On March 20, the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) will be launching its six-week long global campaign to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune of March 18 to May 28, 1871. The “Paris Commune at 150” campaign (PC150) will be a global mass commemoration to refresh, revitalize and sustain interest in the Paris Commune: its historical context and impact in the past 150 years, its lessons and continuing validity for the current era.

In March of 1871, the working class of Paris rose up and took over the city. For months, workers controlled production and distribution of goods; by universal suffrage, they elected a Commune, with workers having the right of recall. As Karl Marx wrote in The Civil War in France, “The police, which until then had been the instrument of the Government, was at once stripped of its political attributes, and turned into the responsible, and at all times revocable, agent of the Commune.” The commune cancelled rent as they were under siege by the militarist Bismarck.

Sadly, the French ruling class regrouped, gathered an army of mercenaries, marched into Paris and massacred the communards. But Marx declared the workers were an inspiration around the world for “storming heaven.”

To launch the effort, there will be a webinar Saturday, March 20 (9 a.m. Eastern Time, 8 a.m. CDT, 6 a.m. PDT) with Professor Jose Maria Sison, Chair Emeritus of the ILPS presenting a major address. Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression will respond to Sison’s remarks. Chapman, also a member of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, just released his book, Marxist Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism. In his book, Chapman discusses that the Paris Commune took place during the same period as Black Reconstruction in the U.S. South, the most democratic period for Black people in this country’s history.

To register for the webinar: bit.ly/ParisCommune150WebinarLaunch

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