Rapid Reviews

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 54, 22 March 1912, Page 9

Rapid Reviews

By R. S. ROSS

Paris Commune Literature

I'nrty-oue, years ago a, movement was niassiicrod. Its name is the Paris Conimiiiip*. A mighty massacre, tut a mightier movement! So inighii«r a movement that it towers with each succeeding year over its murderers: the massnerc has become a martyrdom. And to-day, as Bolfort Bax says, "The Commune of Talis is the one event which Socialists throughout the worl'l iiavo agreed with single accord to celebrate."

I am asked by various readers of last we-k's (V)rniniine matter to indicate the be-ot liooks dealing with the. insurrection ary «xjK*rinwMii. started in Paris on. tli.it immortal date, March 18, 1871. This is pleasing, for we cannot have too much working-class interest in real, vital, and superb working-class annals. I find myself wishing that we had told in fuller outline the story of the Commune as revealed in Hie glowing literature of it or for it.

But this article is not io be eithor roeord or panegyric, but a provisional guide to Commune literature-. And the classic of th<? Commune is surely Lissngaray's "ii/istory of 'flio Cintnmune of 1871," a somewhat bulky volume of a most fascinating character. It has the added merit of being translated by ■Eleanor Marx Aveling, t-ho talented daughter of Karl Marx. Marx, by the way, revised his daughter's translations. In his preface, Lissagnrny speaks of himself as "an exilo who for five years has stifled his evidence." and explains that the blood of 100,000 Fron.'-hmeii call for Urn faots. He adds: "This history besides is due to their children; to all the working-men of the earth. The child has a right to know the reason of the paternal defeats, (lie Socialist party the campaign of its flag iti all countries."

Lis-sagaray's book was issued in November, 1877, but in 1872 had appeared a noteworthy "History" by P. Vcsinier, ox-member and secretary of the Ciniinnne mid the chief editor of the "Journal Official." This interesting volume is still obtainable. But 03 for proximity of dates, a curious ("act is ill,it probably the first book on the- Commune appeared not in Franco, but in America, and this, too, in Atig:;.st ci Uio iwiiiorahlc year, 1871. The. work- is entitled "Tiie Rise and Fall of tho Paris Commune in 1871," by W. iViubroko I'clridgo. Itisacompilation. issued by Harper's. Enterprise, arivvr.ty. if nofhiiiL, el so. Of CDU.r^.-, Lis.-;agaray's and Vosinior's contributions have the wnnderiul alhireniciii/ of personal acquaintance.; the authors parsed through t-ho trials of which they write, they saw the storms which they pourtray.

l.'ivib;i.hl_y tJ;e most ge-tntablo work od tho sulij"ct is I'j. Iji'ifort Ihix's comjaeheiisive and authoritative "A Short lii.sio.-y of the l'aris Comimmo." This is published by the Tuonfiefh 0* ntury l.'n'ss at sixpence. It makes oscellont reading, for I!ax has tlic ;;iffc of precise and intense expression. Ho comes straight to a point. IJis chapters on

'The .Interna} Administratioii and ]\iliey of the Commune" and "The Civilised World ,iud its Thrill of Uirror" tiro spiendiclly instructive, and not: a (rifle hard-hitting. Those on "The Freemasons and the Committee of Public Safety" and ''The Lessons of tho Commune" captivate ns muc*h by their in.siy.ht into side aspects a.s by their

viewpoint and directness. A useful further feature of tlie work are tho reprints of two memorable, manifestoes — actually pamphlets---issued by the Gcnerul Council of the International Work-ing-men's Association in 1870 and 1871, Ivoth bearing, amongst oOliors, the name of Marx, mie th" name of KnilfU, and both a<4lllll the name of Jobs Wcstqn—the "L'iti»cn" Westnn, whoso rn.'Li;atioii, as it were, wins immortality in "Value, Price, and I'rnfit. ,, Tho hi»torical associations of those manifest/Ope make them a valuable possession. liax'« book is the one for the worker whom library cannot afford more than a single volume on one tlinnie, and who hasn't; leisure to read more than the same anyway. I shall be fjlarl to send for a supply if all who would like, a copy wilt ciicli send ninejKMice.

Karl Marx's valuable liWary output covers a book on the Commune, entitlod "The Civil War in France" (Korr and Co., Chicago. 21 rents), to which Engels writes jui Introduction. I select a passage from it;: "On tho L'iStli of May (1871), tho last of the combatants of tho Commune wero crushed by superior numbers on tho heights' of Belleville, and ttvo days later, on tlie 30tJi, Marx read to the (•onoral Council of tho International tlie pamphlet in question, in which tne historical significance of the Paris Commimo is presented in short, powerful, anil in such incisive and, above all, such true phrases as hare never again boon equalled in the whole of the extensive literature on the subject."

In the Melbourne Public Library I found that Count Orsi's "J{m>ll«*ctioiig of the Last Half-century" contained a readable chaptpr on the Commune, and the same library also has on its shelves a 'History" by Thos. March, published in 1896. Bonham's work on the Commune is a particularly graphic recital and possesses another merit in the valuable press articles it rescues from oblivion. Labriola's ''Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History" is a. volume largely devoted to the" import of the Commune. It is a masterly study. ''Vital Problems on Social Evolution," by Arthur M. Lewis (whose books, issued by Kerr, at 25 cents, ar« almost unapproachable for clearness, directness, and encyclopaedic knowledge), contains an informing chapter on tlio Coininuno, which is started thus: ''lit the drama of European history, France has always played a leading role. Shft lias given us a classic instiwiee of a social revolution, an international revolutionary song, and a brief but brilliant example of fi working-class administration of affairs." In 'The Encyclopaedia of Social Reform" (Bliss)—probably oh the shelves of any good public library —will be, found a reliable condensed sketch of the Commune.

li.it ffl descend to f.impl'.T ground, thore aro. several paniuliicfcs suitable for elementary purposes. "The Paris GomI'lnne," by Jairx's ]/ratliam, is a penny jiistoj'y nnd oxpnsiiioii r'ui'bined, ffivini; salient facts and their sip;nifi«inoe. Then tliore is Potor Kropotkiii's flashinc; indictment, "Tho Commune of Paris." This is retribution in living phrases —a powerfully condensod interpretation and warning. Published at on<> penny. Then wo have G. D. Herron's sublime oration on the Coiniiniiio, published under fciio title of "From Revolution, to Revolution." To read it is k) bo stin-ed to the dept.lis.

Tho Co in mv no of Paris lias also beon liDiiorod in cartoon and nov/spapor. Many moviup; trihntos and lessons and iTK-'-ssngPs a'.vait collcetion from tumultuous paj)ors. W;i]t<r Crane's art has novor liooii bent to grandor duty. liia drawing-! promj)t ilw iinviird ru.stlhige which passf;th ouduranop. "Vive la Commune!" they prodann to all tlio snns of nion. "Vivo la Comrmi.iv , !" we thrill back in stammering revoronre.