The 1871 Paris Commune, an uprising against a conservative government by working-class Parisians that was brutally crushed after 72 days, is one of the lesser-known chapters in French history. Last week, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo inaugurated a programme of 50 events commemorating the Commune, including exhibitions, plays, conferences and debates. But the administration of Hidalgo, a Socialist, was nonetheless accused of bias for emphasising the egalitarian ideals of the Commune. READ ALSO The Paris Commune anarchist who has a Metro station named after herBut for many in 19th-century France, the Communards were outlaws who burnt down key monuments, including Paris City Hall, and were fiercely anti-clerical. For Pierre Vesperini, a historian writing in Philosophie magazine, the yellow vests were the “direct descendants of the Parisians of 1871”.

Source: The Local March 23, 2021 09:43 UTC