Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/94

 number of votes. Thus the party of Order having refused to vote, or fled their posts, the authority of the city was left in the hands of an insurrectionary minority, who, taking advantage of this parody of an election, sought not only to control the destinies of Paris, but the rest of France.

The triumph of the Committee was most decisive in Vilette, Montmartre, Belleville, and Montrouge, where the voting was unanimous.

With the exception of Felix Pyat, Delescluze, Blanqui, Flourens, and Gambon, the successful candidates were mostly unknown to fame, but known to be men belonging to different international societies, or societies of "Trades-Union." As all these societies in Europe are political, the ambition of their chiefs is the primary object; the benefit of the workingman (if he ever receives any benefit from his connection with such a society), the secondary. The leading members of the Commune, or International, wished to introduce into society what is called "Socialism," supposed to be founded in a love of liberty, equality, and respect for human life. This Socialism is a misnomer, which the actions of its adherents has always proven; it is an empty sound full of wickedness and deceit, and may be summed up in this axiom: "The right of those who have not, to take from those who have." What the Commune or Committee wanted was to keep the power in their own hands. Their disinterestedness was as pure as their love of liberty, which consisted in arresting citizens on the slightest provocation.

Out of thirty-seven members of the Central Committee twenty were elected as members of the Commune. The Committee were supposed to withdraw and leave the Hotel de Ville to the newly constituted authorities. Such, however, was not, it would seem, their intention, as everything remained on Monday morning guarded as before.