The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-17
The Paris Commune and
the Road to Soviet Power

WE CELEBRATE TO-DAY the 68rd anniversary Of
" the immortal Paris Commune when now the
question of the seizure of power and the establish
ment of the dictatorship of the proletariat has be-
come the burning question of the day.
The heroic Paris Proletariat in 1871 struck the
first open blow at the state power of the bourgeoise
the capitalist ruling class. The Paris Proletariat
struck the first open blow at the dictatorship Of
the bourgeoisie and won eternal honor by being
the first to set up new form of State-a workers
State the Commune. In the words of Lenin the
Paris proletariat by taking the road of civil war
against the oppression of the capitalist exploters
and their government taught the European prole-
tariat how to deal cOncretely with the problems of
the Socialist revolution"
Today the world proletariat faces the bour-
geoisie in the fifth year Of unprecedented capitalist
crisis Hunger, suffering, unemployment, and Fas-
cst reactionary brutality face the working masses
in all capitalist countries. The bourgeosie is quickly
discarding the bourgeois democratic forms, which
it to cloak the capitalist dictatorship of the
finance capital bilonares and is resortng to open,
brutal military dictatorship against its wage
slaves whom it can no longer even provide with the
minimum Of food clothing and shelter.
The question of smashing the capitalist rule,
a
majority of the toiling population, now burns with
ever-increasing intensity in the minds Of the work
ing class. In 1871 the Paris proetariat struck the
first blow for liberation from the chains Of wage
slavery Today, the class war between the oppres-
sing capitalist minority and the vast exploited
majority is swiftly approaching the stage Of open
world conflict new era of wars and revolutions
mas arrived. Today the workers in every capitalist
country face the problem of how to end forever the
he in
Of the proletariat, Soviet Power!
THE PROLETARIAT in the Paris Commune made
several mistakes and they were defeated because
If them. Marx and Engels subjected the experiences
If the Commune to the most searching analysis,
and particularly in the light Of the recent uprising
Of the Austrian proletariat these lessons are Of
enormous significance to the working class prepar-
ing for the revolutionary seizure of power
1t was Lenin who resurrected the wonderful
revolutionary lessons which Marx derived from the
experiences of the Commune which had been buried
beneath the mountains Of Second International OPP
oortunsm. 1t was Lenin who revived the lessons
If Marx and Engels
First, that the Paris prOIetariat stopped half
way instead of proceeding with appropriation of
the appropriations, it carried away by dreams
of establishing supreme justice in the country
Second, that it committed the mistake of be-
ing too generous to its enemies; instead of ami
hiatng its enemies, it tried to exercise moral in
fuence them. it hesitated and gave the Yer
sailIes government time to gather its dark forces
again and thus to prepare for the bloody May
week"
Thus, one of the main Marxist feminist lessons
of the Commune was that the proletariat was not