150 years of the paris commune (the sphinx)

'what is the commune, that sphinx so tantalizing to the bourgeois mind?' 

account lifted and condensed from the wikipedia entry.

towards the end of the franco-prussian war in 1970 as the germans surrounded paris, radical groups saw that the government of national defence had few soldiers to defend itself, and launched the first demonstrations against it. on 19 september, national guard units from the main working-class neighbourhoods—Belleville, Menilmontant, La Villette, Montrouge, the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and the Faubourg du Temple—marched to the centre of the city and demanded that a new government, a commune, be elected.

at the end of the franco-prussian war in 1971, 400 obsolete muzzle-loading bronze cannons, paid for by the paris public via a subscription, remained in the city. the new central committee of the national guard, now dominated by radicals, decided to put the cannons in parks in the working-class neighbourhoods of belleville, buttes-chaumont and montmartre, to keep them away from the regular army and to defend the city against any attack by the national government. 

on 17 march 1871, there was a meeting of thiers (chief executive of the french government) and his cabinet, the paris mayor national guard commander and the commander of the regular army units in paris. thiers announced a plan to send the army the next day to take charge of the cannons... if the seizure of the cannon was not successful, the government would withdraw from the centre of paris, build up its forces, and then attack with overwhelming force, as they had done during the uprising of june 1848.

the attempt to seize the canons at montmartre failed. the soldiers refused to open fire on the crowd that rapidly gathered to defend the canons. the army generals were seized. 

late on 18 March, when they learned that the regular army was leaving paris, units of the national guard moved quickly to take control of the city.  

the next day the red flag was raised over the hotel de ville. 

and so began the paris commune

'what is the commune, that sphinx so tantalizing to the bourgeois mind?

the proletarians of paris,” said the central committee in its manifesto of march 18, “amidst the failures and treasons of the ruling classes, have understood that the hour has struck for them to save the situation by taking into their own hands the direction of public affairs.... they have understood that it is their imperious duty, and their absolute right, to render themselves masters of their own destinies, by seizing upon the governmental power.'  - karl marx, the civil war in france (1871).

horsemouth will follow the commune for the two months of its existence on its 150th anniversary.  he will rely on zola's account in la débâcle (1892) and karl marx's the civil war in france. 

------------------------------------

apparently the the nas track above is a push button mixtape made by q-tip. horsemouth still has one of these somewhere (in his collection of cassettes).  it was a radically democratic moment in the technology.  the song itself one love is a depressing tale of poverty, villainy, incarceration, the backing track a beautiful collage, the cover image the child who is the man (destiny is location) at the crossroads (the corner) in the projects. victor hugo wrote of child communards going to their deaths. the sphinx asks a riddle that cannot be answered until it is answered.