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Institutions

Commune

Commune

In these Parisian passages the Commune is municipal authority, distinct from the national Convention and from any single neighbourhood section.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Lemma.

In these Parisian passages the Commune is municipal authority, distinct from the national Convention and from any single neighbourhood section. Its decree requires sections to raise men; its petition seeks the exclusion of deputies from the national assembly. The difference between issuing an order, executing it and petitioning a higher political body explains the movement of papers and people. The English capital retains the named institution rather than suggesting a small communal household.

Places to read

  1. Chapter I, paragraph 19Frencharrêté de la Commune: municipal recruitment order. Sections are charged with supplying the men.
  2. Chapter V, paragraph 37Frenchla pétition de la Commune: a municipal petition to national politics. This passage says Twenty-one; I.2 says twenty-two, and the numbers should not be silently harmonised.