Tag Archives: revolution

The Paris Commune: William Morris

The revolution itself will raise those for whom the revolution must be made. From William Morris … Why We Celebrate the Commune of Paris (Source: “Why We Celebrate the Commune of Paris Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 62, 19 March 1887, p. 89-90; Transcribed: by … Continue reading

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Syria: Remembering a revolution

We are no less than the Paris commune workers: they resisted for 70 days and we are still going on for a year and a half. Omar Aziz, 2012 The “Arab Spring” as revolution risks falling into oblivion, reduced to … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Situationist International

“…it is time we examine the Commune not just as an outmoded example of revolutionary primitivism, all of whose mistakes can easily be overcome, but as a positive experiment whose whole truth has yet to be rediscovered and fulfilled.“ The … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Alexander Berkman

Alexander Berkman sees in both the Paris Commune of 1871 and the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921 a failure of foresight and nerve. In both cases, what was demanded was aggressive action against the State. And what occurred was passivity, lack … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Voltairine de Cleyre

The Paris Commune of 1871 was not a revolution of the many against the tyranny of state and capital, but an uprising of a minority that confusedly took control of Paris, then left the foundations of power in place, only … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Errico Malatesta

Writing of the Paris Commune in 1900, Errico Malatesta sought to disarm the myth of the Commune as a revolution – it was neither a socialist nor an anarchist revolution – and bring to the fore what in fact it … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Peter Kropotkin

The revolution of 1871 was above all a popular one. It was made by the people themselves, it sprang spontaneously from the midst of the mass, and it was among the great masses of the people that it found its … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Karl Marx

The work of Karl Marx on the Paris Commune of 1871 remains central for the understanding of the Commune as a “revolution”. We share below a text known as The Third Address of May 30th, 1871, part of a collection … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: Louise Michel

Anarchy is not a new idea; writers long before Saint-Just believed that a person who makes himself a leader commits a crime. Louise Michel It is not possible to read Louise Michel’s memoires without being swept away by the passion … Continue reading

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A political reflection on love

For the principle which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live—that principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honour, nor wealth, nor any other motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I … Continue reading

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