What do you think?
Rate this book
The Paris Commune, 1871
Book by Edwards, Stewart
417 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
4 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 29, 2015
Published on the 100th anniversary of the Commune, this is an informative book and the author is evidently very knowledgeable of his subject, however I did find parts of this, especially sections towards the beginning, fairly hard to read. I'm ascribing this down to Edwards' generally dry writing style rather than the in-depth factual nature of the text. Recently I've been tending to read a lot of thick history books and I've had no problem reading works of equally fascinating periods of history, even books on much duller times. I think the author fails to impress because he doesn't explore particular points that I would want to explore and whilst he does elaborate a little on relevant political commentators of the Commune such Marx, Engels and Lenin he doesn't explore their thought anymore than a token mention. To be fair though that is probably because this is meant to be a general, but in-depth introduction to the history of the Paris Commune, if you wanted to find out, for example, what Marx or Lenin wrote about the Commune, then you'd go and read them wouldn't you?
The writing does improve towards the end of the book with the defence of Paris and fall of the Commune. The story becomes more simple, probably a reflection of the Communards' attention being focused on a sole objective. Edwards' writing also gains a little flair which may also reflect the subject matter of people heroically martyring themselves of the barricades and the subsequent brutal purge of the Parisian population.
one thing that strikes me is the relevance of some of the historical situations. In the years running up to the Commune in 1870 inflation was rising and wages were stagnating,
This is precisely what is happening now, since the 2008 recession real-time wages have gone down, many have received pitiful pay-rises, or none at all and yet shareholder profits are at an all-time high. We are told the UK economy is doing well, but not for the benefit of ordinary workers, as one Communard said,
We are constantly reminded, in this series of events, of the flaws of Capitalism,
I do feel like I need to read Lenin and re-visit Marx on the subject of the Paris Commune. I do feel, however, that the Commune's demise was due in no small part to the lack of centralisation and singular will of the people, democratic centralism in essence, and that the multiple strands of opinion, the lack of a properly modern proletariat and a unwillingness of each Parisian to fight outside of each their own neighbourhoods enabled, or at least hastened the defeat of the Commune.
The writing does improve towards the end of the book with the defence of Paris and fall of the Commune. The story becomes more simple, probably a reflection of the Communards' attention being focused on a sole objective. Edwards' writing also gains a little flair which may also reflect the subject matter of people heroically martyring themselves of the barricades and the subsequent brutal purge of the Parisian population.
one thing that strikes me is the relevance of some of the historical situations. In the years running up to the Commune in 1870 inflation was rising and wages were stagnating,
'Wages had lagged behind prices, with the effect that there was a re-distribution of income in favour of the propertied classes'
This is precisely what is happening now, since the 2008 recession real-time wages have gone down, many have received pitiful pay-rises, or none at all and yet shareholder profits are at an all-time high. We are told the UK economy is doing well, but not for the benefit of ordinary workers, as one Communard said,
'You say, "National prosperity". We say "waste of capital, robbery and abasement of the working class", for the one goes with the other.'
We are constantly reminded, in this series of events, of the flaws of Capitalism,
'The government was hopeful in a laissez-faire manner that these preparations would be sufficient. The liberal economic principles of the lawyers and financiers of the Provisional Government made them very unwilling to exercise any restraints on the operation of the free market in the besieged city...By the end of the siege in January, however, the government feared that lack of food might easily lead to agitation in the popular quarters. Reluctantly the government accepted that they would have to "transgress economic principles" and "subscribe to a kind of Socialism" by formerly rationing bread.'
I do feel like I need to read Lenin and re-visit Marx on the subject of the Paris Commune. I do feel, however, that the Commune's demise was due in no small part to the lack of centralisation and singular will of the people, democratic centralism in essence, and that the multiple strands of opinion, the lack of a properly modern proletariat and a unwillingness of each Parisian to fight outside of each their own neighbourhoods enabled, or at least hastened the defeat of the Commune.
Displaying 1 of 1 review