ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the brief existence of the Paris Commune and its attempt to establish a participatory socialist democracy. In August 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Napoleon III was hoping to increase his empire. In Paris, demonstrators demanded the overthrow of the Empire and the establishment of a new democratic republic. On 15 February 1871, at a meeting of around 3,000 members of the National Guard, the Central Committee of the National Guard was established. The Central Committee of the National Guard was increasingly seen as a threat to the authority of Thiers’ government. On 26 March, around 230,000 Parisians ignored the instructions of their national government and voted for the Paris Commune. By removing the government from Paris, Thiers had hoped that the city would cease to function and in the social chaos the Commune’s political authority would crumble.
