num_pages: 260
description: For two months in 1871 the workers of Paris took control of Europes most celebrated capital city. When they established the worlds first workers democracythe Paris Communethey found no ready-made blueprints and no precedents to study for how to run their city without princes prison wardens or professional politicians. All they had was the boundless revolutionary enthusiasm of Pariss socialists communists anarchists and radical Jacobins all of whom threw their energies into creating a new society.As the citys bakers industrial workers and other ruffians built new institutions of collective political power to overturn social and economic inequality their former rulers sought to thwart their efforts by any means necessaryultimately deciding to drown the Communards in blood.By paying particular attention to the historic problems of the Commune critical debates over its implications and the glimpse of a better world the Commune provided Gluckstein reveals its enduring lessons and inspiration for todays struggles.Donny Gluckstein is author of The Nazis Capitalism and the Working Class and The Tragedy of Bukharin. He is a lecturer in history in Edinburgh and is a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
language: English
title: The Paris Commune: A Revolution in Democracy
publisher: Haymarket Books