The Paris Commune: France's Radical Experiment in Self-Rule

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Paris Commune of 1871—a brief, radical uprising that seized the French capital after the Franco-Prussian War and the fall of the Second Empire. They trace the spark from the Siege of Paris and the National Guard's defiant cannons on Montmartre, to the election of a revolutionary council and its ambitious decrees on workers' self-management, secular education, and women's rights. The conversation centers on key figures like Louise Michel, the 'Red Virgin,' and Adolphe Thiers, the conservative president who ordered the army to crush the uprising. Lucas recounts the brutal 'Bloody Week' in May 1871, when tens of thousands were killed, and reflects on the Commune's legacy—from Marx's writings to the establishment of the Third Republic and the building of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur as a symbol of national penance. The episode weighs the Commune's ideals against its violent end, asking what its brief experiment still teaches us about democracy and revolution. #ParisCommune #1871 #LouiseMichel #AdolpheThiers #BloodyWeek #Montmartre #NationalGuard #ThirdRepublic #SacréCœur #KarlMarx #Séance #Versailles #Paris #France #Revolution #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo