Quiz: The Civil War in France

10 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. What “decisive mistake” does Marx say the Central Committee made? Releasing the gendarmes and officers it had taken prisoner Not marching at once on Versailles, then helpless Holding elections before securing the city’s defences Abolishing the army
2. What does Marx call the monarchist National Assembly elected in February 1871? The Mountain The Constituent The Girondins The Rurals
3. How does Marx describe Thiers? “That misguided idealist”, swept along by the fury of the rural Assembly “That monstrous gnome”, who charmed the French bourgeoisie for half a century “That honest patriot”, who alone saved France from the Prussian invader in 1871 “That puppet of Bismarck”, who had never held office before the fall of the Empire
4. What will be the international rule of the new society, according to the First Address? Free trade A socialist empire under a single world government Peace, since everywhere its national ruler will be Labour Universal suffrage and compulsory arbitration between nations
5. What does the 1902 publishers’ note claim for this edition? An abridged popular edition of the Second Address, with extracts from Engels’s introduction The first English translation of the addresses, made from Marx’s German manuscripts A revised edition of the 1871 pamphlet, with a new preface by Marx’s daughters The first complete English edition: all three addresses with Engels’s full 1891 introduction
6. Which killings of 18 March does Marx defend the revolution against being blamed for? The execution of Generals Lecomte and Clément Thomas The murder of the Archbishop of Paris and the other hostages The burning of the Tuileries The shooting of Thiers
7. How does the address end? “Paris is crushed and its defenders lie in Père Lachaise; but the Republic they died for lives on for ever.” “The Commune is dead, but the cause for which it fought will rise again in every land of the civilised world.” “Workingmen’s Paris, with its Commune, will be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society.” “Workingmen of all countries, unite! The Commune has shown the way for the proletariat of every land.”
8. What maximum salary did the Commune set for any public servant? 600 francs 6,000 francs a year No limit 60,000 francs a year
9. What lesson opens “The Historic Significance of the Commune”? The working class must strengthen the existing state machinery before it can begin to transform society The working class must first win a majority in parliament before it can take power into its own hands The working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes The working class cannot act without a single revolutionary leader to direct all of its forces and its purposes
10. What does Marx call the Second Empire (“Imperialism”) in relation to the state power of middle-class society? A new form of state power exercised by and for the working class Its first and purest form, quite free of feudal survivals A return to the feudal absolute monarchy that preceded it The most prostitute and the ultimate form of that state power

0 of 10 answered