'The Days of the Commune' tells the story of the uprising and ultimate failure of the Paris Commune in 1871, a city council in France's capital which based its policies on socialism and proclaimed its right to rule over all of France. It held out for two months of counter-attack by the regular French army before its final defeat in May, 1871. Brecht's account of the Commune is based on Norwegian playwright Nordahl Grieg's play 'The Defeat'. In his adaptation, Brecht eschews a central protagonist, focusing instead on the Commune as characterised by the people in the street. It was first performed in November 1956, shortly after Brecht's death.