THE SKETCHER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10440, 20 April 1912, Page 1

THE SKETCHER.

PARIS COMMUNE. The Horrors of '7l. Moat people hare a general idea of the epoch-making French Revolution of 1789-1793. But 'the universal ignorance concerning a far more sanguinary, if concentrated, revolution, in. tho cradle of tha French Revolution, Paris, is astonishing.

There lias just been celebrated in various parts of the world the 41st anniversary of the fateful Paris Commune of 1871. In the spring of that year, just after the close of the Prussian War, the Parisian proletariat ruled and. completely controlled Paris 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 tho French authorities the German troops only marched through a few marked streets of Paris, and back again to their camp in the environs of the capital. During the procession the enraged Parisians fumed and fretted; and it would not have gone well with the Germans if they overstepped the line of march. Such was THE TEMPER OJf TARIS. The Emperor, Louis Napoleon, had abdicated, and the Third Republic wa3 declared. The undersiaed but brilliant Thiers was elected President. The furious Parisians did not take kindly to Thier's conciliatory methods, and there having at this time been formed <n commune in the various faubourgs (workmen's quarters) by some Socialists, and the moment being favourable owing to the general insecurity, distrust of Government, and other causes, the Parisians rose up in revolt. This popular rising soon developed into the armed protest of the city against tho centralised and corrupt authority of the French States. Thiers had once declared: "When a rebellion is serious, abandon the 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 transferred the temporary Government. The frightened property holders appealed to him for protection, and they withdrew from Pari3, leaving the city in the complete possession of the Communards under their leaders, Flourens,. Pelescluze, Duval, 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 They were not badly armed, having a large number of cannon, and the National Guard of 150,000 strong were supplemented by a large number of ODDLY-ARMED PROI.BTARIANS.

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 aiid mere children were fighting and dying in the thickest of the battle. The sublime courage and devotion of these frail creatures to their cause gives some. inkling as to the manner in which the Communards viewed their struggle, and in consequence the latter phases of the conflict became ferocious fights in which both sides, fought like maniacs. Similar risings took'place at Lyons, St Etienne, Aude and Toulouse, bnt either failed or were suppressed. Thiers waited at Versailles until his force waß strengthened by Marshal M'Mahon and 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

O>JE LONG, FBABFT7L CABNAGE. But they were no match for their better-equipped and disciplined adversaries. At the last Moody stronghold at Belleville, Deleschize, 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 insubordinxte Paris what would be 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 nhot. By far the greater number were slain beside a' wall in the Cemetery of Pere La Chaise, which is annually decorated by the French workers in memory of those who fell. TTie Communards allege* that 36,000 people—mainly innocent—were shot. " The Historians' History of the World" gives a conservative estimate

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at 26,000. It is genera'ly conceded that 30,000 were slain. With those who fell on both sides, fully 60,000 people paid the death penalty in one form or another for the revolt of Paris. On March 18 is celebrated this event by the working-class world. The special significance of March 18 is that on that day the Communards knew they WERE MASTERS OF PARIS. Thiers has sent troops under General Vinoy to take charge of the cannon on Montmartre. The people surrounded and dispersed the soldiers, who fraternised with and joined the crowd. The Commune illustrates the fact that Frenchmen never fight so fiercely and with such ferocity as when fighting other Frenchmen. The insurrections of 1789, 1830, 1848 and 1871 bear this out. Yet withal, inconsistent though it may seem. Government troops and insnrrectos were one and all fiery French patriots!