April 19, 2021 Meeting of elected representatives of Paris Commune, which lasted for 72 days in 1871. Karl Marx called the Commune “the glorious harbinger of a new society,” where “the proletariat for the first time held political power.” It showed the future, not just for France, but for working people worldwide. This week’s special feature commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, the world’s first working-class government. It lasted from March 18 to May 28, 1871, before its overthrow in a bloody counterrevolution. The excerpts below are from an article, “Communism and the Fight for a Popular Revolutionary Government: 1848 to Today,” by Mary-Alice Waters, in New International no. 3.