The Paris Commune of 1870

 In 1870, under the command of Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte), France went to war against Prussia. The Prussian kingdom then allied itself with the other German states and invaded France, which faced several defeats, until Napoleon surrendered. A Republican government was set up that same year. Extremely conservative, the seat of this government moved from Paris to Versailles. The fruit of this was the Paris Commune, a social movement that demanded the reform of the economy, based on a form of government that was, as the name suggests, communal.

The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris from 18 March to 28 May 18711. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working-class radicalism grew among its soldiers. The Commune governed Paris for two months, establishing policies that tended toward a progressive, anti-religious system of their own self-styled socialism, which was an eclectic mix of many 19th-century schools. These policies included the separation of church and state, self-policing, the remission of rent, the abolition of child labor, and the right of employees to take over an enterprise deserted by its owner. All Roman Catholic churches and schools were closed. Feminist, socialist, communist, old style social democracy (which was a mix of reformism and revolutionism) and anarchist currents played important roles in the Commune. However, the various Communards had little more than two months to achieve their respective goals. The national French Army suppressed the Commune at the end of May during La semaine sanglante (“The Bloody Week”) beginning on 21 May 18711. The national forces killed in battle or quickly executed between 10,000 and 15,000 Communards, though one unconfirmed estimates from 1876  and maybe the toll was as high as 20,000.

 

Some famous Communards include Henri Rochefort, who gave a series of lectures that were published in the New York Herald Tribune while staying in the United States after his escape from New Caledonia. They were highly critical of the French government for denying its citizens Liberty. Gustave Courbet was a French painter and a central figure of the Realism movement. He was known for his paintings in which he revealed the true lives of peasants and ordinary workers, at a time when the most well-accepted portraits were those with mythological heroes or religious scenes. Politically speaking, Courbet was an idealist and a visionary. One of his most important political activities has to do with the Paris Commune.

Courbet played a significant role in the political life of Paris during this time. In 1871, he wrote in a letter to his family: “I am, thanks to the people of Paris, with politics up to my neck […] Paris is a true paradise! No police, no nonsense, no charges of any kind, no matter what, everything in Paris works like clockwork, oh, if it could stay like this forever.” He had many roles as a member of the Commune; he was a representative of the city hall and a representative of the Ministry of Public Education.

Courbet was arrested for his alleged role in the destruction of the Vendôme Column following the defeat of the Paris Commune in June 1871. He was initially jailed in the Conciergerie, where he must have executed a drawing showing two very young fellow prisoners in a graffiti-marked cell.

However, it’s important to note that while Courbet’s political involvement during the Paris Commune is well-documented, specific artworks directly depicting or commenting on the events of the Commune by Courbet are not know. His involvement seems to have been more on the political side rather than through his artwork.

 

The aftermath of the Paris Commune was devastating. Large sections of Paris were reduced to rubble after the madness and devastation of Bloody Week, which finally ended on May 28, when government forces took control of the city. More than 43,000 Parisians were arrested and held in camps; about half were soon released. The national forces killed in battle or quickly executed between 10,000 and 15,000 Communards. In its final days, the Commune executed the Archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, and about one hundred hostages, mostly gendarmes and priests.  Some 43,522 Communards were taken prisoner, including 1,054 women. More than half were quickly released. Fifteen thousand were tried, 13,500 of whom were found guilty. Ninety-five were sentenced to death, 251 to forced labor, and 1,169 to deportation (mostly to New Caledonia)