Vive La Commune

Vive la Commune by Walter Crane, 1888

Commemorating the Paris Commune of 1871 when, in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, and the seige of Paris by the Prussian army, a workers and soldiers uprising seized control of Paris and started to implement a new socialist society. The Commune was crushed by the Government, killing thousands of Communards, either in fighting or by execution.

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Walter Crane (1845 – 1915) was an internationally renowned illustrator and artist in the late 19th Century and early 20th with a clearly recognisable style.

He was an associate of William Morris, and part of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Much of Walter Crane's work was illustrating children’s books but he was an active radical socialist, a member of the Socialist League, and produced many pictures supporting the international socialist and anarchist movements, notably cartoons printed in Justice, Commonweal and The Clarion.

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In July 1896 there was an International Congress of Socialist Workers and Trade Unionists in London. 

We have recreated an A3 version of the poster advertising the event.

The attendees were like a who's who of the international socialist movement - including Tom Mann, Keir Hardie, Peter Kropotkin, Frank Kitz, Ben Tillett, Elisee Reclus, Errico Malatesta, Louise Michel and many others.

Walter Crane produced a souvenir collection of his drawings and writings, collated over the previous ten years – printed on the best quality paper and fastened together with a bright red ribbon – which were given out free to attendees at the Congress. He called it Cartoons for the Cause and people were encouraged to use the artwork in their own publications. 

We've recreated Cartoons for the Cause (without the red ribbon unfortunately) and added a facsimile of the poster advertising the Congress, and the front cover of the Report - which Crane also decorated.