#1870's

"Mary, Queen of Scots" fancy dress worn by Alexandra, Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), 1875

"Oh hi, is this where the barbecue is? I heard you were looking for me, so here . . . I . . . am-Never mind, Can't stay I gotta a . . uh . . . bus to catch. "

Wallpaper frieze, late 19th to early 20th century, by Walter Crane.

Wallpaper frieze, 1879, by Bruce James Talbert.

c. 1875, artist unknown.

1877, Walter Crane.

1877, Walter Crane.

c. 1875, Walter Crane.

c. 1875, Walter Crane.

Late 19th century, Bruce James Talbert.

c. 1875-1910, Walter Crane.

c. 1875-1910, Walter Crane.

c. 1875-1910, Walter Crane.

Wallpaper, c. 1875, Walter Crane.

Carlo Naya • Night View of the Grand Canal, Venice, 1875

Naya operated a commercial photography studio in Venice specializing in Romantic moonlit views of architectural landmarks and vistas. Because emulsions were not sensitive enough to record images at night, he made photographs during the day, then created the illusion of moonlight through a variety of darkroom tricks.

Presentation of some social measures

The central committee of the National Guard, which had held power in Paris since March 18, 1871, encouraged voters to vote for a municipal assembly and to appoint "men who will serve you best" and who were "among you, living your own life, suffering from the same ills." After five months of siege, the Paris proletariat had "consumed more alcohol than bread" (P.H. Zaidman). Workers accustomed to living from day to day were not paid and did not expect to find work for a long time. A decree of February 15 restricted the allowance of 1.50 francs per day to only the National Guards who justified their lack of work. This pay was for most people their daily bread, and it was forbidden to take off their uniform (which was useful for their survival and that of their family). Craftsmen and merchants are pressed by the deadlines, the deadlines of which (which were increased by the government of September 4, but remained insufficient) are reduced by the Versailles Assembly (elected on February 8, 1871). Craftsmen and merchants are ruined by the cessation of transactions in the city deserted by those who were able to take refuge outside. All those who have no savings and who are without resources show concern for the payment of their rent. Small rentiers and liberal professions, just like the proletariat of Paris, are helpless and preoccupied by daily supplies.

The assembly of the Commune, elected on March 26, 1871, obliged to simultaneously fulfill the functions of government and municipality, composed of men with different political positions, subjected to different external pressures (clubs, district assemblies, circles of national guards), militarily assailed by the Versailles reaction, had very little time to pursue a social policy satisfactory to the majority of those who designated it.

First, it was a question of solving the problem of rents.

In September 1870, the government of National Defense had to find the means to continue the war. Since many republicans lived in the memory of 1789, in particular of the declaration of the fatherland in danger, they were inspired by it to help the destitute defenders. Thus was born the idea of ​​exempting tenants from paying their rent for the duration of the conflict: this measure is called "moratorium of rents". The decree of September 30, 1870 granted a three-month period to tenants to pay their term due on October 1. As the siege of Paris and the protests continued, the decree was renewed on January 3, 1871. In November 1870, elections for the mayoralties of the twenty arrondissements, organized following popular demonstrations, had been won in nine of them by radical republicans. In the neighborhoods, committees composed of elected delegates were also formed. They formed a Republican Central Committee opposed to the government. A new period was thus granted to needy tenants.

For the Versailles Assembly, the measure threatened property and social order. The Versailles Assembly never stopped questioning these measures. At the beginning of March, the question of the April "term" began to arise. According to the Proudhonists, the very principle of paying rent was being called into question. For the defenders of social order, it was necessary to assert the right to property. On March 10, 1871, Thiers repealed the rent moratorium in place since September 1870. Parisian tenants, the majority in Paris, could not submit to this brutal decision.

After March 18, according to the majority of deputies, it was urgent to abolish the rent moratorium. In addition, other cities "threatened" to form revolutionary communes.

Discussions on the rent problem began on March 28, before the establishment of the nine commissions responsible for its management. The Labor, Industry and Trade Commission, as well as the Finance Commission, took charge of the rent issue. Eugène Varlin and Adolphe-Alphonse Assi presented a draft decree on rents; This is a matter of taking an emergency social measure (two days to prepare the decree)! However, Danielle Voldman points out that Varlin and Assi underestimated the difficulties of implementing the decree. In any case, the decree was adopted on March 30. "Considering that work, industry and commerce have borne all the burdens of the war, it is only fair that property should make its share of sacrifices to the country" (Journal Officiel, March 30, 1871).

Tenants were given the terms of October, January and April; any payments made were to be applied to debts falling due. Debts for furnished tenancies were forgiven, tenants were granted the right to terminate their leases for six months, or to protect the notice given for three months. The workers and petty bourgeois tenants were quick to make use of this decree; when the concierges opposed their departure, they moved out with the help of the National Guards. The sums already paid were considered as advances on future terms. The remission also applied to small furnished dwellings (the “garnis”). When leases were terminated, the tenants’ voice took precedence over those of the owners. Finally, tenants who were dismissed could stay for six more months. From the point of view of the working classes, this was the assurance of not finding themselves on the street for several months. Thiers tried to respond to the decree. Of course, the main thing for Thiers was to maintain "social peace"! Most of the deputies refused to let the owners lose their income. A few argued for an "appeasement law". Since the district town halls could not cope with the influx of requests for help, the Commune proposed to requisition the apartments abandoned since March 18 by those who had fled Paris. These requisitions were to be made with an inventory of the premises and a copy to the representatives of the absent owners. It is possible that the requisitions were blown out of proportion by some dispossessed owners, and that the lack of documentation concerning these requisitions reveals their small extent more than the destruction of the archives in the fire at the Hôtel de Ville.

Concerning the question of deadlines, from April 1, the Commune encouraged workers' societies and trade unions to send it all the necessary information. Charles Beslay, elected to the Council of the Commune, presented his project (published in the Official Journal). After serious discussions, a decree of April 12 provided for the suspension of proceedings until the publication of the decree on this question. The repayment of debts (of all kinds) falling due should have been made within the following three years (unfortunately, this did not happen as planned!).

The arbitration commissions, composed of two tenants and two owners chosen by the judge, could grant debtors a period of two years to pay the rent arrears without interest as well as a spreading of the debt, over the year by twelfths. After two years, a period was still possible, this time with 5% interest. The tenant had to prove that the "events" occurring between September and May had prevented him from paying his rent and that he was "in good faith". The arbitration commissions continued the work of the municipal commissions and took over the procedures initiated since the winter with the justices of the peace by owners contesting the validity of their tenants’ requests. Until May 28, 1871, the functioning of these commissions was slow; the owners waited to see how the situation would evolve, not caring about appearing to be members of the “starving” party. On the other hand, at the beginning of May, mention was found of the first requests from tenants. At the end of the Bloody Week, the requests exploded.

It must be admitted that these measures were not enough to get the people of Paris out of the precarious situation in which they found themselves...

On March 29, a decree, proposed by Augustin Avrial (at the Commission of Labor and Exchange), suspended the sale of the deposited objects, but this proved insufficient. The debates never ended! On May 3, Arthur Arnould insisted on continuing the discussion launched by Augustin Avrial. On May 6, François Jourde (Finance Commission) voted on a project which, while compensating the administration of the Mont-de-Piété, authorized the free withdrawal, from May 12, of all recognitions prior to April 25 that carried a commitment of up to 20 francs (clothing, linen, furniture, work instruments, etc.). Since the operation was to involve at least 1,800,000 items, these items were divided into 48 series to be drawn at random. This policy of "relief" should have been supplemented by the use of public resources, such as public assistance (but which was disorganized and deserted by almost all of the employees who came out of it).

At an extraordinary council of hospitals held on March 20, the Parisian administration of the Assistance publique decided to continue to exercise its functions despite the events of March 18. On March 22, the Director was forced to leave Paris, soon followed by the division heads, which led to profound disorganization. Appointed head of the Assistance publique on March 26, Camille Treillard set about making the institution function as best he could, under the control of the Central Committee of the twenty arrondissements, then under the control of Gustave Tridon, charged by the Commune with following this file. In early April, the influx of wounded implied the need to increase the number of hospital beds. The Assistance publique had to face the innumerable problems posed by the necessary reorganization. Their professional ethics pushed most of the doctors to remain at their posts, while they were generally indifferent or hostile to the Commune. The same thing happened to the 2,350 lay staff members, who were generally better disposed towards the fédérés. Camille Treillard, a deeply honest and scrupulous man, was concerned above all with ensuring the proper functioning of the public hospital system, specifying the priorities: "The political spirit must be banished from the hospital, to allow only the spirit of devotion and solidarity to reign". Treillard did his best to resolve the problems of supplies, the provision of bandages, and also to resolve the problems of financing (the "treasure" of the Assistance publique had been put in a safe place by the Versailles troops). Despite the relative isolation in which each hospital was forced to operate, the health system managed to fulfill its mission in a generally satisfactory manner thanks to its staff. Camille Treillard was able to face the dramatic situation resulting from the Semaine sanglante with courage, and refused to hand over the wounded fédérés to the Versailles troops. During the Bloody Week, the Versailles troops did not hesitate to shoot several doctors.

Two commissions have a significant impact on the economic and social life of the people of Paris, and reveal, through their actions, all that the Commune contains of socialist.

The Subsistence Commission, led by François Parisel and then Auguste Viard, aimed to ensure the supply of Paris and the lowering of prices, compromised by certain unscrupulous officials (such as the inspector of markets and halls who hid part of the flour stock). From April 25, the exit of transit goods was authorized, except for foodstuffs and munitions. The Prussian blockade, the suppression of correspondence with the departments, the ban on water convoys decided by Versailles, did not prevent the supply of the market by the neutral zone, and prices were falling (except for the price of meat). On April 30, salt was offered to bakers, for humanitarian purposes. The Subsistence Commission decided to purchase foodstuffs to sell them at cost price through establishments placed under the guarantee of the municipalities. From May 6, the Commission checked the flow of meat at the free butcher's market of Les Halles and in the butcher's shops of Montmartre.

The Commission of Labor, Industry and Exchanges: First under the impetus of an initiative commission established on April 5, then under the impetus of Léo Frankel, the Commission of Labor, Industry and Exchanges, obviously intended to respond to the satisfaction of workers' interests. A decree of April 16 asked the workers' union chambers to set up a commission of inquiry that would serve to draw up statistics on abandoned workshops and an inventory of work tools, to present a report on the practical conditions for quickly putting these workshops back into operation by the cooperative association of workers and employees, to draw up a draft constitution of these workers' cooperative societies. The decree also provided for the payment of compensation to be paid to the employers upon their return. A room was made available to the union chambers at the Ministry of Public Works and the unions began to work by appointing their delegates. The commission of inquiry held two sessions on May 10 and 18, but could only limit itself to preliminary studies, the Versailles repression not allowing it to go further...

Thanks to Léo Frankel, the Executive Commission banned night work for bakery workers (April 20). The decree was gratefully received by the bakery workers who demonstrated in its favor on May 16. A more general measure was taken on April 27, prohibiting fines and deductions from wages in public and private administrations and restoring those that had been deducted since March 18. A special circumstance forced the Commune to go further. On May 4, Edmond Evette and Lazare Lévy were tasked with monitoring the production of military clothing. Their report noted that the auction price had led to a drop in wages. The Commune paid 2.5% less for its supplies than the government of September 4. Léo Frankel and Benoît Malon concluded that it was necessary to resort to workers' corporations. On May 12, the Commission of Labor, Industry and Trade was authorized to revise the contracts concluded to date, to give preference to workers' associations, according to specifications determined by the intendance, the union chambers and a delegate of the Commission, and set the minimum wage for work by the day or in its own way. On May 14, François Parisel, head of the scientific delegation, called on unemployed workers to work on paper. Léo Frankel, for his part, wanted to limit the working day to eight hours; however, several workshop regulations set it at ten hours. In these workshops, the director, the workshop manager and the bench managers were appointed by the workers who had daily means of action on management.

Despite the decrease in the number of employed workers (which went from 600,000 in 1870 to 114,000), the war, and the economic situation, union and corporate life managed to develop.

From March 23, the trade union chamber of stone cutters and sawyers decided to organize relief in the event of injuries or accidents. On April 27, the tallow smelters and iron smelters joined together to form a trade union chamber and a cooperative association. The butcher workers wanted to organize a trade union chamber that would be necessary to eliminate employer exploitation. It should be noted that historians list the action of 43 production associations, 34 trade union chambers, 7 food companies and 4 groups of the Marmite (food cooperative founded in 1868 by Eugène Varlin and attached to the International).

The women workers also tried to follow the action undertaken by their male comrades. The Central Committee of the Union of Women for the Defense of Paris and the Care of the Wounded, charged by the Labor, Industry and Trade Commission with the organization of women's work, convenes (on May 10) a meeting at the Bourse to appoint delegates in each corporation. It is also a question of forming union chambers, cooperative workshops, and a federal chamber. Another meeting was planned (on May 21) to set up chambers, but it never took place...

Overall, during these 72 days, the Commune could have done more in the social domain, to satisfy all those who brought it to power and who hoped to see social improvements. Nevertheless, one must take into account the political divisions (neo-Jacobins, Blanquists, auto-authoritarians), with the heavy task of governmental and municipal reorganization to assume. Thus, the Commune had to bear the weight of a two-month war against the Versailles army. It must be acknowledged that the Commune outlined what a truly socialist policy would be, which it would be up to future generations to implement...

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