Marx also had access to personal interpretations of events passed along by several leading figures in the Commune and associates such as Paul Lafargue and Peter Lavrov.

[2] Marx originally intended to write an address to the workers of Paris and made such a motion to the meeting of the governing General Council of the International on 28 March 1871, a proposal unanimously approved.

The first edition of the pamphlet, a slim document of just 35 pages, was published in London on about 13 June 1871 as "The Civil War in France: Address of the General Council of the International Working-Men's Association".

He wrote an introduction emphasising the historical significance of the experience of the Paris Commune, its theoretical generalization by Marx in "The Civil War in France" and providing additional information on the activities of the Communards from among the Blanquists and Proudhonists.

Following the publication of "The Civil War in France", "One thing especially was proved by the Commune, viz., that 'the working class cannot simply lay hold of ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes.