"Nos coeurs brises font appel aux votres."--_Les Maires et
Adjoints de Paris et les Deputes de la Seine a la Garde
Nationale et a tous les Citoyens._
THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE CONVOKES THE ELECTORS--THE MAYORS OF
PARIS AND DEPUTIES OF THE SEINE TURN AGAINST IT.
Paris only became aware of her victory on the morning of the 19th of
March. What a change in the scene, even after all the scene-shifting in
the drama enacted during these last seven months! The red flag floated
above the Hotel-de-Ville. With the early morning mists the army, the
Government, the Administration had evaporated. From the depths of the
Bastille, from the obscure Rue Basfroi, the Central Committee was lifted
to the summits of Paris in the sight of all the world. Thus on the 4th
September the Empire had vanished; thus the deputies of the Left had
picked up a derelict power.
The Committee, to its great honour, had only one thought, to restore its
power to Paris. Had it been sectarian, hatching decrees, the movement
would have ended like that of the 31st October. Happily it was composed
of new-comers, without a past, and without political pretensions; men of
the small middle-class, as well as workmen, shopkeepers, commercial
clerks, mechanics, sculptors, architects, caring little for systems,
anxious above all to save the Republic. At this giddy height they had
but one idea to sustain them, that of securing to Paris her
municipality.
Under the Empire this was one of the favourite schemes of the Left, by
which it had mainly won over the small Parisian bourgeoisie, much
humiliated at the sight of Governmental nominees enthroned at the
Hotel-de-Ville for full eighty years. Even the most pacific amongst them
were shocked, scandalised by the incessant increase of the budget, the
multiplied loans, and the financial swindling of Haussmann. And how they
applauded Picard, revindicating for the largest and most enlightened
city of France at least the rights enjoyed by the smallest village, or
when he defied the Pasha of the Seine to produce regular accounts!
Towards the end of the Empire, the idea of an elective municipal council
had taken root; it had to a certain extent been put into practice during
the siege, and now its total realisation could alone console Paris for
her decentralisation.
On the other hand, the popular masses, insensible to the bourgeois ideal
of a municipal council, were bent on the Commune. They had called for it
during the siege as an arm against the foreign enemy; they still called
for it as a lever for uprooting despotism and misery. What did they care
for a council, even elective, but without real liberties and fettered to
the state--without authority over the administration of schools and
hospitals, justice and police, and altogether unfit for grappling with
the social slavery of its fellow-citizens? What the people strove for
was a political form allowing them to work for the amelioration of their
condition. They had seen all the constitutions and all the
representative governments run counter to the will of the so-called
represented elector, and the state power, grown more and more despotic,
despoil the workmen even of the right to defend his labour, and this
power, which has ordained even the very air to be breathed, always
refusing to interfere in capitalist brigandage. After so many failures,
they were fully convinced that the actual governmental and legislative
regime was from its very nature unable to emancipate the workingman.
This emancipation they expected from the autonomous Commune, sovereign
within the limits compatible with the maintenance of the national unity.
The communal constitution was to substitute for the representative
lording it over his elector the strictly responsible mandatory. The old
state power grafted upon the country, feeding upon its substance,
usurping supremacy on the foundation of divided and antagonistic
interests, organising for the benefit of the few, justice, finance,
army, and police, was to be superseded by a delegation of all the
autonomous communes.
Thus the municipal question, appealing to the legitimate
susceptibilities of the one, to the bold aspirations of the other,
gathered all classes round the Central Committee.
At half-past eight they held their first sitting in the same room where
Trochu had been enthroned. The president was a young man of about
thirty-two; Edward Moreau, a small commission agent. "He was not in
favour," he said, "of sitting at the Hotel-de-Ville, but since they were
there, it was necessary to at once regularise their situation, tell
Paris what they wanted, proceed to the elections within the briefest
term possible, provide for the public services, and protect the town
from a surprise."
Two of his colleagues immediately said, "We must first march on
Versailles, disperse the Assembly, and appeal to France to pronounce."
Another, the author of the Vauxhall motion, said, "No. We have only the
mandate to secure the rights of Paris. If the provinces share our views,
let them imitate our example."
Some wanted to consummate the revolution before referring to the
electors. Others opposed this vague suggestion. The Committee decided to
proceed at once to the elections, and charged Moreau to draw up an
appeal. While it was being signed, a member of the Committee arrived,
saying, "Citizens, we have just been told that most of the members of
the Government are still in Paris; an attempt at resistance is being
organised in the first and second arrondissements; the soldiers are
leaving for Versailles. We must take prompt measures to lay hands on the
Ministers, disperse the hostile battalions, and prevent the enemy from
leaving the town."
In fact, Jules Favre and Picard had hardly left Paris. The clearing of
the Ministries was publicly going on; files of soldiers were still
marching off through the gates of the left bank. But the Committee
continued signing, neglecting this traditional precaution--the shutting
of the gates--and lost itself in the elections. It saw not--very few saw
as yet--that this was a death-struggle with the Assembly of Versailles.
The Committee, distributing the work to be done, appointed the delegates
who were to take possession of the Ministries and direct the various
services. Some of these delegates were chosen outside the Committee,
from amongst those who were reputed men of action, or the
revolutionists. Some one having spoken of an increase of pay, his
colleagues indignantly answered, "We are not here to imitate the
Government of the Defence. We have lived till now on our pay; it will
still suffice." Arrangements were made for the permanent presence of
some members at the Hotel-de-Ville, and then they adjourned at one
o'clock.
Outside the joyous clamor of the people enlivened the streets. A spring
sun smiled on the Parisians. This was their first day of consolation and
of hope for eight months. Before the barricades of the Hotel-de-Ville,
at the Buttes Montmartre, in all the boulevards, lookers-on were
thronging. Who then spoke of civil war? Only the _Journal Officiel_. It
recounted the events in its own way. "The Government had exhausted every
means of conciliation," and in a despairing appeal to the National Guard
it said, "A committee taking the name of Central Committee has
assassinated in cold blood the Generals Clement-Thomas and Lecomte. Who
are the members of this Committee? Communists, Bonapartists, or
Prussians? Will you take upon yourselves the responsibility of these
assassinations?" These lamentations of runaways moved only a few
companies of the centre. Yet--a grave symptom this--the young bourgeois
of the Polytechnic School came to the mairie of the second
arrondissement, where the mayors had flocked, and the students of the
universities, till now the advanced guard of all our revolutions,
pronounced against the Committee.
For this revolution was made by proletarians. Who were they? What did
they want? At two o'clock every one hurried to see the placards of the
Committee just issued from the Imprimerie Nationale. "Citizens, the
people of Paris, calm and impassible in their strength, have awaited
without fear, as without provocation, the shameless fools who want to
touch our Republic. Let Paris and France together lay the foundation of
a true Republic, the only Government which will for ever close the era
of revolutions. The people of Paris is convoked to make its elections."
And turning to the National Guard: "You have charged us to organise the
defence of Paris and of your rights. Our mandate has now expired.
Prepare, and at once make your communal elections. Meanwhile we shall,
in the name of the people, hold the Hotel-de-Ville." Twenty names[89]
followed, which, save three or four, Assi, Lullier, and Varlin, were
only known through the placards of the last few days. Since the morning
of the 10th August, 1792, Paris has not seen in her Hotel-de-Ville such
an advent of obscure men.
And yet their placards were respected, their battalions circulated
freely. They took possession of the posts; at one o'clock the Ministries
of Finance and of the Interior; at two o'clock the Naval and War
Offices, the telegraph, the _Journal Officiel_, and Duval was installed
at the Prefecture de Police. And they had hit the mark. What indeed
could be said against this new-born power whose first word was its own
abdication?
Everything around them bore a warlike aspect. Let us cross the half-open
barricades of the Rue de Rivoli. Twenty thousand men camped in the
square of the Hotel-de-Ville; bread stuck on the end of their muskets.
Fifty ordnance pieces, cannon, and mitrailleuses drawn up along the
facade served as the _chevaux de frise_ of the town hall. The court and
staircases encumbered with guards taking their meals, the large Salle du
Trone swarming with officers, guards, and civilians. In the hall on the
left, which was used by the staff, the noise subsided. The room by the
river-side, at the corner of the edifice, was the antechamber of the
Committee. About fifty men were writing there, bending over a long
table. There discipline and silence reigned. We were far from the
anarchists of the 31st October. From time to time the door, guarded by
two sentinels, opened to a member of the Committee who carried orders or
made inquiries.
The sitting had recommenced. A member asked the Committee to protest
against the executions of Clement-Thomas and Lecomte, to which it was
entirely foreign. "Take care not to disavow the people," answered
another, "for fear they in turn should disavow you." A third said, "The
_Journal Officiel_ declares the execution took place under our eyes. We
must stop these calumnies. The people and the bourgeoisie have joined
hands in this revolution. This union must be maintained. You want
everybody to take part in the elections." "Well, then," he was
apostrophised, "abandon the people in order to gain the bourgeoisie; the
people will withdraw, and you will see if it is with the bourgeois that
revolutions are made."[90]
The Committee decided that a note should be inserted in the _Journal
Officiel_ to re-establish the truth. Ed. Moreau proposed and read the
draft of a manifesto, which was adopted.
The Committee were discussing the date and mode of the elections when it
was informed that a large meeting of the chiefs of battalions, the
mayors and deputies of the Seine was being held at the mairie of the
third arrondissement. M. Thiers, during the morning, had given over to
the union of the mayors the provisional administration of Paris, and
they were trying their authority on the National Guard. The Committee
was assured that they intended to convoke the electors.
"If it is so," said several members, "we must come to an agreement with
them to make the situation regular." Others, remembering the siege,
simply wanted to have them arrested. One member said, "If we wish to
have France with us, we must not frighten her. Think what an effect the
arrest of the deputies and mayors would produce, and what, on the other
hand, the effect of their adhesion would be." Another, "It is important
to collect an imposing number of voters. All Paris will go to the
ballot-boxes if the representatives and mayors join us." "Say rather,"
cried an impetuous colleague, "that you are not equal to your position;
that your only preoccupation is to disengage yourselves." They finally
decided to send Arnold to the mairie as delegate.
He was badly enough received. The most radical adjuncts and deputies,
Socialists like Milliere and Malon, flatly declared against the
Hotel-de-Ville, appalled at the dangerous initiative of the people. Many
too said, "Who are these unknown men?" Even at the Corderie,
Internationalists and former members of the Committee of the twenty
arrondissements maintained a diffident attitude. However, the meeting
decided to send commissioners to the Hotel-de-Ville, for, whether they
liked it or not, there was the power.
The Central Committee had, in the meantime, fixed the elections for the
Wednesday, decreed the raising of the state of siege, the abolition of
the court-martials, and amnesty for all political crimes and offences.
It held a third sitting at eight o'clock to receive the commissioners.
These were the deputies Clemenceau, Milliere, Tolain, Cournet, Malon,
and Lockroy, the mayors Bonvalet and Mottu, the adjuncts Murat, Jaclard,
and Leo Meillet.
Clemenceau, half accomplice, half dupe of M. Thiers' _coup d'etat_, in
his quality of mayor and deputy, was the spokesman. He was prolix and
pedantic. "The insurrection has been undertaken upon an illegitimate
motive; the cannon belong to the State. The Central Committee is without
a mandate and in no wise holds Paris. Numerous battalions were gathering
round the deputies and mayors. Soon the Committee will become ridiculous
and its decrees will be despised. Besides, Paris has no right to revolt
against France, and must absolutely acknowledge the authority of the
Assembly. The Committee has but one other way of getting out of the
difficulty--to submit to the union of the deputies and mayors, who are
resolved to obtain from the Assembly the satisfaction claimed by Paris."
He was frequently interrupted during this speech. What! They dared speak
of an insurrection! Who had began the civil war, attacked first? What
had the National Guards done but answer a nocturnal aggression, taken
back cannon paid for by themselves? What had the Central Committee done
but follow the people and occupy the deserted Hotel-de-Ville?
A member of the Committee said, "The Central Committee has received a
regular, imperative mandate. This mandate forbids them to allow the
Government or the Assembly to touch their liberties or the Republic. Now
the Assembly has never ceased putting the existence of the Republic in
question. It has placed a dishonoured general at our head, decapitalised
Paris, tried to ruin her commerce. It has sneered at our sufferings,
denied the devotion, the courage, the abnegation Paris has shown during
the siege, hooted her best-loved representatives, Garibaldi and Victor
Hugo. The plot against the Republic is evident. The attempt was
commenced by gagging the press; they hoped to terminate it by the
disarmament of our battalions. Yes, our case was one of legitimate
defence. If we have bowed our heads under this new affront, there was
an end of the Republic. You have just spoken of the Assembly of France.
The mandate of the Assembly has expired. As to France, we had not the
pretension of dictating her laws--we have too often suffered under
hers--but we will not submit to her rural plebiscites. You see it; the
question is no longer to know which of our mandates is the most regular.
We say to you the revolution is made; but we are not usurpers. We wish
to call upon Paris to name her representatives. Will you aid us, and
proceed with us to consult the elections? We eagerly accept your
co-operation."
As he spoke of autonomous communes and their federation, "Have a care,"
said Milliere; "if you unfurl this flag they will launch all France upon
Paris, and I foresee days fatal as those of June. The hour of the social
revolution has not yet struck. Progress is obtained by slower marches.
Descend from the heights where you have placed yourselves. Victorious
to-day, your insurrection may be vanquished to-morrow. Make as much of
it as you can, but do not hesitate to content yourselves with little. I
adjure you to leave the field open to the union of the mayors and
deputies; your confidence will be well placed."
One of the Committee: "Since the social revolution has been spoken of, I
declare our mandate does not go so far." (Others of the Committee, "Yes!
Yes!" "No! No!") "You have spoken of a federation, of Paris as a free
town. Our duty is more simple. It is to proceed to the elections. The
people will afterwards decide on their action. As to yielding to the
deputies and mayors, this is impossible. They are unpopular and have no
authority in the Assembly. The elections will take place with or without
their concurrence. Will they help us? We will receive them with open
arms. If not, we shall do without them, and, if they attempt to obstruct
our way, we shall know how to reduce them to impotency."
The delegates resisted. The discussion grew hot. "But, in fine," said
Clemenceau, "what are your pretensions? Do you confine your mandate to
asking the Assembly for a municipal council?"
Many of the Committee: "No! No!" "We want," said Varlin, "not only the
election of the municipal council, but real municipal liberties, the
suppression of the prefecture of police, the right of the National Guard
to name its chiefs and to reorganise itself, the proclamation of the
Republic as the legal Government, the pure and simple remittance of the
rents due, an equitable law on overdue bills, and the Parisian territory
interdicted the army."
Malon: "I share your aspirations, but the situation is perilous. It is
clear that the Assembly will listen to nothing as long as the Committee
occupies the Hotel-de-Ville. If, on the contrary, Paris intrusts herself
again to her legal representatives, I believe they could do more than
you."
The discussion was protracted until half-past ten; the Committee
defending its right to proceed to the elections, the delegates their
pretension of superseding the Committee. They at last agreed that the
Committee should send four of its members to the second arrondissement.
Varlin, Moreau, Arnold, and Jourde were appointed.
There they found the whole staff of Liberalism: deputies, mayors, and
adjuncts; Louis Blanc, Schoelcher, Carnot, Peyrat, Tirard, Floquet,
Desmarets, Vautrain, and Dubail, about sixty altogether. The cause of
the people there had a few partisans, sincere, but terribly dismayed by
the uncertain future. The mayor of the second arrondissement, Tirard,
presided, a Liberal, nervous, haughty, one of those who had helped to
paralyse Paris in the hands of Trochu. In his evidence before the Rural
Committee of Inquiry, he has mutilated, travestied this sitting, where
the Radico-Liberal bourgeoisie laid bare all its baseness. We shall now,
for the instruction of and in justice to the people, give the plain
truth.
The delegates: "The Central Committee does not wish anything better than
to come to an agreement with the municipalities, if they will proceed
with the elections."
Schoelcher, Tirard, Peyrat, Louis Blanc, all the Radicals and Liberals
in chorus: "The municipalities will not treat with the Central
Committee. There is only one authority--the union of the mayors
invested with the delegation by the Government."
The delegates: "Let us not discuss the point. The Central Committee
exists. We have been named by the National Guard and we hold the
Hotel-de-Ville. Will you proceed to make the elections?"
"But what is your programme?"
Varlin set it forth. He was attacked from all sides. The four delegates
had to face twenty assailants. The great argument of the Liberals was
that Paris could not convoke herself, but ought to wait for the
permission of the Assembly. A reminiscence this of the times of the
siege, when they fell prone before the Government of the Defence.
The delegates affirmed, on the contrary: "The people has the right to
convoke itself. It is an undeniable right, which it has more than once
made use of in our history in moments of great peril, and at present we
are passing through such a crisis, since the Assembly of Versailles is
making for monarchy."
Then recriminations followed: "You are now face to face with force,"
said the delegates. "Beware of letting loose a civil war by your
resistance." "It is you who want a civil war," replied the Liberals. At
midnight Moreau and Arnold, quite disheartened, withdrew. Their
colleagues were about to follow, when some adjuncts entreated them to
stay. "We promise," said the mayors and deputies, "to make every effort
to obtain the municipal elections with the shortest delay." "Very well,"
answered the delegates, "but we maintain our position; we want
guarantees." The deputies and mayors, growing obstinate, pretended that
Paris must surrender unconditionally. Jourde was about to retire, when
some of the adjuncts again detained him. For a moment they seemed to be
coming to an understanding. The Committee was to give up all the
administrative services to the mayors, and let them occupy one part of
the Hotel-de-Ville; itself, however, was to continue sitting there, to
retain the exclusive direction of the National Guard, and to watch over
the security of the town. This agreement only required to be confirmed
by the issue of a common proclamation, but when the heading of the
latter came to be discussed, the contest grew more violent than before.
The delegates proposed, "The deputies, mayors, and adjuncts, in accord
with the Central Committee." These gentlemen, on the contrary, desired
to hide themselves behind a mask. For an hour Louis Blanc, Tirard, and
Schoelcher overwhelmed the delegates with indignities. Louis Blanc
cried to them, "You are insurgents against a most freely elected
Assembly.[91] We, the regular mandatories, we cannot avow a transaction
with insurgents. We should be willing to prevent a civil war, but not to
appear as your auxiliaries in the eyes of France." Jourde answered the
mannikin that this transaction, in order to be accepted by the people of
Paris, must be publicly consented to, and, despairing of making anything
out of this meeting, withdrew.
And amongst this _elite_ of the Liberal Bourgeoisie, former exiles,
publicists, historians of our revolutions, not one indignant voice
protested, "Let us cease these cruel disputes, this barking at a
revolution. Woe to us if we do not recognise the force manifesting
itself through unknown men! The Jacobins of 1794 denied it, and they
perished; the Montagnards of 1848 abandoned it, and they perished; the
Left under the Empire, the Government of the National Defence, disdained
it, and our integrity as a nation has perished. Let us open our eyes,
our hearts; let us break out of the beaten track. No; we will not widen
the gulf that the days of June, 1848, and the Empire have placed between
us and the workmen. No; with the disasters of France in view, we shall
not allow her living forces still in reserve to be touched. The more
abnormal, monstrous our situation is, the more we are bound to find the
solution, even under the eye of the Prussian. You, the Central
Committee, who are the spokesmen of Paris, we, who are listened to by
Republican France, we will mark out a field for common action. You
supply the force, the large aspirations, we the knowledge of realities
and their inexorable behests. We shall present to the Assembly this
charter free from all Utopian views, equally regardful of the rights of
the nation and of those of the capital. If the Assembly rejects it, we
shall be the first to make the elections, to ask for your suffrage. And
when France sees Paris raising her force counterpoised by prudence at
her Hotel-de-Ville, vigorous new-comers allied with men of old repute,
the only possible bulwark against royalists and clericals, she will rise
as in the days of the Federation, and at her voice Versailles will have
to yield."
But what was to be expected of men who had not even been able to pluck
up sufficient courage to wrench Paris from Trochu? Varlin single-handed
had to stand their combined attack. Exhausted, worn out--this contest
had lasted five hours--he at last gave way, but under protest. On
returning to the Hotel-de-Ville, he recovered all his wonted energy, his
calm intelligence, and told the Committee he now saw the snare, and
advised it to reject the pretensions of the mayors and deputies.
FOOTNOTES:
[89] Assi, Billioray, Ferrat, Babick, Ed. Moreau, C. Dupont, Varlin,
Boursier, Mortier, Gouhier, Lavalette, F. Jourde, Rousseau, C. Lullier,
Blanchet, J. Grollard, Barrond, H. Geresme, Fabre, Fougeret, the members
present at the morning sitting. The Committee decided later on that its
publications should bear the names of all its members.
[90] The minutes of the first Central Committee have disappeared, but
one of its most assiduous members has restored the principal sittings
from memory. It is from his notes, checked by several of his colleagues,
that we have taken these details. It is superfluous to say that the
minutes published by the _Paris Journal_, which have been used by
reactionist historians, are incomplete, inexact, drawn up from hearsay,
unintelligent indiscretions, and often from pure imagination. Thus, for
instance, they make all the sittings presided over by Assi, attributing
to him the principal part, because under the Empire he was very
incorrectly supposed to have directed the strike of Creuzot. Assi never
had any influence in the Committee.
[91] Textual. It is from the little man of Paris that the little man of
Versailles borrowed the phrase while he completed it.