This Day In 1871: Paris Commune Established
By the ROAR Collective. Exactly 146 years ago today, the workers of Paris rose up against their treacherous and tyrannical government and defiantly hoisted the red flag of the Paris Commune over the Hôtel de Ville. The event sent shockwaves throughout the continent: with armed citizens erecting barricades in working-class neighborhoods and government officials on the retreat to Versailles, the City of Light had suddenly fallen into the hands of its people.
Over the next two months, all signs of state power evaporated from the French capital as the proletarians of Paris took charge of their own destiny, forming neighborhood councils and producer associations, electing moderately paid delegates subject to immediate recall, and instituting basic reforms like free access to public education, the granting of citizenship to immigrants, and the reopening of workplaces under workers’ control.
