ABSTRACT
W hatever conclusions we shall reach abou t the m eaning o f the Com m une in E u ropean and even world history, o u r starting p o in t is its significance as the final episode in the cycle o f political conflict th a t cen tred on Paris betw een 14 July 1789, w hen the Bastille was storm ed, an d 28 May 1871, w hen, a m ile an d a h a lf to the no rth , the last C om m unard com batants were killed, cap tu red o r dispersed. C ontem poraries were perfectly conscious o f continuities from the past. T he very nam e ‘C om m une’ echoes the revolutionary Paris city governm ent o f 1792, as th a t o f Federes (com m only given to the C om m unard N ational G uards) recalls th e ir revolutionary predeces sors; keen revolutionaries in 1871 ad o p ted the 1793 revolutionary calendar, w hich p laced them in Year 79; an d the C om m une’s m ost o pen ideological split o ccu rred over w hether to set up a Com m ittee o f Public Safety insp ired by th a t o f 1793.
