Editing Paris Commune (section)

=== Other communes of 1871 ===
Soon after the Paris Commune took power in Paris, revolutionary and socialist groups in several other French cities tried to establish their own communes. The Paris Commune sent delegates to the large cities to encourage them. The longest-lasting commune outside Paris was that of [[Marseille]], from 23 March to 4 April, which was suppressed with the loss of thirty soldiers and one hundred and fifty insurgents. None of the other Communes lasted more than a few days, and most ended with little or no bloodshed.

[[File:Derniers combats autour de la mairie de la Guillotière, pendant le soulèvement de la Commune de Lyon, le 30 avril 1871.jpg|thumb|Army attack on the insurgents entrenched around the town hall of La Guillotière, on 30 April and 1 May 1871, the last episode of the Lyon Commune]]

* '''Lyon'''. The [[Lyon Commune]] was a short-lived revolutionary movement in [[Lyon]]. Lyon had a long history of worker's movements and uprisings. On 28 September 1870, even before the Paris Commune, the anarchist [[Mikhail Bakunin]] and socialist Paul Clusaret led an unsuccessful attempt to seize the [[Hôtel de Ville, Lyon|Hôtel de Ville]] (City Hall), but were stopped, arrested and expelled from the city by national guardsmen who supported the Republic. On 22 March, when the news of the seizure of power by the Paris Commune reached Lyon, socialist and revolutionary members of the National Guard met and heard a speech by a representative of the Paris Commune. They marched to the city hall, occupied it, and established a Commune of fifteen members, of whom eleven were militant revolutionaries. They arrested the mayor and the prefect of the city, hoisted a red flag over the city hall, and declared support for the Paris Commune. A delegate from the Paris Commune, Charles Amouroux, spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand people in front of the city hall. However, the following day the national guardsmen from other neighborhoods gathered at the city hall, held a meeting, and put out their own bulletin, declaring that the takeover was a "regrettable misunderstanding," and declared their support for the government of the Republic. On 24 March, the four major newspapers of Lyon also repudiated the Commune. On 25 March, the last members of the Commune resigned and left the city hall peacefully. The Commune had lasted only two days.{{sfn|Milza|2009a|pp=158–160}}
* '''Saint-Étienne'''. On 24 March, inspired by the news from Paris, a crowd of republican and revolutionary workers and national guardsmen invaded the [[Hôtel de Ville, Saint-Étienne|Hôtel de Ville]] (City Hall) of [[Saint-Étienne]], and demanded a plebiscite for the establishment of a Commune. Revolutionary members of the National Guard and a unit of regular army soldiers supporting the Republic were both outside the city. The prefect, an engineer named de L'Espée, was meeting with a delegation from the National Guard in his office when a shot was fired outside, killing a worker. The national guardsmen stormed the city hall, capturing the prefect. In the resulting chaos, more shots were fired and the prefect was killed. The National Guard members quickly established an executive committee, sent soldiers to occupy the railway station and telegraph office, and proclaimed a Commune, with elections to be held on 29 March. However, on the 26th, the more moderate republican members of the National Guard disassociated themselves from the Commune. An army unit entered the city on the morning of 28 March and went to the city hall. The few hundred revolutionary national guardsmen still at the city hall dispersed quietly, without any shots being fired.{{sfn|Milza|2009a|pp=160–162}}
* '''Marseille'''. Even before the Commune, [[Marseille]] had a strongly republican mayor and a tradition of revolutionary and radical movements. On 22 March, socialist politician [[Gaston Cremieux]] addressed a meeting of workers in Marseille and called upon them to take up arms and to support the Paris Commune. Parades of radicals and socialists took to the street, chanting "Long live Paris! Long live the Commune!" On 23 March, the Prefect of the city called a mass meeting of the National Guard, expecting they would support the government; but, instead, the national guardsmen, as in Paris, stormed the [[Hôtel de Ville, Marseille|Hôtel de Ville]] (City Hall) and took the mayor and prefect prisoner. They declared a Commune, led by a commission of six members, later increased to twelve, composed of both revolutionaries and moderate socialists. The military commander of Marseille, General Henry Espivent de la Villeboisnet, withdrew his troops from the city, along with many city government officials, to [[Aubagne]], to see what would happen. The revolutionary commission soon split into two factions, one in the city hall and the other in the prefecture, each claiming to be the legal government of the city. On 4 April, General Espivent, with six to seven thousand regular soldiers supported by sailors and National Guard units loyal to the Republic, entered Marseille, where the Commune was defended by about 2,000 national guardsmen. The regular army forces laid siege to the prefecture, defended by about 400 national guardsmen. The building was bombarded by artillery and then stormed by the soldiers and sailors. About 30 soldiers and 150 insurgents were killed. As in Paris, insurgents captured with weapons in hand were executed, and about 900 others were imprisoned. Gaston Cremieux was arrested, condemned to death in June 1871, and executed five months later.{{sfn|Milza|2009a|pp=165–170}}
* '''Besançon'''. The [[Besançon Commune]] originated from the emergence of unions, including a section of [[International Workingmen's Association]], in connection with the future [[Jura Federation]]. An insurrection in [[Besançon]] was planned for late May or early June 1871; the plan was abandoned following [[Semaine sanglante]].<ref name="Cordillot">Michel Cordillot, ''La naissance du mouvement ouvrier à Besançon – la Première internationale 1869–1872'', Besançon, Cahier d'Études comtoises, 1990, 83 pages ({{ISBN|2251604197}})</ref>
* '''Other cities'''. There were attempts to establish Communes in other cities. A radical government briefly took charge in the industrial town of [[Le Creusot Commune|Le Creusot]], from 24 to 27 March, but left without violence when confronted by the army. The [[Capitole de Toulouse|Capitole]] (City Hall), prefecture and arsenal of [[Toulouse]] were taken over by revolutionary national guardsmen on 24 March, but handed back to the army without fighting on 27 March. There was a similar short-lived takeover of the city hall in [[Narbonne]] (23–28 March). In [[Limoges]], no Commune was declared, but from 3 to 5 April revolutionary National Guard soldiers blockaded the [[Hôtel de Ville, Limoges|Hôtel de Ville]] (City Hall), mortally wounded an army colonel, and briefly prevented a regular army unit from being sent to Paris to fight the Commune, before being themselves disarmed by the army.{{sfn|Milza|2009a|pp=173–176}}