Editing Paris Commune (section)

=== Radicalisation of the Paris workers ===
The Commune resulted in part from growing discontent among the Paris workers.<ref>Haupt/Hausen 1979, pp. 74–75</ref> This discontent can be traced to the first worker uprisings, the [[Canut revolts]] (a {{lang|fr|[[canut]]}} was a Lyonnais silk worker, often working on [[Jacquard loom]]s), in Lyon and Paris in the 1830s.{{sfn|Edwards|1971|p=1}} Many Parisians, especially workers and the lower-middle classes, supported a democratic republic. A specific demand was that Paris should be self-governing with its own elected council, something enjoyed by smaller French towns but denied to Paris by a national government wary of the capital's unruly populace.

[[File:Second French Empire (1852-1870) (A10).jpg|thumb|Children in factory at the forge under the Second French Empire]]

Socialist movements, such as the [[First International]], had been growing in influence with hundreds of societies affiliated to it across France. In early 1867, Parisian employers of bronze-workers attempted to de-unionise their workers. This was defeated by a strike organised by the International. Later in 1867, a public demonstration in Paris was answered by the dissolution of its executive committee and the leadership being fined. Tensions escalated: Internationalists elected a new committee and put forth a more radical programme, the authorities imprisoned their leaders, and a more revolutionary perspective was taken to the International's [[First International#The Brussels Congress, 1868|1868 Brussels Congress]]. The International had considerable influence even among unaffiliated French workers, particularly in Paris and the large cities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=March |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofparisco00marcrich |title=The history of the Paris Commune of 1871 |publisher=London, S. Sonnenschein & co., ltd.; New York, Macmillan & co. |year=1896 |pages=3–6}}</ref>

The killing of journalist [[Victor Noir]] incensed Parisians, and the arrests of journalists critical of the Emperor did nothing to quiet the city. The German military attaché, [[Alfred von Waldersee]], wrote in his diary in February: "Every night isolated barricades were thrown up, constructed for the most part out of disused conveyances, especially omnibuses, a few shots were fired at random, and scenes of disorder were taken part in by a few hundreds of persons, mostly quite young". He noted, however, that "working-men, as a class, took no part in the proceedings."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waldersee |first=Alfred von |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K5CkDwAAQBAJ&q=%22working-men+as+a+class%22%22waldersee%22&pg=PT33 |title=A Field Marshal's Memoirs: From the Diary, Correspondence and Reminiscences of Alfred, Count von Waldersee |date=2019 |publisher=Borodino Books |isbn=978-1-163-18135-5 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310075136/https://books.google.com/books?id=K5CkDwAAQBAJ&q=%22working-men+as+a+class%22%22waldersee%22&pg=PT33 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> A coup was attempted in early 1870, but tensions eased significantly after the [[1870 French constitutional referendum|plebiscite in May]]. The war with Prussia, initiated by Napoleon III in July, was initially met with patriotic fervour.<ref>{{Cite book |last=March |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofparisco00marcrich |title=The history of the Paris Commune of 1871 |publisher=London, S. Sonnenschein & co., ltd.; New York, Macmillan & co. |year=1896 |pages=7–9}}</ref>