Socialists, Communists and Anarchists

Although a century has passed since the red flag flew for 72 days over the twenty town halls of Paris, the 1871 Commune de Paris cannot be said to belong primarily to historians. The picture of the Communards 'storming the gates of heaven' continues to serve both as a model of revolutionary militancy and as a source for 'lessons' in effecting the political transition to a socialist society: Socialists, Communists and Anarchist have all derived theoretical positions - howevere conflicting - from the experience of the Paris Commune.

During the past half century there has been a sharp division between historians...