The Commune of Paris of 1871 and Russian revolutions: analogies in the anarchists’ works in Russia and the Russian Diaspora (The first half of the 20th century)

Abstract

The Paris Commune of March 18 – May 28, 1871 became one of the most important and most tragic events of the French Revolution of 1870–1871. The commune became an important historical symbol for socialists and anarchists, was an example of the possibility of socialist transformation, the subject of analysis and criticism, admiration for the heroism and sacrifice of communards. It also became evidence of mass repressions against the participants of the revolution. It was cited as a fact proving the cruelty of the ruling classes towards the working class. Russian anarchists of the first half of the XX century. The commune was perceived as a model of revolution, on the basis of which it was possible to build an analysis of the revolutionary events taking place in Russia at the beginning of the XX century, to predict their further development. The same model as the French revolutions of 1789–1793 and 1848–1849. The article examines the practice of using historical analogies associated with the Paris Commune by Russian anarchists in the first half of the 20th century when analyzing the events of the revolutions of 1905–1907 and 1917–1922. Historical analogies performed prognostic and propaganda functions, which often intersected. The authority of the Paris Commune was necessary in order to legitimize certain historical events and projects, discredit certain political forces, highlight certain phenomena from an anarchist point of view, emphasize the importance or danger of certain phenomena and people in the process of revolution. This kind of selectivity inevitably resulted from the political goals that the anarchists set for themselves.