A Tale of Two Cemeteries: The Paris Commune, the Haymarket Affair, and the Politics of Memorialization

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century Paris and Chicago by analyzing their respective commemorations and memorializations of the Paris Commune and the Haymarket Affair. Though these commemorations reveal many key differences between the two cities notably the power of municipal authority's they ultimately speak to the power of silence as a political tool wielded by both the oppressor and the oppressed.