The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-03-13

earian dictatorship The Communards did break the old
machinery bourgeois effectively They aDO
shed the standing army and replaced by the nation in arms
and they struck powerful blows against the burocracy by abo
shng paramentars tin the sense OF the old taking shops
by the decree lowering the all servants to the
and centralized the state of the workers The state
apparatus loosely knit under uniform control and fire.
of defect which Com
that atho the Commune in fact dictator
ship conscious dictatorship Comrade Trosky
points his book Dictatorship Democracy that the
central committee of the National Guard which the sole
governor Paris in the early days. neglected order inn
mediate march on Versailles because mpossby hold
elections with the flower of the proerat out of the city
% the day of elections for the Commune but not sure of
with legal institutions entered into ridiculous and end
less negotiations with quite helpless assembly of mayors and
deputies of Paris showing its readiness to divide power with
them only agreement could be arrived at Meanwhile prec
Gus time was slipping by"
ness in dealing with its internal well as external foes This
mistake in the failure to organize satisfactory apparatus was
due the that dictatorship The
bourgeois meantime steadily at work preparing the down
fall of the Commune Events themselves finally forced the Com
mune to take its stand in principle the path OF intimidation
The creation of the Committee of Public Safety Totsky
Red Terror" committee appointed ito off the
heads of traitors and ito treachery To stop the
murder of prisoners by the Versailles decree PASSED that
for prisoner murdered three hostages would be shot from
among the anCommunards remaining in Paris The decree
was not carried out No prisoner or unarmed man was Killed
by the Communards thuout the siege from April to May 23
sstent revolutionary theory embodied strong, centralized
disciplined leading organizaonhe party of the proetarat
weakness Of the The virtues defects of Blan
qgsm were plainly revealed On the one hand it was shown
minority" the it proved this mill
minority have its roots deep the of the
working class that must be party equipped with revolution
science that it must know the road along which to
travel IVA .--a .s...~
H.
At the beginning of article stated that gentle
of International very
little attention the Paris Commune of 1871 In English
except Marks Civil War France Engels commentaries
writings Trotsky. only worthy
of consideration Mssagarays History of the Commune of
1871 Belort Baxs History of the Paris Commune and the
eresng but often misleading researches OF Postgae
rey characteristic of Kautsky who Lenn pointed out had
neglected the Paris Commune did begin write about it
1919 revolutionary lessons from but attack
Soviet In contrasting the Soviet regime with Com
mune, Kautsky huedy the virtues the Com
munards order to praise them for their shortcomings which
alas he does not find exemped the wcdy successful Boil
4 sheviks.
| Russian comrades learned the lessons of
1871 They fortified themselves in the revolutionary traditions
the Commune but they did its mistakes Kautsy
hints they should have DONE And while the Paris of the Com
mune ovrhrown after scarcely two months Of life the
Soviet already in its ninth and firmly
tabished than which the whole of Kautkys
abiding
Despite defeats inevitable along the
the experiences of it's defeats into future
tories the poeariat all countries advances
cipaon he Soviet power" said Lenin s the step
the world revolution the development of the dictatorship
the proearat The Paris Commune is the first STEP"