History of Modern France Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

History of Modern France - Essay Example The National Guardsmen who had mutinied and helped in the proper reorganization of the city in a manner that appreciates the interests of the workers. The origins of the Paris Commune started on March 18, 1871, after France had been defeated by Prussia in a war and the French government deployed troops into the city of Paris to take back the Parisian National Guard (PNG) before the revolting workers got hold of it. However, the citizens had hold of it and were not willing to surrender it up after which the soldiers refused to use the cannon to fire on its own citizens but instead turned it against their officers. Popkin (2013) states that after the occurrence of this act, the PNG conducted free elections whereby Parisians elected a council whose composition was the Jacobins and Republicans as well as a few socialists and anarchists which declared Paris an independent commune. The commune consisted of members who could be recalled by the voters at any time, paid average wages and was equal in terms of status to other members who were within the same commune. The Paris Commune of 1871 introduced such reforms such as turning places of work into co-operatives, which was mainly making the anarchist theory practical, which culminated, into forty-three workplaces becoming co-operatives by May of 1871. For instance, the Louvre Museum became a factory run and managed by a large worker’s council and the belief by the Mechanics Union and the Association of Metal Workers that they could only be emancipated if they formed a worker’s association (Popkin, 2013). The reform envisaged also believed that the need to abolish the exploitation of men by fellow men was through the organization of labor in associations and capital that could not be separated from the organizations. Through this, the Paris Commune would achieve equality for all the individuals concerned in the nation.