The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-18
La Commune.

It is necessary to go back to the earliest
acts of the French Socialists Of lS4S if we
would understand what the Communists OF
1871 are fighting for.
After the overthrow of the government Oh
Louis Philippe the Socialists obtained a
strong representation in the Provisional Gov
eminent. One of the DEGREES issued the day
| a~fter.its instalment ordered the raising Oh q
large popular national guard, to be paid a
| franc and a half q day, and clothed by the
government; another, the next day, ordered
all articles pledged in.pawnshop5 to be re-
stored to the owners at the public expense;
another made the Tuileries an "asylum for
s.iavalid workingmeu;" another formally
guaranteed employment to all citizens, and
restored to the ouyriers to whom it belong
ssed' the million of forms just falling due
on the civil list. The issue of these procla-
nations was forced on the Provisional Gov
eminent by the state OF things in Paris. The
streets we're still full of barbados; the ouv-
riers were armed, and, as now, refused to
abandon the barricades and go home, until
they had been fully assured that the govern
ment was not going to ''betray" them. Even
| the presence of Louis Blanc aud of Albert,
.lhe Ouvrier," as he called himself in the
government, was not sufficient to reassure
them; so that the sane members of the gov
eminent were really obliged to let Louis
Blanc and Albert have their way, in order
to gain time, and the programme Of these
latter gentlemen was as yet only half-reyeal-
ed. To them the Republic meant what Louis
Blanc called 'the organization OF labor,
that is, the establishment of government
workshops for all branches Of industry, In
which all persons who chose could find en-
ployment, aud would receive equal rates OF
pay; the establishment OF government banks,
ct which all citizens could get their bills
discounted; and, in fact, the complete de-
struction of the present relation OF capitalist
and laborer, this being iu Socialist p~arlance
the exploitation Of man by man." The
Provisional Government was actually COM
pelled-to recognize the soundness OF all these
principles by public proclamation, but, to
escape or postpone the consequences OF it's
concessions, it appointed a Government
sLabor Commission, - put Louis Blanc and
Albert at the head of it, and sent 1t over to
the Luxembourg Palace to hold its sittings;
and to this flowed the professions
of workmen, or manifestations" as the
French called them, to which the laboring
class gave itself wholly up in those days,
thus giving the other members at the Hotel
de Vile time to attend to the more serious
and pressing affairs of the nation.
The Provisional Government were anxious
to summon a National Assembly as soon as
possible to relieve them of the responsibility
they had assumed. This was opposed by
the Socialists who desired that not only Paris
but the whole of France should be governed
by the Commune, that is, by a body elected
by a majority of the Paris voters. In the
eyes of the Parisians, and particularly in
the eyes of the COMMUNISTS, "Paris" has as
sumed the position OF an ideal being of supe-
rior might and wisdom, and entitled to rule
| by virtue of this superior might and wisdom.
| This justified the plan Of having France
ruled by the Commune. In ls4S the notion
was only beginning TO take possession of the
popular MUD; the events OF the past twenty
years have helped to spread and strengthen it;
Gambetta's persistence in carrying on the war
by virtue of authority derived from q Partisan
mob, and refusing to take the sense OF the
country at large, Is a striking illustration OF
the strong hold it has taken even OF The
minds Of educated men of the radical school.
When the Assembly met, in lS4S, it found
the government workshops in full activity,
and the whole working population asserting
"the right to labor" The government had
5000 men in its employ the 10th OF March;
by the end of the month, 80, 900; and by the
end of April, 100, 900, and the numbers were
increasing with frightful rapidity. The pri-
vate factories were all deserted; swarms OF
lazy and idle men began to pour in from the
country districts. The cooperation associa-
lions stopped their own work aud went of
to live at government expense; large num-
bers of students, artists and writer's followed
their example. All that anybody had to do
was to give hi name and calling and adj
dress. at first there was some attempt
made to find them something to do. Parties
were even detailed to plant ''trees of liberty"
but of course it became impossible to find
work, and all pretence Of finding it was
abandoned, and the huge and motley host
was actually divided init squads" and
''brigades," under leaders, and marched UP
TO draw its pay, over which there were con-
| tinual fights. When the Assembly met, it
found nearly two hundred thousand men
living in idleness on the public, the treasury
empty, business totally suspended, and soci-
ETY. on the verge of dissolution. 1t speedily
stopped the influx into Paris, abolished the
Luxembourg Commission, ordered the work.
ingmen to prepare to go to the country to
work there, and ERECTED all idle men between
seventeen aud twenty-five to enter the army
or &C about their business. The Reds at
once rose in arms, and fought the three