# Paris Commune Paris, 1871. > The city was transformed into an autonomously organized society, a [[commune]] that experimented with alternative ways of structuring social and political life based on collaboration and cooperation > > - [The Judgment of Paris | Lizzie O’Shea](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-judgment-of-paris-oshea) An example of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. Didn't last long (72 days) - it was crushed by the state. It was not completely [[Marxist]], not completely [[anarchist]]. It had its own thing going on. (And existed before these distinctions were that clear, anyway). The Paris Commune was instructive to both Marx and Lenin. > Marx’s observation in the context of his analysis of the lessons of the Paris Commune, that 'the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes' - is hard to miss. > > – [The Bolsheviks did not 'smash' the old state // New Socialist](https://newsocialist.org.uk/bolsheviks-did-not-smash-old-state/) > when the armed people of the French capital raised barricades not only to defend the city council of Paris and its administrative substructures but also to create a nationwide confederation of cities and towns to replace the republican nation-state. > > – [[The Communalist Project]] ## Resources - [ Revolutionary Left Radio: The Paris Commune: A Brief Blossoming of Proletarian Power](https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/the-paris-commune-a-brief-blossoming-of-proletarian-power) - [[After Storming Heaven]] - [[Communal Luxury - NovaraFM]] - [[The Radical Imagination of the Paris Commune]]