Paris Commune Day

Eugene Delacroix. Freedom Leading the People (Freedom on the Barricades) 1830. LouvreThe Day of the Paris Commune is celebrated by the working people of the world to commemorate the victory of the first proletarian revolution on March 18, 1871.

The decision to celebrate March 18 as the first successful attempt by the workers to seize political power was made on February 20, 1872, by the General Council of the 1st International. On May 23, 1880, at the call of French socialist newspapers, the first procession to the Wall of the Communards at the Père-Lachaise cemetery took place in Paris. Since then, meetings of Parisian workers have been held every year at the Wall of the Communards on the last Sunday of May.

During his stay in Paris, Lenin regularly participated in the traditional rally. In Russia, until 1917, the Day of the Paris Commune was celebrated at illegal meetings of workers and revolutionary organizations; for the first time it began to be widely celebrated after the Central Committee of the International Organization for Assistance to Revolutionary Fighters (IOPR) in March 1923 declared the Day of the Paris Commune its holiday.

Source: The Great Soviet Encyclopedia.