'… the state begins to wither away…': Notes on the Interpretation of the Paris Commune by Bakunin, Marx, Engels and Lenin

Bakunin (1871): ‘Revolutionary socialism has just attempted its first demonstration, both splendid and practical, in the Paris Commune …. I am above all a supporter of it because it was a bold and outspoken negation of the state.’ Marx (1871): ‘The Commune—that is the reabsorption of the state power by society as its own living forces instead of as forces controlling and subduing it, by the popular masses themselves, forming their own force instead of the organized form of their suppression.’ Engels (1891): ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat … Do you want to know what this dictatorship looks like? Look at the Paris Commune. That was the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.’ Lenin (1919): ‘Only the Soviet organization of the State can really effect the immediate break-up and total destruction of the old, i.e. bourgeois, bureaucratic and judicial machinery which has been … the greatest obstacle to the practical implementation of democracy for the workers and working people generally. The Paris Commune took the first epoch-making step along this path. The Soviet system has taken the second.’     

Austerity is Strangling Europe

Because they have failed to address the fundamental economic imbalances within Europe obscured by the single currency, each effort by European leaders so far to resolve the euro crisis has only deepened it. Without a decisive move toward fiscal and political union, accompanied by policies that push productivity and competitiveness toward convergence while closing the democratic deficit, the Eurozone will disintegrate. To discuss the way forward, the Nicolas Berggruen Institute's Council on the Future of Europe met in Rome on May 28 with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. In this section we publish the contributions from that meeting by the former European leaders, scholars and Nobel laureates who are members of the Council.     

'…at the hands of our own men and in our own country!'

Daisy Schoeffel's Account of her and her Family's Internment as Prisoners of War in Australia during World War I.     

Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity in Probation: Structural Sources and Consequences in West Germany

Role conflict and role ambiguity are particularly prevalent for probation officers in the Federal Republic of Germany because of the absence of an appropriate organizational structure and the dominance of a legalistic perspective as opposed to a philosophy of therapeutic intervention. The implications of this are discussed, and prospects for strengthening probation are considered.     

A Robust Vision of Europe

The sovereign debt problem in Europe, ignited by Greece, has morphed into an economic crisis challenging the solvency of major banks and countries as well as a generalized crisis of governance. Lacking the legitimacy of public support, the leaders of the European Union's fledgling institutions have been indecisive and unable to contain the looming danger of financial contagion. Along with the economic slowdown in the United States, instability and volatility in Europe threaten to derail the fragile global recovery. In this section, several former European leaders as well as political figures from the emerging economies offer their ideas on how to fix Europe and stem the global threat.