Established 150 years ago, on March 18, 1871, the Paris Commune embraced universal suffrage, women’s liberation, and economic equality. For two months, the workers of Paris took control of Europe’s most celebrated capital city. When they established the world’s first workers’ democracy they found no ready-made blueprints, and no precedents to study for how to run their city without princes, prison wardens, or professional politicians. All they had was the boundless revolutionary enthusiasm of Paris’s socialists, communists, anarchists, and radical Jacobins, all of whom threw their energies into creating a new society.

We've put together a reading list celebrating the Paris Commune and the generations of radicals inspired by its legacy. All of these books are currently 30% Off.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, leftist writers Olivier Besancenot and Michael Löwy offer a deeply informed, and eminently enjoyable, imagined history of what might have been if Karl Marx and his eldest daughter, Jenny, had travelled to Paris during the heady weeks of April 1871.

This comprehensive history, based in primary source accounts, of worker’s control in Paris considers historic and contemporary debates on the Commune's legacy.

The Women Incendiaries tells the inspirational story of women who played a leading role in the Paris Commune, one of history’s greatest moments of social upheaval.

Revolutions is a unique collection of rare photographs documenting some of the most important revolutionary upheavals, from the 1871 Paris Commune to the Zapatista rebellion of the 1990s. Commentary on the images is provided by leading radical historians.

This book discusses the life and political activity of French Communist Louis-Auguste Blanqui and the problems of his political current.

Capitalism would have us believe we need our bosses. This volume reveals the history of workers who dared to disagree.

An authoritative introduction to history's most important political document, with the full text of the Manifesto.

Marx in Soho is a brilliant introduction to Marx's life, his analysis of society, and his passion for radical change.

Lenin's landmark justification of his interpretation of Marxism, class conflict, the lessons of earlier revolutions, and the dismantling of the bourgeois state.

An accessible, enlightening, and compelling introduction to Karl Marx's ideas, with an emphasis on their enduring relevance.

A wide-ranging collection of essays from Adrian Rifkin, covering cultural production, urbanism, social conflict, and radical history from a critical Marxist perspective.

Political Scientist Xavier Lafrance provides a pathbreaking account of the emergence of capitalism in France.

The early debates about the contradictions of combined and uneven development, brought to life by a new translation of leading Marxists.