In 1871, The Paris Commune was formally established in Paris.

From Encyclopedia Britannica: “Among those in the new government were the so-called Jacobins, who followed in the French Revolutionary tradition of 1793 and wanted the Paris Commune to control the Revolution; the Proudhonists, socialists who supported a federation of communes throughout the country; and the Blanquistes, socialists who demanded violent action. The program that the Commune adopted, despite its internal divisions, called for measures reminiscent of 1793 (end of support for religion, use of the Revolutionary calendar) and a limited number of social measures (10-hour workday, end of work at night for bakers).”

Two months later the Commune was suppressed by the national French Army during La semaine sanglante, The Bloody Week. Between 6,000 and 7,000 Communards (some estimates tend as high as 20,000) were confirmed to have been killed in battle or executed. Debates over the rule of the Commune influenced on the ideas of Marx and Engels, who described it as the first example of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Above: Communards toppling the statue of Napoleon in the Place Vendôme.