no way! Marx rejoices in this fact. The inter-bourgeois struggle is put aside when the proletariat revolts. Bismarck brings his prisoners back to Thiers. There you have them, get rid of them, first we have to annihilate the internationalist hydra, then we continue our war.

France and Prussia were fighting for their imperialist conquests. Germany had been slow to divide the world among the great European nations. He needed his “living space”. In short, I needed to rethink everything. With the War of 1870, he not only achieved his belated national unity, but also began to discuss the desired territories of Africa and Asia, in particular.

But, before the armed proletariat, the task of discussing “the space of life” is left aside. Now they must help France defeat the red crowd, the anarchist and communist crowd, this scourge. Nothing different is happening today with the “civilized” countries of the West. They form a block before the advance of terrorist and populist “barbarism”. Thus, the United States, England, France, Germany, Israel (essential to put an end to “terrorist barbarism” in the Middle East, always following the interests of “the American empire) and, to a lesser extent, Italy and Spain the teeth to preserve “democracy” in the world.

Return to the town. With Prussian help, Thiers built a powerful army. He defeated the comuneros and “the bourgeois order” was reestablished in the country. The Commune lasted barely two months. During his journey, new horizons were dreamed of, new brotherhoods. But revolutionary dreams tend to pay dearly. The armed forces of France and Prussia killed 30,000 commoners. They wanted exemplary punishment. How had they dared to do what they had done? Something like this should never happen again. They were ruthless. They have had enough of shooting workers and professionals. This record (thirty thousand) refers us to state terrorism in Argentina. Is this how dreams end? Thus, above all, capitalism remains master of the structures of a system which has lasted for several centuries and which has won all its battles. I don’t know if the price of dreams is still bloody, but I believe (or I still dare to believe) that dreams open a horizon that is not yet closed.