Louis dismisses his chief minister, the popular Swiss banker, Necker , and replaces him with the reactionary Breteuil. A Paris crowd storms the Bastille Prison , looking for arms with which to defend itself against the army rumouredly massed around the city. Troops refuse to fire on crowd. In the following weeks, the Paris electors call themselves the Commune of Paris, electing Bailly, mayor, and Lafayette, head of the National Guard. Municipal government passes into the hands of 60 electoral districts.
Political clubs form.
August 1789 National Assembly abolishes rights and privileges. The Act is promulgated on the 11th. Rumours of impending famine, crazed brigands, and aristocratic plots abound. A crowd of Parisians, mainly women, marches to Versailles to protest economic hardship and demand that the royal family move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. The 24 livres annual dues guarantee a fairly affluent membership.