Unlearned lessons of the Paris Commune

It's thought to be one of history's first examples of workers taking power, but the Paris Commune that overthrew the French government in 1871 is shrouded in secrecy, despite the fact that historians say the period contains powerful political lessons.

In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian war, many working class Parisians were starving. They overthrew the French Government, declared Paris autonomous and tried to reinvent French society.

The revolution lasted just 12 weeks and ended in a bloodbath. Historians estimate the French government executed between 10 to 30 thousand people. The communards also killed hundreds.

Jacques Rougerie is a French historian, who's devoted half a century of his life to researching the Commune. He says this page of France’s past has been whitewashed.

“The Paris Commune was an example of full democracy, where deputies were elected by the people and could be dismissed by the people at any time,” he says.

In a corner of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery stands the wall of the Federalists. It’s where the communards made their last stand on the May 28, 1871 – an unmarked mass grave for France’s forgotten revolutionaries.