MARCH 1904

I.

1. France under Napoleon III. The Bonapartist government.
   Industrial development. The workers' movement — International Workers' Association. {Proudhonism and Blanquism}

2. The dynastic war. Chauvinism (25 VII 70). A Berlin [To Berlin]. NB
   The left bank of the Rhine. — (German declarations: Verteidigungskrieg [defensive war])

3. Protests of the workers (attitude of the working class)
   — French manifesto. (Resolutions)
   — German protest.
   — Address of the General Council of the International — warning to the workers: organise, do not yield to provocation.

4. Course and outcome of the war.
   — Fall of the venal regime.
   — Siege of Paris.
   — Proclamation of the Republic 4 IX 70. French workers — their cause — exploited by the bourgeois.
   Government of "national defence (protection)." (Scoundrels among them).

5. Defence of Paris. The farce of Jules Favre (Trochu).
   — his capitulation.

6. Attempt to disarm the proletariat. 18 III 71. The Commune.

7. Versailles government. Chamber of Junkers, landowners (Ruraux, Krautjunker).
   — The farce of "peace" with Paris.
   — Haggling with Bismarck.
   — Alliance with the German army against the proletariat.

8. The Commune... Its minuses — lack of consciousness (Proudhonism and Blanquism)
   — lack of organisation
   Did not take the bank
   Did not march on Versailles

9. + A) Political freedom

10. B) Economic reforms
   — interweaving of nationalist elements:
   — separation of church from state, — abolition of the standing army,
   — abolition of bureaucratism, — full rights for foreigners. Participation of Poles.
   — self-government of communes (the Commune)
   — prohibition of night work for bakers
   — prohibition of fines
   — postponement of debts
   — transfer of abandoned factories to workers
   — mandatory maintenance etc. for any cohabitation with a woman
   — payment of a pension(?) to every widow.

11. The last struggle.
    Heroism of the Federals.
    The Bloody Week.
    The balance — 35,000
    The Terror.

12. Conclusions and lessons:
    Revenge of the bourgeoisie.
    Challenge to battle.
    Bismarck 1871 and 1904.

II.

I. (1) Napoleon III and his gang
   2. The disgrace of France
   3. The guilt of the bourgeoisie in Napoleon III.

II. 1. Dynastic war with Germany.
    2. Protest of French workers (Parisian 12 VII and manifesto of the International 23 VII).
    3. Solemn promise of William I (11 VIII). His deception.
    4. Protest of German workers (5/IX 70) and their arrest.

III. 1. Republic 4 IX 70. Won by the Parisian workers.
     2. Seizure of power by rogues (Favre, Trochu, Thiers — ticket-of-leave men).
     3. "Government of national defence" = government of national treason. Struggle with French workers.

IV. Warning of Marx (Manifesto of International 9 IX 70).
    Letters of Dupont.

V. 1. Conspiracy of slave-owners and monarchists to disarm Paris.
   2. Bordeaux and the transfer of the National Assembly to Versailles.
   3. Sending of Vinoy, Valentin and de Paladines to Paris.
   4. Monarchist speeches in the assembly of "country squires."

VI. Beginning of civil war by Thiers: seizure of the cannon 18 III 71. (killing of Lecomte and Clément Thomas).

VII. 18 III 71. The Commune.
     1. Republic + self-government.
     2. Measures of the Commune.
     3. {{Its 2 mistakes}} (Did not march on Versailles. Did not take the bank.)

VIII. War against the Commune: begging soldiers from Bismarck, the disgraceful peace. The Bloody Week 21–28 V 71.
      20,000 by bourgeois newspaper accounts.
      Killed — 35,000.
      Convicted by courts — 13,450 (including 157 women) (5 and a half years after 18 III the trials were still continuing!).

III.

IN MEMORY OF THE PARIS COMMUNE.

Celebration of the greatest workers' uprising of the 19th century. Historical sketch.

1. France under Napoleon III.
   Imperialism. (p. 45) — retribution for VI 48. Napoleon III.
   — Expropriation of France by a gang of bandits.

a. Bonapartism (the workers not yet able / the bourgeoisie no longer able)

b. Rapid industrial development. Orgies of plutocracy. Flourishing of speculation. Corruption.

c. — Workers' movement — International Workers' Association
   1862 London exhibition
   — 1864 founding
   Proudhonism / Blanquism

2. Dynastic war. Rescue of a gang of adventurists — chauvinism.
   The left bank of the Rhine. A Berlin (especially after 1866).
   25 VII 70 war declared.
   German declarations (William II): Verteidigungskrieg.
   (p. 20. in the throne speech: war with Napoleon III, not with the French people; likewise 11 VIII 70 in the manifesto to the French at the crossing of the frontier).

3. Protests of the workers.
   — French manifesto 12 VII 70 (p. 16) (and resolutions in the provinces) 22 VII 70 (pp. 16–17)).
   Manifesto of the Parisian members of the International of 12 VII (p. 18).
   — German protest (assembly in Chemnitz) (p. 18)
   (assembly in Braunschweig 16 VII 70) — Berlin section of the International.
   — Address of the General Council of the International 1) 23 VII 70 against war.

4. Outcome of the war.
   Sedan 2 IX 70. Capture of Napoleon III. Débâcle.
   Fall of the venal regime.
   Proclamation of Republic 4 IX 70 by workers in Paris.
   Power in the hands of scoundrels: from police minister of Louis Philippe — Thiers, General Trochu. Jules Favre, Jules Ferry, Ernest Picard. Power — to delegates from Paris in the legislative body.
   ... "Government of national defence"...
   National defence = arming of workers = revolution.
   Government of national treason.
   Defence... from the Parisian workers.

5. Advice of the International.
   2nd Address of the General Council (9 IX 70) (p. 25).
   Do not let yourselves be provoked into "desperate folly."
   Do not be blinded by national memories of 1792.
   "Calmly and resolutely organise your class," utilise full freedom.

6. Siege of Paris. The farce of Trochu (never!) and Jules Favre (not an inch of land!).
   Capitulation of Paris. 28 I 71.
   The farce of defence: Guiot wrote to Suzanne about one of his protégés: let him aim at Mont Valérien, where supposedly they fire cannons.

7. National Assembly in Bordeaux.
   — Chamber of Junkers. Reactionaries.
   — The farce of peace with Paris. Striving to disarm Paris ("disarming of the revolution" 4 IX 70).
   Alliance with the German army against Paris.
   Supposedly the cannon of the National Guard belong to the state! A lie! pp. 36–37.
   The Central Committee of the German Social-Democratic Party protested against the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine (Arrest of Bracke and others).
   By the terms of the capitulation (28 I 71) (p. 34), the National Assembly must be convened in 8 days (!).
   Thiers's agitation for a reactionary assembly, legitimists etc. (450 monarchists out of 750 members).
   Conspiracy against Paris: Thiers's measures (p. 35).
   1) anti-republican demonstration of the National Assembly.
   2) ambiguity of Thiers's expressions.
   3) threat to Paris (décapiter, décapitaliser — to behead and strip of capital status).
   4) prohibition of republican newspapers.
   5) Death sentence on Blanqui.
   6) Appointment of Vinoy as governor of Paris, Valentin as police prefect, D'Aurelle de Paladines as commander of the National Guard.

8. Attempt to seize the cannon, 18 III 71 (Vinoy).
   Failure!
   (from the National Guard).
   The Commune.
   18 III. Flight of the government to Versailles.
   Shooting of Lecomte and Clément Thomas, Bonapartist officers — not the work of the Commune, but of the outraged soldiers.
   Manifesto 18 III: p. 43.
   18 III 71. Central Committee of the National Guard.
   26 III 71. The Commune.
   Clericals, Bonapartists, gendarmes.
   From early April — war of Paris against Versailles.
   Begging troops (prisoners) from Bismarck (pp. 57–58).

   Capable of governing.

9. Deeds of the Commune:
   Its minuses: — lack of consciousness (Proudhonists, Blanquists)
   — lack of organisation: did not take the bank, did not march on Versailles.
   — infatuation with nationalist and revolutionary phraseology.

10. Its pluses:
    Abolition of all state payments to the church.
    Free public education (p. 46).
    Got by with one-quarter of the former number of officials. Lissagaray.

A) Political reforms.
   a. Separation of church from state (2 IV 71). Expropriation of church property. 1 IV 71.
   (1) Electability and removability of all officials. (p. 46)
   b. Abolition of the standing army (p. 46) (30 III 71).
   (2) Salary not exceeding 6,000 francs.
   c. Abolition of bureaucratism. Government of the workers (p. 49).
   d. Full rights for foreigners (30 III 71) (one German — a minister of the Commune) (p. 53). Participation of Poles (Dombrowski, Wroblewski).
   e. Self-government of communes.
   The banner of the Commune is the banner of the world republic.

11. B) Economic reforms.
    — Prohibition of night work for bakers (20 IV) (p. 53).
    — Prohibition of fines (p. 53).
    — [Postponement of debts] The Commune won over the mass of Parisian petty bourgeois, ruined by Napoleon III (postponement of debts). — The Commune turns to the peasants (p. 51).
    — Transfer of abandoned factories (p. 54) to workers' cooperatives 16 IV: statistical census of factories.
    — [Obligation] to answer financially for any cohabitation with a woman.
    Transformation of the Paris of idlers and pleasure-seekers into a working Paris (pp. 55–56).

12. The last struggle.
    — Heroism of the Federals.
    (Mayoral elections 30 IV against the National Assembly. Thiers yields to Bismarck: 10 V signs peace treaty at Frankfurt; 21 V ratified by the National Assembly).
    — The Bloody Week 21–28 V 71. (p. 62).
    Rifles not sufficient — mitrailleuses.
    — Balance 35,000 — 20,000 killed.
    15,000 exiled etc.
    (For several years the courts were at work.)
    Chorus of slanders (pp. 64–66).

13. Conclusions and lessons. Revenge of the bourgeoisie. Even "national war" became a political instrument of power (p. 67).
    Betrayed the fatherland (Alliance with the Germans: p. 66).
    Instability of bourgeois democracy.
    Dictatorship of the proletariat.
    Bismarck 1871. Cf. 1904.

[The three outlines were written by Lenin in 1904 and formed the basis of a lecture dedicated to the memory of the Paris Commune, delivered in Geneva on March 22, 1904, at the Handwerk hall. The first outline was published in No. 63 of Pravda in 1926. On the basis of these outlines, Lenin developed in 1905 a detailed "Plan of Readings on the Commune" (printed in Lenin Miscellany XVI, pp. 284–289). All references in Lenin are to the Berlin 1891 edition of Marx's "The Civil War in France" (Der Bürgerkrieg in Frankreich). Additionally, a number of factual references were drawn from Lissagaray's "History of the Paris Commune" and from G. Weill's "History of the Social Movement in France 1852–1902."]