The Last Days of the Paris Commune, 1871

Submitted by dalcassian on 11 February, 2016 - 3:55 Author: Max Shachtman

”We are honest gentlemen;
it is by ordinary laws that
justice will be done. We will
have recourse to nothing but
the law." -Thiers to the Na-
tional Assembly, May 22, 1871.

With its last breath, facing
extinction, the Communards
fought: like the most courage-
ous of heroes. Delescluze,
abdicating his authority as
commander, called for revolutionary
war by (he people, war with naked
arms, war on the barricades. There
was no longer even a pretense at a
strategic retreat, an organized defen-
sive. It was every man for himself
and only the natural tendencies of
crowds united little groups of men to
struggle in their various sections. De-
bouching everywhere the Versaillesc
gained ground, foot by foot, every
hour. On the 22, La Muette was tak-
en, then the Trocadero; a bloc of Fed-
eral artillery was taken in the capture
of the Military School.
The Communards now made a des-
iderate attempt to rally against the
enemy. At the first.sign of the end
(lie cowards, with Felix Pyat at their
head, removed their red sashes and fled.
Dombrowski, Delescluze, Varlin, Ki-
gault, Ferre and a few others made an
attempt to organize the defense but it
was hopeless. For a few days the
tigerish heroism of the defenders, out-
numbered as they were, even checked
lhe enemy. Scenes of unknown self-
sacrifice and nOble courage were hour-
ly occurrences. The Communards died
with the Marseillaise on their lips and
the shout "J'our la sGUdarite hu-
tname!" Dombrowski, realizing the end
and saddened by the suspicions cast
upon him, exposed himself to the fire
of the enemy and was riddled by balls
in the rue Myrrha.
One after another: Montmartre,
the historic battleground of the revo-
lution was taken by 30,000 men be-
cause the Commune had failed to send
reinforcements and munitions; the
cemetery of Montparnasse was occu-
pied and the Federals were being flank-
ed on every side, driven to a corner.
Raoul Kigault was found lifeless in a
street. Ferre, the Blanquist chief of
police, saw to the shooting of the spy
Veysett, and gave the order for the
killing of the hostages—after the Com-
munards, maddened by the savage
slaughters of Thiers, demanded re-
prisals.
The Commune now suffered its death
pangs. The leonine si niggles on the
barricades were of little avail. The
Versaillese pressed forward. On Sun-
day, May 28, the last barricade was
taken. At noon, the last cannon of the
Communards was fired. The next day
a small squadron seized the outlying
fort of Vincennes, shot ihe Communard
officers against the wall, pulled the red
flag from the mast and ran up the tri-
color of the republic of Liberty, Equali-
ty and Fraternity ....
But the monstrous scoundrel Thiers
had not finished. It was necessary to
thoroly purge Paris of subversive no-

tions, to drown its revolutionary spirit
in a bath of its own blood; a massacre
was an essential prerequisite for the
achievement of year-long tranquillity.
So there followed the bloody week of
May, the most frightful slaughter, the
most cold-blooded murder of men since
the days of the Byzantine Empire. To
the scoundrelly patriots of Thiers'
mold, the Communards were far more
detestable than the Prussians; indeed,
it was only with the aid of the Prus-
sians that they managed to, conquer
Paris. The party of "order" was in
power.
"Pitiless murder!" With this order
were the Communards exterminated.
Those found with black marks on their
fingers, indications of having used gun
powder, or those who still wore a bit
of National Guard uniform were shot
in their tracks. Three hundred fed-
eral refugees were shot in the Ma-
deleine. At the square of the Pan-
theon hundreds of Federals were mas
sacred. Huge heaps of corpses were
piled against every wall in the city.
The wounded and the medical corps
equally were killed 'by the bloodthirsty
troops, despite the concord of the In-
ternational Convention at Geneva.
Members of the Commune were avid-
ly hunted like dogs, and even Free
Masons were murdered on sight. Var-
lin, one of the most Capable figures in
the Commune was cruelly assassinated.
The Versailles press would announce
the execution of Cluseret, Valles, Fer-
re, Longuet, Gambim, Lefrancais: and
all of them were living! Unfortunates
who could not prove their identity were
killed in their places.
Moderates, republicans, men who
had never participated in the Com-
mune but whose staunch republican
ideas made them suspect were done to
death. Milliere, the deputy to the Na-
tional Assembly, was forced to his
knees in the Pantheon and shot; the
doctor Tony Moil in suffered the same
fate. The presence of foreigners in of-
ficial posts in the Commune gave rise
to a hunt against all strangers: Poles,
Hungarians, Italians, Hollanders and
Germans were shot almost on sight.
Neither women nor children were spar-
ed: "They are probably Communards
anyway."
Anonymous denunciations were suf-
ficient in most cases for the seizure and
death of a Parisian, and thousands
died in this manner. The fable of the
petrolcuses, women oil throwers who
were alleged to have set fire to build-
ings, brought about the death of scores.
Thousands were tried 'before drum-
head court martials which devoted only
a second to each individual. Those
who-were sent to Versailles for retrial
had to pass thru a gate gaurded by
the Marqnis de Gallifet. This horrible
butcher stood there and selected hap-
hazardly hundreds of men and women
out of the purest whim, and murdered
them against Uie wall.
"To find a parallel for the conduct
of Thiers and his bloodhounds we must
go back to the times of Sulla and the
two triumvirates of Rome," wrote
Marx. Where rifles failed to slaugh-
ter the hundreds of victims who were
driven to death like droves of cattle,
the miltrailleuses were substituted.
Huge graves, yards wide and deep,
were dug for the murdered Parisians
and they were flung in like so much
dirt. The hastiness with which they
were buried brought horrible night-
mares to those who passed by or lived
near these mass graves. At night a
still living arm would be thrust out
of the ground, or a leg which still wore
the uniform of the National Guard. In
the butchery many of the wounded had
been buried alive! Unearthly groans
and heavings issuing from the ground,
made Parisian life a ghastly night-
mart*. Bodies rotted in the bleak rooms
of the proletariat, awaiting a hasty in-
ternment.
Every family in Paris gave at least
one sacrifice to the cause of the Com-
mune. The insatiable sadism of the
bourgeois hyenas spattered every wall
of Paris with the stain of noble pro-
letarian blood. The rivers of Paris
ran red with blood, a constant broad
stream staining its course for days
during the Semaine Sangla?it. A new
amusement afforded the degenerates of
Paris: La peche au federe, which con-
sisted in betting on the amount of Fed-
erals' corpses that would float under a
bridge in a given time.
Not all died the death of heroes.
Some bought their worthless hides with
their own shame. At the trials Urbain,
who proposed the decree on hostages,
grovelled before the court and denounc-
ed the "crimes of the Commune." Jour-
de, the delegate for Finances, servilely
apologized for the relations of the Com-
mune with the Ban'k of France. Ras-
toul announced that his protest against
the Commune's murders and crimes
exceeded that of the Versaillese. Cour-
bet, the painter of delicate pastorals,
declared that he had voted for the de-
molition of the Vendome column only
on aesthetic grounds (!) and repudiat-
ed the work of the Commune. The
shameless drunkard Lullier, the first
Communard general, boasted that he
was in the pay of Versailles. But the
best of the Communards, as Iho with
deliberate thrusts as these fawning
cravens, shouted on the gallows "Vive
la Commune!"
Estimates vary as to the number
that were murdered by the Versaillese
after the fall of the Commune. Beyond
a doubt, however, there were between
twenty and thirty thousand slaughter-
ed. Hundreds were exiled to blea'k is-
lands on the African coast. In all the
Commune suffered at the hands of the
reactionaries a loss of some 100,000 of
the flower of the Parisian proletariat.
The Commune paid with seas of blood
for its historic and audacious attempt
to establish the revolutionary rule of
the proletariat.
May 22, 1871.
With its last breath, facing
extinction, the Communards
fought: like the most courage-
ous of heroes. Delescluze,
abdicating his authority as
commander, called for revolutionary
war by the people, war with naked
arms, war on the barricades. There
was no longer even a pretense at a
strategic retreat, an organized defen-
sive. It was every man for himself
and only the natural tendencies of
crowds united little groups of men to
struggle in their various sections. De-
bouching everywhere the Versaillesc
gained ground, foot by foot, every
hour. On the 22, La Muette was tak-
en, then the Trocadero; a bloc of Fed-
eral artillery was taken in the capture
of the Military School.
The Communards now made a des-
iderate attempt to rally against the
enemy. At the first.sign of the end
tlie cowards, with Felix Pyat at their
head, removed their red sashes and fled.
Dombrowski, Delescluze, Varlin, Ki-
gault, Ferre and a few others made an
attempt to organize the defense but it
was hopeless. For a few days the
tigerish heroism of the defenders, out-
numbered as they were, even checked
the enemy. Scenes of unknown self-
sacrifice and noble courage were hour-
ly occurrences. The Communards died
with the Marseillaise on their lips and
the shout "J'our la solidarite hu-
mane!" Dombrowski, realizing the end
and saddened by the suspicions cast
upon him, exposed himself to the fire
of the enemy and was riddled by balls
in the rue Myrrha.
One after another: Montmartre,
the historic battleground of the revo-
lution was taken by 30,000 men be-
cause the Commune had failed to send
reinforcements and munitions; the
cemetery of Montparnasse was occu-
pied and the Federals were being flank-
ed on every side, driven to a corner.
Raoul Kigault was found lifeless in a
street. Ferre, the Blanquist chief of
police, saw to the shooting of the spy
Veysett, and gave the order for the
killing of the hostages—after the Com-
munards, maddened by the savage
slaughters of Thiers, demanded re-
prisals.
The Commune now suffered its death
pangs. The leonine si niggles on the
barricades were of little avail. The
Versaillese pressed forward. On Sun-
day, May 28, the last barricade was
taken. At noon, the last cannon of the
Communards was fired. The next day
a small squadron seized the outlying
fort of Vincennes, shot ihe Communard
officers against the wall, pulled the red
flag from the mast and ran up the tri-
color of the republic of Liberty, Equali-
ty and Fraternity ....
But the monstrous scoundrel Thiers
had not finished. It was necessary to
thoroly purge Paris of subversive no-

tions, to drown its revolutionary spirit
in a bath of its own blood; a massacre
was an essential prerequisite for the
achievement of year-long tranquillity.
So there followed the bloody week of
May, the most frightful slaughter, the
most cold-blooded murder of men since
the days of the Byzantine Empire. To
the scoundrelly patriots of Thiers'
mold, the Communards were far more
detestable than the Prussians; indeed,
it was only with the aid of the Prus-
sians that they managed to, conquer
Paris. The party of "order" was in
power.
"Pitiless murder!" With this order
were the Communards exterminated.
Those found with black marks on their
fingers, indications of having used gun
powder, or those who still wore a bit
of National Guard uniform were shot
in their tracks. Three hundred fed-
eral refugees were shot in the Ma-
deleine. At the square of the Pan-
theon hundreds of Federals were mas
sacred. Huge heaps of corpses were
piled against every wall in the city.
The wounded and the medical corps
equally were killed 'by the bloodthirsty
troops, despite the concord of the In-
ternational Convention at Geneva.
Members of the Commune were avid-
ly hunted like dogs, and even Free
Masons were murdered on sight. Var-
lin, one of the most Capable figures in
the Commune was cruelly assassinated.
The Versailles press would announce
the execution of Cluseret, Valles, Fer-
re, Longuet, Gambim, Lefrancais: and
all of them were living! Unfortunates
who could not prove their identity were
killed in their places.
Moderates, republicans, men who
had never participated in the Com-
mune but whose staunch republican
ideas made them suspect were done to
death. Milliere, the deputy to the Na-
tional Assembly, was forced to his
knees in the Pantheon and shot; the
doctor Tony Moil in suffered the same
fate. The presence of foreigners in of-
ficial posts in the Commune gave rise
to a hunt against all strangers: Poles,
Hungarians, Italians, Hollanders and
Germans were shot almost on sight.
Neither women nor children were spar-
ed: "They are probably Communards
anyway."
Anonymous denunciations were suf-
ficient in most cases for the seizure and
death of a Parisian, and thousands
died in this manner. The fable of the
petrolcuses, women oil throwers who
were alleged to have set fire to build-
ings, brought about the death of scores.
Thousands were tried before drum-
head court martials which devoted only
a second to each individual. Those
who were sent to Versailles for retrial
had to pass thru a gate gaurded by
the Marqnis de Gallifet. This horrible
butcher stood there and selected hap-
hazardly hundreds of men and women
out of the purest whim, and murdered
them against the wall.
"To find a parallel for the conduct
of Thiers and his bloodhounds we must
go back to the times of Sulla and the
two triumvirates of Rome," wrote
Marx. Where rifles failed to slaugh-
ter the hundreds of victims who were
driven to death like droves of cattle,
the miltrailleuses were substituted.
Huge graves, yards wide and deep,
were dug for the murdered Parisians
and they were flung in like so much
dirt. The hastiness with which they
were buried brought horrible night-
mares to those who passed by or lived
near these mass graves. At night a
still living arm would be thrust out
of the ground, or a leg which still wore
the uniform of the National Guard. In
the butchery many of the wounded had
been buried alive! Unearthly groans
and heavings issuing from the ground,
made Parisian life a ghastly night-
mart*. Bodies rotted in the bleak rooms
of the proletariat, awaiting a hasty in-
ternment.
Every family in Paris gave at least
one sacrifice to the cause of the Com-
mune. The insatiable sadism of the
bourgeois hyenas spattered every wall
of Paris with the stain of noble pro-
letarian blood. The rivers of Paris
ran red with blood, a constant broad
stream staining its course for days
during the Semaine Sangla?it. A new
amusement afforded the degenerates of
Paris: La peche au federe, which con-
sisted in betting on the amount of Fed-
erals' corpses that would float under a
bridge in a given time.
Not all died the death of heroes.
Some bought their worthless hides with
their own shame. At the trials Urbain,
who proposed the decree on hostages,
grovelled before the court and denounc-
ed the "crimes of the Commune." Jour-
de, the delegate for Finances, servilely
apologized for the relations of the Com-
mune with the Ban'k of France. Ras-
toul announced that his protest against
the Commune's murders and crimes
exceeded that of the Versaillese. Cour-
bet, the painter of delicate pastorals,
declared that he had voted for the de-
molition of the Vendome column only
on aesthetic grounds (!) and repudiat-
ed the work of the Commune. The
shameless drunkard Lullier, the first
Communard general, boasted that he
was in the pay of Versailles. But the
best of the Communards, as Iho with
deliberate thrusts as these fawning
cravens, shouted on the gallows "Vive
la Commune!"
Estimates vary as to the number
that were murdered by the Versaillese
after the fall of the Commune. Beyond
a doubt, however, there were between
twenty and thirty thousand slaughter-
ed. Hundreds were exiled to blea'k is-
lands on the African coast. In all the
Commune suffered at the hands of the
reactionaries a loss of some 100,000 of
the flower of the Parisian proletariat.
The Commune paid with seas of blood
for its historic and audacious attempt
to establish the revolutionary rule of
the proletariat.

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