“What is the Commune, that sphinx so tantalizing to the bourgeois mind?” asked Marx as he began to offer his answer to the riddle his question implied. From the plethora of discussion evoked over the course of the ensuing century by the events in Paris during the 72 days from 18 March until 29 May 1871, it seems clear that Marx's explanation notwithstanding, the Commune has proven sphinx-like and tantalizing not only to the bourgeois mind, but to the socialist and communist minds as well.
How to Organize Emancipation: The Paris Commune
