IN 1871, the working class in Paris rose up against their rulers and proclaimed the Paris Commune. It was the first example in history of ordinary people taking control of society and running it ...

On March 18, 1871 , the people of Paris rose against a despised and detested government, and proclaimed the city independent free, belonging to itself. This overthrow of the central power took place ...

Bruno Braquehais, "Toppled bronze statue of Napoleon from the Vendôme Column" (1871), albumen print (all images courtesy Getty Research Institute) This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Paris ...

In France, historical anniversaries tend to divide rather than unite. This year, which marks the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune and the bicentennial of Napoléon Bonaparte’s death, certainly ...

On Saturday, the World Socialist Web Site marked the 150th anniversary of the 1871 Paris Commune, the first time in world history that the working class took state power, with an international online ...

1) The Despotic Plan of Capital vs. the Cooperation of Freely Associated Labor Marx had begun his analysis of capitalism some three decades before the establishment of the Paris commune in 1871. Labor ...

Kristin Ross’s The Commune Form traces a political tradition—based on reimagining class relations—that stretches from the 1871 uprising to the modern-day struggles of ZAD. A man walks past a statue of ...

The first part of Peter Watkins’ six-hour docudrama focuses on the euphoric rise of the Paris Commune, and part two tells the story of its quick decline. The commune was a sort of aftershock of the ...

Sebastian Smee’s Paris in Ruins is an addictively good read, weaving as it does the lives of several important Impressionist painters into the traumatic and bloody events of 1870-71 in France: the ...

We generally don’t see Paris as a city scarred by war. It is not like London and Berlin, where the drab modern architecture of the urban centers offers silent reminders of past aerial bombardment. It ...

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered ...