Civil War In France, The

Featuring a new introduction providing the historical background to the Paris Commune, as well as Engels' 1891 introduction and articles by Lenin and Trotsky. Written as a series of addresses to the General Council of the International Workingmen’s Association from July 1870 to May 1871, The Civil War in France covers the dramatic events of the Franco-Prussian War, the fall of the Second French Empire, and the heroic episode of the Paris Commune: the first workers’ government in history. In his brilliantly concise and penetrating addresses, written in the heat of the events themselves, Marx succeeds in distilling the experience of the 1871 Paris Commune down to its most fundamental elements, drawing out in the process a programme for the revolutionaries of the future. 150 years on, this book remains a priceless resource for the workers of the world.