Lecture notes: The socio-political forces that made the Paris Commune

Outline of a talk at the Critical University 15 May 2021

If we go back to March 18th, and look at the famous imagery of the National Guard on their barricades, we’re only seeing one half of the story. This is the French labour movement as it saw itself: orderly, respectable and quite obviously gendered — the men have the guns, flags and uniforms…