The

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

Commune (in French ''Commune de Besançon'') was a short-lived revolutionary movement conceived and developed in 1871, aiming at the proclamation of a local autonomous power based on the experiences of the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and Lyon Communes. It originates from social upheavals which metamorphosed the city and with the emergence of unions including a section of IWA in connection with the future Jura Federation. The course of events was precipitated by the Franco-Prussian War, the fall of the Second Empire, and the advent of the Third Republic. While many notables testify to an insurrectionary context and armed support from Switzerland being organized, the correspondence left by James Guillaume and Mikhail BakuninArthur Lehning, Œuvres complètes de Bakounine: Michel Bakounine sur la guerre france-allemande et la révolution sociale en France 1870-1871, Éditions Champ Libre, 1979. attest to a planned release between the end of May and the beginning of June 1871. However, with the start of the Semaine sanglante on 21 May and the pursuit of an internal campaign until 7 June, any attempt was seriously compromised. Despite the hope of a restart, in the following weeks and months the idea of an insurrection was definitively abandoned, later reinforced by the extinction of groups and activities described as "anarchist" from 1875.

References

Anarchism in France History of Besançon History of Franche-Comté 1871 in France Rebellions in France Revolutionary communes Provisional governments in France {{France-hist-stub