Commune (socialism)

Traditionally, the revolutionary left sees the commune as a populist replacement for the elitist parliament. The far-left, despite their differences agree that the commune would have several features. The most important of these is that it would be a local and transparent organization, secondly delegates would be bound by terms, and lastly they could be recalled at any time from their positions. Proponents view the right of recall as a particularly important safeguard against corruption and unresponsiveness among the representatives.

Introduction

Almost universally, communists, left-wing socialists, anarchists and others have seen the Commune as a model for the liberated society that will come after the masses are liberated from capitalism, a society based on participatory democracy from the grass roots up.

Marx and Engels, Bakunin, and later Lenin and Trotsky gained major theoretical lessons (in particular as regards the "dictatorship of the proletariat" and the "withering away of the state") from the limited experience of the Commune.

Nonetheless, these very advocates provided critiques of the commune. Marx found it aggravating that the Communards pooled all their resources into first organizing democratic elections rather than gathering their forces and attacking Versailles in a timely fashion. Many based on historical evidance and Marx's on writings on the subject, Marxist believe that the Communards were too "soft" on the non-proletarian elements in their midst.

Within Marxism

Karl Marx, in his important pamphlet The Civil War in France (1871), written during the Commune, touted the Commune's achievements, and described it as the prototype for a revolutionary government of the future, 'the form at last discovered' for the emancipation of the proletariat.

Thus Marxist theory, the commune is a form of political organization adopted during the first (or lower) phase of communism, socialism. Communes are proposed as the proletarian counterpart to bourgeois political forms such as parliaments. In his pamphet, Marx explains the purpose and function of the commune during the period that he termed the dictatorship of the proletariat:

Marx based these IDeaS on the example of the Paris Commune, which he described in The Civil War in France:

In addition to local governance, the communes were to play a central role in the national government:

See also

• Soviet democracy
• Workers' council
• Anarchism