[lbo-talk] The Paris Commune was proclaimed 136 years ago today

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Thu Mar 29 20:10:48 PDT 2007



> And, it should be remembered that many, many of the
Communards in leadershp
> positions were followers of the vanguardist,
political-revoulutionist Blanqui:
> **************
> Blanqui, as an experienced revolutionary might just
have provided some
> political cohesion but he had been picked up by
police and spent the second
> revolution of his lifetime in prison. Charles
Delescluze was the most notable
> political figure from the past to sit on the
commune. He had been a radical
> Jacobean figure in the 1848 revolution until forced
into exile and was
> imprisoned when he tried to return secretly. However
years on Devil's Island
> had ruined his health. He could only speak in a
croaking voice and stayed above
> the personal struggles and quarrels of the commune
until called upon to play a
> dignified but doomed role at the end, walking
deliberately to his death on a
> barricade at what is today is the Place de la
Republic.

B. asked: So how does Louise Michel fit into all that?

************* I was simply trying to demonstrate the diversity of the people who were Communards. They were by no means all Bakuninists nor Marxists nor revolutionary unionist nor Proudhonists etc.

As for Michel: ...the Paris Commune. It was a social revolution, which tried to create freedom and equality for all the people of Paris. Louise Michel, like many others, gave her total self to the revolution. She fought on the barricades, devoting herself to the cause. She was eagerly willing to sacrifice her life for the "conquest of freedom". In her memoirs, she describes the struggle: "In my mind I feel the soft darkness of a spring night. It is May 1871, and I see the red reflection of flames. It is Paris afire. That fire is a dawn".

After the fall of the Commune, Louise Michel had to turn herself into the authorities, as they threatened to shoot her mother. She was marched, along with other prisoners who were active in the commune, from Versailles to Satory. Along the way some were woken in the middle of the night, made dig their own graves and then shot. In total, there were about thirty thousand men, women and children executed.

On 16th December 1871, Louise Michel, at the age of thirty-six, was brought to trial by the Versailles Government. She was accused of:

1. Trying to overthrow the government.

2. Encouraging citizens to arm themselves.

3. Possession and use of weapons, and wearing a military uniform.

4. Forgery of a document.

5. Using a false document.

6. Planning to assassinate hostages.

7. Illegal arrests, torturing and killing.

When she was asked if she had anything to say in her defence, she replied:

"I do not wish to defend myself, I do not wish to be defended. I belong completely to the social responsibility for all my actions. I accept it completely and without reservations. I wished to oppose the invader from Versailles with a barrier of flames. I had no accomplices in this action. I acted on my own initiative.

I am told that I am an accomplice of the Commune. Certainly, yes, since the Commune wanted more than anything else the social revolution, and since the social revolution is the dearest of my desires . . . the Commune, which by the way had nothing to do with murders and arson.

. . . since it seems that any heart which beats for freedom has the right only to a lump of lead, I too claim my share. If you let me live, I shall never stop crying for revenge and l shall avenge my brothers. I have finished. If you are not cowards, kill me!"

Louise Michel was sentenced to lifetime deportation. On 8th August 1873 she began her voyage to New Caledonia. It was during this journey that she met Natalie Lemel, who was responsible for introducing her to anarchism.... full: http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws98/ws55_louise.html

and after the Paris Commune, while in exile on New Caledonia: She had extensive political discussions with anarchists such as Natalie Lemel and Charles Malato, and was during his exile when she adopted the political points of view anarchists ... http://www.humanidadenred.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5019&Itemid=130

Regards, Mike B)

Wage-slave's Escape http://happystiletto.blogspot.com/

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