34. The trials of the Communards¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 34: The trials of the Communards
The repression of the Paris Commune did not end with the street fighting; it continued in the courts, the prisons, and the transport ships. From June to September 1871, some 28,000 prisoners were herded into sealed cattle-wagons without water, then held on pontoons and in coastal forts under conditions of calculated brutality. On the pontoons, men were caged without ventilation or bedding, fed only biscuits and beans, and shot for speaking. At Fort Boyard, men and women were packed together, separated only by a flimsy screen; women were forced to undress under the gaze of sentries. At St. Marcouf, prisoners spent six months without air, light, or tobacco, forbidden to speak, fed only biscuit crumbs and rancid fat; all contracted scurvy. Official reports admit 1,179 deaths among 33,665 civil prisoners, but the true figure was at least 2,000, with many more dying later from illnesses contracted in captivity.
At Versailles, women held in the Grenier d’Abondance were beaten, especially on the breasts, by guards. The governor paraded them before visiting ladies; prostitutes were planted among them to spy. Children were brutally treated: a twelve-year-old was beaten for refusing to betray his father’s hiding-place. Priests insulted the prisoners, calling them unrepentant Magdalenes.
The trial of seventeen Commune leaders opened on 7 August before a third court-martial of Bonapartist officers. The prosecution, led by Gaveau, treated the insurrection as ordinary crime, not political action. The indictment alleged conspiracy, executions, theft, and arson. Most of the accused confined themselves to personal defence, abandoning the Revolution. Only Trinquet proclaimed his mandate. Ferré read a declaration refusing to defend himself, stating he accepted his fate; the president, Merlin, called him ‘assassin’ from the bench. When the verdicts came on 2 September, Ferré and Lullier were condemned to death; Trinquet and Urbain to hard labour for life; others to transportation; Courbet to six months’ imprisonment. The audience was disappointed by only two death sentences. The trial proved nothing about the Revolution of 18 March, since it judged only secondary actors. The defection of the majority showed that the movement was the work of the people, not of a few great minds. The bourgeoisie displayed its hideousness: witnesses perjured themselves, and conspirators competed to claim credit for betraying the Commune.
At the fourth court-martial, Colonel Boisdenemetz presided. Five women accused as pétroleuses were shown to be ambulance nurses; three were condemned to death. Fifteen children aged eleven to sixteen appeared before him. They had joined the Pupilles de la Commune or become vagrants because they had no bread or work. One had stolen ten sous. In a society where children willing to work are forced to steal or die of hunger, the text argues, the real culprit is the soldier and the public minister.