"The Civil War in France" (in German: *Der Bürgerkrieg in Frankreich*) is a book written by Karl Marx as a speech to the General Council of the International, aimed at spreading a clear understanding among workers of all nations about the character and global significance of the heroic struggle of the participants in the Paris Commune (1871) and the historical lessons to be learned from their experiences. The book gained significant circulation in 1872, being translated into various languages and published in Europe and the United States.

2The Civil War in France" was originally published by Marx solely as the third address to the General Council of the International, divided into four chapters. In 1891, on the twentieth anniversary of the Paris Commune, Friedrich Engels compiled a new collection of works. Engels decided to include the first two addresses Marx had delivered to the International, thus providing additional historical context to Marx’s "The Civil War" on the Franco-Prussian War.

For Marx, the events of the Paris Commune led him to reassess the significance of some of his earlier writings. In a later preface to the *Communist Manifesto*, Marx wrote that “no special significance is attached to the revolutionary measures proposed at the end of Section II. This passage would, in many respects, be differently worded today.” The passage referenced in the *Manifesto* attempts to illustrate the proletarian process of seizing state power. He further suggested in the same preface that readers consult *The Civil War in France*, noting, “The Commune, above all, proved that ‘the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes.’”