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The dissatisfaction of the Parisians acquired a political coloring. Responsibility for shortcomings in the supply of food to the city, for all sorts of abuses, they placed - and not unreasonably - on the government. He was condemned primarily for a military policy that did not bring success. For the Parisians, despite the hardships of the siege, remained patriots - in that special, militant sense that the volunteers of 1792 put into this word. In their opinion, it would be a betrayal to lay down their arms before defeating the enemy. As soon as it became known about a new attempt by the government to enter into peace negotiations, an uprising broke out in Paris. On October 31, 1870, soldiers of the National Guard arrested and held the ministers hostage for several hours until they were rescued by troops loyal to the government.

Now the government was almost more concerned with appeasing restless Parisians than with national defence. The uprising of 31 October thwarted the plan for an armistice prepared by Adolphe Thiers. French troops unsuccessfully tried to break the blockade of Paris. By the beginning of 1871, the situation of the besieged capital looked hopeless. The government decided that it was impossible to delay further with the conclusion of peace. In order to neutralize the opposition, it banned the democratic clubs of Paris and several newspapers that especially annoyed it. On January 22, 1871, the Parisians responded to the repressions with a new attempt at an uprising. Only his defeat finally untied the hands of the government-

On January 28, an armistice was signed between France and united Germany (on January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles of the French kings, the Prussian king Wilhelm I was proclaimed the German emperor). Under its terms, the forts of Paris and the army's stockpiles of weapons were transferred to the Germans. On February 8, elections were scheduled for the National Assembly of France, which was supposed to approve the peace treaty.

The elections gave a decisive advantage to the representatives of the right-wing, conservative parties who advocated the early signing of peace - the monarchists and part of the Republicans who were in solidarity with them on this issue. Thiers was appointed head of the executive branch by the National Assembly. Already on February 26, he presented to the Deputies the preliminary peace conditions agreed with Bismarck. They provided for the cession of Alsace and part of Lorraine to Germany, as well as the payment of 5 billion francs indemnity. The National Assembly approved these conditions. The peace was finally signed in Frankfurt on May 10, 1871.

The indignation of the Parisians at the terms of the peace was all the greater because they suspected the National Assembly and the government of Thiers of striving for the restoration of the monarchy. At the time, many Democrats sought protection from reaction in the decentralization of power. Therefore, the slogan of granting the French capital self-government, which it had been deprived of since the time of the Empire, gained popularity. The National Guard, which even the Germans were afraid of, acted as the defender of the interests of Paris: at the conclusion of the truce, they did not insist on its disarmament. The National Guard was also the most organized political force in the capital. On February 24, the Republican Federation of the National Guard emerged, headed by the Central Committee. In fact, the leadership of the opposition movement was concentrated in it.

Despite the seriousness of disagreements with the government, no one in Paris thought about an armed uprising, much less prepared it. But the actions of the authorities added fuel to the fire. After the blockade was lifted, the payment of remuneration to the soldiers of the National Guard was stopped. In a city whose economy has not yet recovered from the consequences of the blockade, thousands of residents were left without a livelihood. When the National Assembly canceled the debt collection deferment, in a matter of days, 150,000 debt obligations were presented for payment! The pride of the inhabitants of the capital was hurt by the decision of the National Assembly to choose Versailles as its place of residence.

Playing on the nerves of the Parisians, the government itself pushed them to impulsive actions. At dawn on March 18, 1871, on his orders, the troops tried to capture the artillery of the National Guard, concentrated on the Montmartre hill. The soldiers were stopped by the inhabitants and retreated without a fight. But the unthinkable happened. Generals Lecomte and Thomas, who commanded government troops, were captured by the guards and shot on the same day.

This was enough for Thiers to order the evacuation of government offices to Versailles. Following them, many representatives of the wealthy and idle classes left the capital. The Central Committee of the National Guard remained the only authoritative force in Paris. He temporarily assumed power, at the same time scheduling elections for the Paris Commune for March 26 (as the city government of the French capital was traditionally called). In the remaining time, the mayors of the Parisian districts, other politicians of the republican persuasion tried to reconcile the Central Committee with the Versailles government, seeking the consent of the latter to hold elections. But unsuccessfully. The government made it clear that it considered the Parisian opposition to be criminals who rebelled against the legal order, with whom one could speak only in the language of cannons.

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Since government supporters boycotted the March 26 elections, only a minority of voters took part in the vote - 229,000 out of 485,000 on the lists. 86 people were elected to the Commune, but 20 soon resigned. Therefore, on 16 April by-elections were held. Among the members of the Commune there were famous people, such as the participants in the revolution of 1848, Louis-Charles Delescluze and Felix Pia, or the artist Gustave Courbet. The names of the majority did not say anything to the general public. By the way, only a few of them left a mark on the history of the labor movement at the end of the 19th century: Edouard Vaillant, Leo Frankel, Eugene Pottier. The members of the Commune were by profession officials, doctors, journalists, lawyers, workers. Politically, they belonged to the Proudhonists (supporters of the socialist Proudhon), the Neo-Jacobins and the Blanquists. At the same time, some of them were members of sections of the International Association of Workers

(I International). Political differences hampered the work of the Commune. Pretty soon, a "majority" and a "minority" were formed in it, the clashes of which more than once threatened the unity of the Communards.

The Commune declared its intention to carry out deep reforms, for which more than one generation of French democrats - republicans and socialists - fought. Their simple list is impressive: the replacement of the standing army with the armament of the people, the democratization of the state apparatus (including the election and turnover of officials), the fair organization of labor, the separation of church and state, the introduction of free, compulsory and secular education, etc. No matter how one evaluates the plans of the Commune - sometimes utopian - it is clear that their scale far exceeded the modest possibilities of the Parisian reformers. In many ways, therefore, they have not advanced in their implementation beyond declarations and the first modest steps. The activities of the Commune to meet the urgent socio-economic requirements of the population of the capital turned out to be more fruitful. Among the measures taken by her, the expediency of which is difficult to dispute, are the cancellation of arrears on rent, the gratuitous return to the owners of things pledged in a pawnshop in the amount of no more than 20 francs, the introduction of a three-year installment plan for commercial loans, etc. However, this was not without curiosities, which include an attempt to legally abolish night work in bakeries.

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Is it even possible to strictly judge the chaotic reform attempts undertaken by the Commune, if its main, all-consuming concern was war? In early April, clashes began between the federates, as the fighters of the armed detachments of the Commune called themselves, with the troops of Versailles. Until mid-May, they did not bring decisive success to either side. But the forces were obviously unequal. After failing to enlist the support of the province, the Communards could only rely on themselves. On the other hand, the Versailles government received assistance from the command of the German army with weapons, ammunition and soldiers from among the French prisoners of war released ahead of schedule.

Opponents seemed to be trying to outdo each other in cruelty and excesses. Having learned that the Versaillese were shooting the captured Communards, the Paris Commune adopted a decree on hostages, threatening reprisals against the innocent residents of the capital, who were only suspected of sympathizing with Versailles. Already after the fighting began on the streets of Paris and the days of the Commune were numbered, some of the hostages were shot, among them the Archbishop of Paris, many Dominican priests and monks. Such inhuman actions have no justification, as well as the unprecedented vandalism shown by the Communards during street fighting. They deliberately set fire to a number of buildings in the center of the capital, including the city hall, the Palace of Justice, the Tuileries Palace, the Ministry of Finance, and Thiers' house. Countless cultural and artistic treasures perished in the fire. Arsonists also attempted on the treasures of the Louvre. As for the Versaillese, these days they poured blood over the streets of Paris. The victims of their terror were tens of thousands of citizens who were killed in battle, shot by the verdict of a court-martial or without trial or investigation at all. Tens of thousands of others were sentenced to imprisonment, hard labor or exile.

"Bloody Week" May 21-28, 1871 not only completed the short history of the Paris Commune, but also summed it up. The stubbornness of politicians who did not want to compromise, and the self-conceit of the people's leaders who believed in their historical mission, cost France dearly. Human memory is extremely selective. For some, the Commune has forever remained a gloomy, tragic page in the history of France, for others - a bright celebration of the triumph of democracy and justice.

Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) - one of the most influential political and statesmen of France of his time, nicknamed the "tiger" for the passion that he put into the fight.

All his life Clemenceau loved the Vendée, a department in the far west of France, where he was born on September 28, 1841, in the town of Muyeron-en-Pare. Here he spent his childhood and youth. This is where his family roots were. Great-grandfather Georges, who served as a doctor, did not miss the opportunity to make a career under Emperor Napoleon I. His father, also a doctor, was a staunch Republican and an opponent of both the monarchy of Louis Philippe and the empire of Napoleon III. His ideal was the Jacobin Republic, and his idol was Robespierre. Under the influence of his father, the son also became an admirer of the revolution and a supporter of the republic.

Clemenceau did not hesitate in choosing a profession. He continued the family tradition here as well. After graduating from the lyceum, he entered the medical school in Nantes, and in 1860 - at the medical faculty of the University of Paris - Sorbonne, from where he left five years later with a medical degree. But instead of taking up professional activities, in 1865 he went on a trip to the United States of America. Part of the reason for this was the trouble with the authorities that arose in his student years. For organizing an anti-government demonstration, Clemenceau was arrested and spent two and a half months behind bars.

But above all, he was guided by an interest in the democratic institutions of the North American Republic, whose authority in his eyes had only been raised by the recent abolition of slavery in the course of the North-South war. Clemenceau spent three years overseas, moving from place to place, earning his livelihood either by correspondence in Parisian newspapers, or by French lessons at a women's college, one of whose students, Mary Plummer, he eventually married.

Acquaintance with America turned out to be instructive for Clemenceau. Not that she disappointed him. But he realized that the republican form of government in itself does not guarantee either the purity of morals or true democracy, but only a condition for the constant struggle for democracy.

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пятница, 17 апреля 2020 г.

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пятница, 17 апреля 2020 г.

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среда, 15 апреля 2020 г.

English columns 15/04/2020

пятница, 17 апреля 2020 г.

среда, 15 апреля 2020 г.