Record of Marx's Speech on the Paris Commune, May 23, 1871

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 27 May 1871


Source: Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 22
First published in The Eastern Post, No. 139, May 27, 1871
Reproduced from the General Council's Minute Book, verified with The Eastern Post
Collection(s): The Eastern Post

Marx's speech at the General Council meeting on May 23, 1871, started the debate on the need to expose the Versailles Government and voice a protest against the brutal reprisals against the Communards being prepared by Thiers. In his speech on this issue (only a short record of it was made in the Minute Book) Engels stressed the treacherous behavior of Thiers, who had promised to be lenient to the Communards. The General Council also decided to form a commission to find out what measures could be taken in England to put a stop to the brutalities of the Versailles Government.

[FROM THE MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 23, 1871]

Citizen Marx explained that he had been ill, and had not been able to finish the address[1] upon which he was engaged, but he hoped to have it ready by Tuesday next. In reference to the struggle in Paris he said. "He was afraid the end was near, but if the Commune was beaten, the struggle would only be deferred. The principles of the Commune were eternal and could not be crushed; they would assert themselves again and again until the working classes were emancipated. The Commune of Paris was being crushed by the aid of the Prussians, they were acting as gendarmes for Thiers. The plot for its destruction was concocted between Bismarck, Thiers and Favre; Bismarck stated at Frankfort that Thiers and Favre had asked him to interfere.[2] The result showed that he was willing to do anything he could to assist them, short of risking the lives of German soldiers—not that he valued life when there was anything to be got—but he wished to see France sink still lower so that he might be able to exact the more. He had allowed Thiers to have more soldiers than was stipulated in the Convention,[3] and had only allowed food to go into Paris in limited quantities. It was only the old story. The upper classes always united to keep down the working class. In the 11th century there was a war between some French Knights and Norman Knights, and the Peasants rose in insurrection; the Knights immediately forgot their differences and coalesced to crush the movement of the Peasants. To show how the Prussians have been doing Police work, it might be mentioned that 500 were arrested at Rouen which is occupied by the Prussians—upon the plea that they belonged to the International. The International was feared. In the French Assembly the other day, Count Jaubert—a dried up mummy—a minister of '34—a man noted for supporting measures against the Press[4] —made a speech in which he said that after order was restored, the first duty of the Government must be to enquire into the working of the International, and put it down."[5]

  1. ↑ K. Marx, The Civil War in France (pp. 307-59).— Ed.
  2. ↑ Report from Germany in the column "Révélations", La Situation, No. 156, March 21, 1871.— Ed.
  3. ↑ This refers to the Convention on the Armistice and Capitulation of Paris signed by Bismarck and Favre on January 28, 1871. The Government of National Defence refused to continue the struggle against the Prussian invaders and agreed to an ignominious capitulation. By this act it betrayed the national interests of France, which were sacrificed to the ruling classes' desire to suppress the revolutionary movement in the country by all possible means. By signing the Convention, Favre accepted humiliating demands put forward by the Prussians: payment of an indemnity of 200 million francs within a fortnight, the immediate surrender of most of the Paris forts, the handing over of the field guns and ammunition of the Paris army, and the disbanding of the francstireurs (armed civilians). Yet Bismarck and Favre did not dare to include a clause about the disarmament of the Paris National Guard, which mostly consisted of workers. The Convention provided for urgent elections to the National Assembly, which was to decide the question of ?. peace treaty.
  4. ↑ An allusion to the unseemly role played by Thiers in suppressing the popular insurrection in Paris on April 13-14, 1834, directed by the secret Republican Society of the Rights of Man (Société des Droits de l'Homme). Thiers, then Minister of the Interior, organised the brutal persecution of the participants in the insurrection and was, in particular, responsible for the death of the inhabitants of a house in Rue Transnonain. September Laws (1835) were issued by the French government, which took advantage of an attempt on the life of Louis Philippe on July 28 to restrict trial by jury and introduce harsh measures against the press, including higher securities for periodicals, and prison terms and large fines for statements against property and the existing political system.
  5. ↑ See H. F. Jaubert's speech in the National Assembly, May 12, 1871, Journal officiel (Versailles), No. 133, May 13, 1871.— Ed.