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

'on the dawn of the 18th of march, paris arose to the thunder-burst of “vive la 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 defeats and treasons of the ruling classes, have understood that the hour has struck for them to save the country by taking into their own hands the direction of public affairs ... ”

but the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes...' 

- karl marx, the civil war in france, from the third address, may1871. 

but of course this begins not with karl marx's summing up but with the people of paris defending 'their' canons and this happens on march 18th 1871. 

of course the sphinx does not deal in riddles but in specific prophecy. 

the commune/ the pandemic

horsemouth has been reading more of adam tooze's $hutdown - an account of the pandemic in terms of its economics and the actions of central banks. capitalism was saved ladies and gentlemen (huzzah!) by the incurrence of debt (boo!) which we will now all be repaying until the end of time. 

and the current war upon iran will not help either.

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

beautiful morning out there. misty, but sunny, but cold. horsemouth woke up round about 6 but stayed in bed until 7. he has his coffee (let him take a sip - ah that's better). weather looks good until sunday.