Description
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Paris Commune of 1871 was one of the first working class attempts at the social emancipation of the oppressed and exploited. Between 18 March and 29 May 1871, the popular classes succeeded for a while in breaking their chains. It was a short period when people could take control of their lives. The Paris Commune is an inspiration today. The memory of the past and its struggles strengthens the fight for the utopia of the future.
CONTENTS
The Paris Commune of 1871, Michael Lowy
Remembering the Paris Commune, Kay Mann
In memory of the Commune, V. I. Lenin
Do you know Lefrançais?, Daniel Bensaid
All the more monstrous because they were women, Mathilde Larrère
Genderquake: Socialist women and the Commune, Judy Cox
Glorious harbinger of a new society, Sandra Bloodworth
An ode to emancipation, Olivier Besancenot
The Paris Commune, banks and debt, Eric Toussaint
Events, People and Bibliography
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Daniel Bensaïd (1946-2010) was one of France’s most prominent Marxist philosophers and wrote extensively on the Paris Commune and many other subjects. His books in English are Marx for Our Times (2009), An Impatient Life (2013), and Recorded Fragment: Twelve reflections on the 20th Century (2020).
Olivier Besancenot is a member of the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste in France. He is the author of Que faire de 1917? Une contre-histoire de la révolution russe (2017).
Sandra Bloodworth is a labour historian and amember of Socialist Alternative, Australia.. She is the author of How Workers Took Power: the 1917 Russian Revolution (2008) and co-author of Rebel Women in Australian Working Class History (1998).
Judy Cox is studying for a PhD on the role of women in radical movements in mid-19th century London. She is the author of Rebellious Daughters of History (2021) and of The Women’s Revolution: Russia 1905-1917 (2017).
Penelope Duggan is a leading member of the Fourth International and a Fellow of the IIRE Amsterdam. She has edited Memoirs of a Critical Communist by Livio Maitan (2019) and Recorded Fragments by Daniel Bensaïd (2020).
Mathilde Larrère is a French historian specialising in revolutionary movements in 19th century France. She is the author of Rage against the machisme (2020); Il était une fois les révolutions (2019).
Michael Löwy is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. His works in English include Why Ecosocialism: For a Red-Green Future (2018), and The Theory of Revolution in the Young Marx (2003).
Kay Mann is a labour historian and is a member of Solidarity. Kay Mann is the author of Struggles New and Old: Yellow Vests, the French Revolution and 21st Century Anti-Capitalism (2019).
Eric Toussaint is a historian and political scientist. His recent books in English include Greece 2015: There was an alternative (2010), The Debt System (2019), and Bankocracy (2015).