The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-03-18


tional Guard the only armed force, |
and suspended the payment Of rents, |
etc. The foreigners elected in the |
Commune were inaugurated i'll their |
offices, since the banner of the Com |
mune was the flag Of the world |
republic.
On the first of April the decision |
was made that all public officials, |
starting with members of the Com |
mune, were to receive the same wages
as the workers. On the second, the |
decree of the separation Of the
Church from the State, the abolition 1
Of every State payment for religious
purposes was issued and all church |
properties declared national property. |
On the fifth of April, when the |
troops Of the Versailles Government |
shot down the Communards that had |
fallen prisoners, the decree was is |
sued for the taking of hostages Ca |
decree that was not eXe1uted). On
the 9Th of April, the 18th Battalion
of the National Guard brought the |
guillotine into the public square and
consumed it in flames amid the &C
clamation of the masses. On the 18th
Of April it was decided to pull down
the Column Vendome CONSTRUCTED Of
the bronze Of the cannon conquered
by Napoleon) as a symbol Of chau-
yinism. On April 16 the Columnl
Vendome was pulled down amid the
iubilation Of the Partisan toilers.
NHF..I. s..
That same day, the Commune or
dered the compilation of statistics Of
all factories and shops closed by their
owners, to prepare plans for the
transformation of these industries
int CbOperatlves to be united in the
union of the cooperative OF produc-
ton. The Goth of April saw the
abolition of night work for the bakers.
Ten days later, it was decided to
abolish the pawnshops, which were
defined by the Commune as private
offices of exploitation of the workers.
Thus after the eighth of March the
class character Of this revolutionary
Partisan movement manifested itself
clearly The Commune was the di-
rect aAtithesiS of the Empire. 1.-THE
socialist republic of the Paris pro-
letariat not only was leading towards
the elimination of the monarchistio
form Of class rule but the class rule
itself
Prepare for Attack
In the Commune we find the first |
experiment of a workers government. |
However, not all the DEGREES and de- |
ciSionS Of this new government we're
carried out. The Commune was only
at its beginning, The major atten- |
ton was paid to defense against the
| armies of the Versailles Government, |
which in the meantime had obtained
the liberation Of prisoners from the |
German Government, in preparation |
for an attack upon the gates of Paris, !
III preparation for the murderous
crushing of the proletariat which had |
had the courage to take power.
On the basis of the return of the
prisoners from the German camps,
the Versailles government little by
LITTLE gained dominance over the
armed forces of proletarian Paris. !
Theirs broke off negotiations toward
the exchange of the Archbishop of
Paris and other hostages of the Com
mune for the old revolutionist leader,
Blanqui who had twice been elected
to the Commune, but was kept a
prisoner by the counter revolution.
COunter-reVOlutiOD Breaks in
In the continuous and bitter bat
ties, helped by the enormous artil-
Iery, the troops of the counter-reyo-
luton succeeded on May 3 in taking
the barrier of Moulin-Saquet; the
fortress of Lssy on May 8 and on
May IA the fortress of Van Yes, COM
ing from the east to the wall and
breaking through it because of
t1eachery from the inside. Besides
this, the Germans allowed the troops
Of Theirs to pass through from the
north and west
In hard struggles the fighters of
the Commune were forced to retreat
from Belleville and Menil Montant.
The battle continued in the suburbs.
1t became fiercer and fiercer. The
Communards, weakened by depriva-
ton, hunger and losses, continued
the struggle to defend Paris inch bv
inch, from one neighborhood to the
other, from street to street, from
house to house, while under the con-
tinuous bombardment many of the
palaces were in flames.
For days, men, women and chill
dren held the barbados. retiring
from barT'icade to baricade, letting
themselves be massacred rather than
surrender. Occupying the city by
hundreds and thousands, the work
ers of Paris fell under the bullets of
the mitrailleS dorerunners of the
modern machine gum. The bour-
geoisle would not forgive and wanted
only the destruction of the class that
had had the courage to free itself
from the yoke of the rulers.
The slaughter continued for days.
The mass deportation decree by the
war courts, the Wall OF the FEEDER
ated in the Cemetery of "Pere La
chaise," where the last massacre en-
masse took place, is witness to the
bestialities of which the ruling class
is capable when the proletariat raises
its head and tries to emancipate it.
self from the capitalist yoke.