Voices Of The Paris Commune

Description

The Paris Commune of 1871, the first instance of a working-class seizure of power, has been subject to countless interpretations; reviled by its enemies as a murderous bacchanalia of the unwashed while praised by supporters as an exemplar of proletarian anarchism in action. Only those who were present in the spring of 1871 and who lived through and participated in the Commune have contributed to this volume, leading to a more balanced view. Collects newspaper cuttings from Le Cri du Peuple, the communes official newspaper.

Mitchell Abidor is the principal French translator for the Marxists Internet Archive and has published several collections of his translations, including Anarchists Never Surrender: Essays, Polemics, and Correspondence on Anarchism, 1908-1938; The Great Anger: Ultra-Revolutionary Writing in France from the Atheist Priest to the Bonnot Gang; and Communards: The Paris Commune of 1871 as Told by Those who Fought for It. He lives in Brooklyn.

"The Paris Commune of 1871 has been the subject of much ideological debate, often far removed from the experiences of the participants themselves. If you really want to dig deep into what happened during those fateful weeks, reading these eyewitness accounts is mandatory." --Gabriel Kuhn, editor of All Power to the Councils! A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918-1919 "The Paris Commune holds a place of pride in the hearts of radicals--heroically created from the bottom up and tragically crushed by the forces of reaction. Yet, as this collection illustrates, the lessons of the Commune, as debated by the Communards themselves, are as enduring and vital as that briefly liberated society was inspiring." --Sasha Lilley, author of Capital and Its Discontents