“Those Deluded, Ill-Starred Men”: Frederick Douglass, the New National Era, and the Paris Commune

The Paris Commune was the apotheosis of what unfolded in 1848 European Revolutions, first time working class actually took political power, although briefly. Frederick Douglass covered events closely his newspaper, New National Era. Douglass’s views on Commune, as yet unexplored detail by scholars, illuminate relationship to democratic and social movements both abroad United States. This essay examines in-depth writings newspaper argues commitment mass oppositional politics did not necessarily extend oppressed wage workers therefore situational, specifically it related class, labor, republicanism. labor unrest at home motivated examine “labor question” for readers. brought light free prescription, with its assumption a harmony interests between capital workers, problem inequality exploitation labor. supported, key junctures, revolutionary action Europe home, but reaction exposes limitations liberal thought take an internationalist analysis conflict struggles, especially when compared contemporaries such Benjamin Butler, Wendell Phillips, Karl Marx. study offers unique contribution scholarship while also building research Americans’ retreat from Reconstruction. movement deserve more attention. They provide opportunities historians, theorists, activists augment our understanding post-war career.