PARIS COMMUNE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15922, 7 May 1912, Page 2

PARIS COMMUNE.

Most people have a general idea of the epoch-making French Revolution of 1789-1793. But the universal ignor ance concerning a far more sanguinary, if concentrated, revolution, in the cradle of the French .Revolution, Paris, is astonishing. There has just been celebrated ic various parts of the world the 41st anniversary of the fateful Paris Commune of 1871. In the spring of thar year, just after the close of,the FrancePrussian War, the Parisian proletariat ruled and completely controlled Faris for three months, and only released their usurpation before a superior force of Government troops. France had just been thoroughly whipped by the Germans. Paris, after holding out so long, had been forced to surrender. But the surrender was no defeat, as the Germans knew; for on the appeal of the French authorities the -German troops only marched through a few marked streets of Pans, and back again to their camp in the environs of the capital. During the procession the enraged Parisians rumec and fretted, and it would not have gone well with the Germans if they overstepped the line of march. Such was THE TEJirER OF PARIS. The Emperor, Louis Napoleon, had abdicated, and the Third Republic was i declared. The undersized but brilliant ! Thiers wan elected President. The j furious Parisians did not take kindly ;to Thier's conciliatory methods, and I there having a': this time been formed I r,, commune in the various faubourgs iworkinen's quarters) by .some Socialidts, and tin moment being • favourable owing' to fci:o .general -.insecurity, dis- ! trust of Covcriiil:cnt,'- and other causes, j the Parisians rose,up in revolt. . This populnr ris'ri.T;"scon developed into, the ! a.-iiKd protest of the city against the I centralised and corrupt authority of the French States. "" t . Thiers had or.ee declared: " When a rebellion is ' serious, abandon, tho revolting town, and .only re-enter it as .conqueror." He' followed this opinion by retiring to Versailles with a few thousand loyal troops, where he trans'ferre'd the temporary --Government. The frightened property holders appealed ,to..hira: for ..protection, -and :th.ey, withdrew from 'Paris, leaving the city in the complete possession of the Communards under their leaders,.Flourens, Delescluze,..Puval, etc. The revolting Communards realised -what this meant, but being determined to maintain the mastery'of 'Paris, they erected barricades and-prepared for a long .and protracted siege. They were not. badly armed, hav.irig a large number of cannon, and the National Guard of 150,000 strong; "were supplemented by a large number; 0f. ,! -..•:.- . ODDLY-ARMED PROLETARIANS.

A peculiar phase of this insurrection was.the number of women and children who took- a leading part. In the most desperate encounters .women and girls and mere' • children' were fighting and dying in the thickest of the battle. The sublime courage and devotion of these frail creaturesrto their cause gives some inkling as'to the manner; in which the Communards viewed their struggle, and in consequence,the latter phases °f the conflict became ferocious fights.in which both sides fought like maniacs. Similar risings took place at Lyons,.St Etienne, Ande and Toulouse, but either failed or were suppressed. '. Thiers waited at Versailles until his force Avas strengthened by Marshal M'Mahon arid about • 200,000 of his defeated troops of Worth and Sedan. Paris was surrounded and an immediate onslaught began, but the Communards repulsed all attacks until one of the gates was surprised, and the city entered on May 21. Then began a sanguinary hand-to-hand fight. The Parisian streets/of those days' were .very narrow, and: this rendered the work of the attacking force more difficult. The city';,was regained house' by house, street by street, every inch of the way being contested. No quarter was given or taken on other side. It was extermination. The Communards, knew it, and fought with a ferocity that resulted in ONE LOKG, FEARFUL CARNAGE. But they were no match for their better-equipped and disciplined adversaries. At the last bloody stronghold at .Belleville, ■ Delescluze,. foreseeing the result, with head erect and stick in hand, walked straight into the thick of the fight. His body was found later riddled with bullets.

On May 27 the city was wholly recaptured and the insurrection suppressed. . Thiers determined to give insubordinate Paris what would he a wholesome lesson to revolting spirits in the future. Bands of Government, soldiers arrested those suspected of taking part in the insurrection. It must be confessed that they made little discrimination. Men, women and even children were taken up in batches of hundreds, placed against a wall,- and summarily fthot. By far the greater number were slain beside a wall in the Cemetery of Pere La Chaise, which is annually de-, corated by the French workers in memory of those who fell. • n The Communards allege that 36,000 people—mainly innocent —were shot. ''The Historians' History of. "the World " gives a conservative estimate at 26,000. It is generally conceded that 30.000 were slam. With those , who fell on both sides, fully 60,000 people paid.the death penalty in one form or another for tho revolt of Paris. On March 18 is celebrated this event by. the working-class world. The special significance o? March 18 is that on that day tho Communards knew they ••■

WERE MASTERS OF PARIS. Thiers has sent troops under General Vinoy to take charge of the cannon on Montmartre. Tho people surrounded ana dispersed the' soldiers, who fraternised with an<T joined the crowd. 'The Communo illustrates the fact that Frenchmen never fight fiercely and with such ferocity-a? when fighting other Frenchmen. Tie insurrections of 1789, 1830, 1848 and 1871 bear this out. Yet withal, inconsistent .though it may seem. Government troopri and lnsurreetos were one and all fiery French patriots 1