Il Decreto degli ostaggi

The Commune de Paris. Wednesday, April 5, 1871. The great indignation provoked by the assassinations of Flourens, Duval and many other national guards which took place yesterday and the other day, the Commune de Paris votes the decree called “des otages” (of the hostages). In essence, the decree is summarized in article 5 which says that "each execution of a prisoner of war or a supporter of the regular government of the Paris Commune will be immediately followed by the execution of a triple number of hostages held under article four, and which will be drawn by lot ”. It was a serious and bad political act because applying it would provide martyrs for the Versailles reaction and will give way in the future (we will see it later) to the possibility of tarnishing the history of the Commune. Even if it will never be applied, the political error remains. Even more serious because it leads to the resignation of two members of the Commune: Arthur Ranc and Ernest Lefèvre. This resulted in the withdrawal of the support of a portion of the republican and progressive bourgeoisie.

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