Revolutionary Spirit of 1871 Paris Commune Inspires Communist May Day
EL SALVADOR — The working class of Paris took power in March 1871 and held it for 71 days. Although a short period of time, this historical event had a great impact on the whole world.
The Paris Commune arose during the political crisis resulting from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) between two of Europe’s greatest powers. French society was full of inequalities and the misery of the masses intensified after the French defeat.
It inspired Marx, the Bolsheviks, the Chinese Revolution, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. And today it continues to motivate the working class that organizes ourselves in the International Communist Workers’ Party. For the first time the working class took power into its own hands and used it to reshape society in its own interest.
“I knew this part of history when I joined the International Communist Workers’ Party, and it was very inspiring for me,” said a worker who had attended a forum on the Paris Commune.
We have read in Red Flag about many aspects of this event, especially the participation of women in the insurrection and in building the Commune. Thousands of women – laundry workers, garment workers, shopkeepers and many more – worked in weapons and ammunition factories, built barricades, took up arms from the fallen, and joined the struggle. They organized food, education, medical care, and political collectives.
Every story of these women, with their participation from beginning to end, is a lesson for our Party organization.
Mostly women work in the factories where we organize the struggle for communism today. As always, they have been key to mobilizing the working class in the struggle for a just system for humanity. The participation of women is key to the mobilization of more workers in the ranks of the ICWP.
The Paris Commune is a guide for industrial workers today, who continue to live in miserable conditions of exploitation. In factories here, bosses force them to work unpaid overtime to meet high production goals.
Like the workers in Paris in 1871, we need to prepare for armed revolution. We must not get stuck trying to reform capitalist wage slavery. One of the main lessons of the Paris Commune is that the working class needs a party that organizes and mobilizes the masses towards communism, as the ICWP is doing. A party that fights directly for communism.
The Franco-Prussian war created the conditions for the Paris Commune. We must see the wars spreading across the world today, from Ukraine to Ethiopia to Kashmir, as an opportunity for revolutionary communism. Now, as then, soldiers – as well as women and men workers – are key.
Discover more about the Paris Commune on the ICWP website Learn more about the struggle for communism today in the pages of Red Flag. Distribute the paper to co-workers, friends, and family. Invite them to participate in May Day marches and other events with the International Communist Workers’ Party.
Long live the spirit of the Paris Commune! Long live communism!
For More on the Paris Commune, real our pamphlet “Working Class History: Paris Commune of 1871” here