The Paris Commune: A Revolution in Democracy

by Donny Gluckstein

For two months in 1871, the workers of Paris took control of Europe’s most celebrated capital city. When they established the world’s first workers’ democracy—the Paris Commune—they found no ready-made blueprints, and no precedents to study for how to run their city without princes, prison wardens, or professional politicians. All they had was the boundless revolutionary enthusiasm of Paris’s socialists, communists, anarchists, and radical Jacobins, all of whom threw their energies into creating a new society.

As the city’s bakers, industrial workers, and other “ruffians” built new institutions of collective political power to overturn social and economic inequality, their former rulers sought to thwart their efforts by any means necessary—ultimately deciding to drown the Communards in blood.

By paying particular attention to the historic problems of the Commune, critical debates over its implications, and the glimpse of a better world the Commune provided, Gluckstein reveals its enduring lessons and inspiration for today’s struggles.

Donny Gluckstein is author of The Nazis, Capitalism and the Working Class and The Tragedy of Bukharin. He is a lecturer in history in Edinburgh and is a member of the Socialist Workers Party.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, World History, Political Science

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Donny Gluckstein is a lecturer in history in Edinburgh and is a member of the Socialist Workers' Party (UK).

Reviews

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written from a Marxist perspective, the book is sympathetic to the commune and scathing about the atrocities committed by the Versailles government. Although the presentation isn't perhaps the most reader-friendly, what it lacks in narrative tension is balanced by the theoretical and practical insight that the commune can give even to 21st century struggle.

[Ioannis Drakos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heroism of the Paris Commune shines through as an event of world-historical importance, despite the author's deficiencies in style.

The abundance of primary sources ensures the voice of the Commune's participants are represented front and centre - the book's greatest asset.

Unfortunately, its good qualities, though significant, end there. Gluckstein is unable to make the history feel coherent. His structure does not continue chronologically, which causes immense confusion, with him beginning with a chapter on the Commune's achievements that not only mean little without context but end up being sorely missed later on in the work when he delves deeper on the makeup and progress of the Commune up to its massacre by Versaille forces.

An exciting writing style is, deep down, someone's ability to engagingly explain a quality analysis. I feel that Gluckstein missed the mark in this department, not saying more beyond simple statements along the lines of "class antagonisms got worse/better" following and precipitating an event. I also think his inability to use proper terminology for capitalist relations (using "bosses" and "big business" often, with all their vague meanings) are another example of this disappointingly simplistic interpretation of events in the Marxist tradition.

As a result, I have been left with a decent, albeit messy understanding of this important moment in human history for a work of near-200 pages. What I appreciate greatly is the beautiful reproduction of the Parisian workers voices. But where the author's voice was meant to bridge the gap between primarg source collection and coherent history, I found it at times underwhelming in analysis and unnecessarily confusing in structure.

[Pradeep · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small peephole in past through which the working class can visualize and build the world of tomorrow.

Also - a painful read. Even though i knew that, in the end, the revolutionary men, women and their children would be butchered, blown into pieces and buried unceremoniously... I wanted them to win at each and every page. I even wished they were bit more ruthless, bit more inhumane, bit more arrogant.

It showed us that a new society can be created by "us" from bottom and the ruling class will never cede power willingly.

"The struggle of future against the past, equality against monopoly, fraternity against servitude, solidarity against selfishness" still continues....

[K. Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for background research on a writing project. Very insightful, gave me basically all the information I was seeking initially and a lot more.

[Steffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Arise ye starvelings from your slumbers' Books on the Paris Commune, these 70 ish days between March and May 1871, are always a great source of inspiration when you feel like a) everything gets shittier and b) nothing will ever change.
I guess this book is not the authority on the subject. It's great though as it uses a lot original sources and thus avoids the usual revisionist traps.
Somehow I feel like the author is a shitty writer though, I think that could have been presented in a more engaging language and sharper analysis. (Maybe it's just that it competes against Marx's and Lenin's writings on the same subject and they of course of master the magic of writing like few others.)

[Adam Azzalino · Rating 4 out of 5]

1871, Paris was a true free city. Most of my politics are steeped in the model of the Paris commune. Book gives a good overview of events but I wish it was more a narrative and less of a highlight. I could also have done without the chapter on what state-socialists like Lenin thought. I could care less.

[Liam Royle]

Inspirational.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing account of one of the most underrated revolutions in history.