The Paris Commune did not believe in bourgeois institutions, viewing them as incurably deceitful, because it knew that this cumbersome framework of laws, norms and governmental agencies was solely concerned with consolidating the wealth and privileges of the dominant classes and with keeping the people under submission. It demanded direct and participatory democracy and the repeal of parliamentary government, that vicious warping of politics turned into a black hole of thievery and all kinds of compromise and negotiation completely foreign to the wellbeing of the majority. It demanded the simultaneous creation of a new political, executive and legislative order, based on universal suffrage (men and women treated equally, not as later occurred in democratic capitalism where "universal" referred exclusively to males) and with representatives who were directly accountable to – and removable by – their constituents. The members of the commune wanted a real democracy, not a fictitious one, in which the representatives of the people such as those in a state bureaucracy would not enjoy any kind of privilege at all and would be paid the same wage as an average worker. And other things, such as a lasting separation between church and state and universal free, secular and compulsory education for females and males alike.
Terrific piece.
In the fact-checking department, the Commune didn't quite treat men and women equally. It did more for women than any government ever had to this point, but it didn't quite effect equality in the brief time that it survived.
http://zcommunications.org/spain-the-indignant-and-the-paris-commune-by-atilio-boron
