28th march 1871: the paris commune is proclaimed

 'the commune was formed of municipal councillors, chosen by universal suffrage  in the various wards of the town, responsible and revocable at short terms... the commune was to be a working, not a parliamentary, body, executive and legislative at the same time...' 

on the 26th of march the elections were held. 

on march 28th the commune was proclaimed. 

the diarist and noble edmond de goncourt had his own views  which way the wind was blowing (as he wrote on this day in 1971). 

'government was passing from the hands of the have's to the have-nots, from those who have a material , interest in the preservation of society to those who have no interest whatever in order, stability or preservation. perhaps, in the great law of change that governs all earthly things, the workers are for modern society what the barbarians were for ancient society, the convulsive agents of dissolution and destruction.' 

given that the commune only lasted 60 days few of the commune's decisions were implemented.  but they were exemplary of the interests of the workers,

- separation of church and state;

- remission of rents owed for the entire period of the siege (during which payment had been suspended);

- abolition of child labour and night work in bakeries;

- granting of pensions to the unmarried companions and children of national guardsmen killed in active service;

- free return by pawnshops of all workmen's tools and household items, valued up to 20 francs, pledged during the siege;

- postponement of commercial debt obligations, and the abolition of interest on the debts;

- right of employees to take over and run an enterprise if it were deserted by its owner; the commune, nonetheless, recognised the previous owner's right to compensation;

- prohibition of fines imposed by employers on their workmen.

the republican calendar was restored (you now horsemouth is interested in such things). beginning on the autumn equinox, the year was divided into twelve 30 day months with 5 sansculottides (or complimentary days that did not belong to any month) to make up the year. 

the months that cover our events were; 

- germinal (from french germination), starting 20 or 21 march

- floréal (from french fleur, derived from latin flos, "flower"), starting 20 or 21 april

- prairial (from french prairie, "meadow"), starting 20 or 21 may

rob lawson has an album out (the village under the moon) and has posted it to your humble narrator (it has survived its postage despite the envelope being slit open and very good it is too). horsemouth particularly likes track  3 which seems to combine buffalo girls with several special species of small furry animals... 

horsemouth has no idea what he is up to next week. 

next week SUN! (well, monday, tuesday, wednesday and temperatures up nearly to 20! woo-hoo!)

well ok he's off for a walk with enza at some point and then friday is bandcamp friday. now sales of musicians of bremen  recordings seem to have stalled at the enthusiastic early adopters (thank you people, you now who you are). horsemouth has been avoiding post offices and home deliveries since the start of the pandemic but now, newly jabbed, is perhaps the time to get back to it.  as far as new work goes howard has posted over various demo tracks, horsemouth looks forward to getting on with it (a series of guitar duos perhaps).