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THE CROWD IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
• Opened door to the investigation of the nature of popular support for the French Revolution and the relationship of lower classes with the revolutionary leadership
• First published in 1959
George Rudé
REVISES STEREOTYPES
• Re-examined stereotypes of revolutionary crowds
• Found that crowds were made up of “small workshop masters, independent craftsmen, shopkeepers, and journeymen”– Men with jobs, a little property
and who had a stake in their community
• Social groups which composed leadership of the Revolution were missing from the crowds– Crowds and revolutionary
leadership composed of two different groups of people
WHAT CAUSED CROWDS TO TAKE ACTION?
• Revolutionary crowds were not passive pawns of certain revolutionary leaders– They “absorbed and adapted” the slogans and ideas
of that leadership and also developed their own program of action
• They “enthusiastically supported and assimilated the objects, ideas, and slogans of the political groups in the National Assembly and Jacobin clubs whose leadership they acknowledged and in whose name they petitioned and took up arms”– But they also had demands and interests of their own– Especially the “compelling need” for the cheap
provision of bread and other necessities
CONCLUSION• “the primary and most constant motive
impelling revolutionary crowds was the concern for the provision of cheap and plentiful food”– Does not mean that crowds were
apolitical– In their pursuit of “cheap and plentiful
food,” they politicized their uprisings by adopting many of the political ideas of the revolutionary leaders
• Without these ideas, the crowds would have remained without real purpose
• With these ideas, crowds had a powerful impact on the development and outcome of the Revolution
TRANSMISSION OF IDEAS
• Pamphlets and newspapers—the “popular press”
• Political education common people received when they joined the National Guard and various revolutionary clubs and committees
• Spoken word in public places• Crowds often formed spontaneously
– On the basis of rumors– But, once in motion and
influenced by propaganda from sources listed above, they did become politicized and help push the Revolution
• Until 1795
WHAT IS A SANS-CULOTTE?
• Recognizable by their clothing and social behavior– They estimated a person’s worth by his
external appearance– If you dressed like an aristocrat, you
were an aristocrat and an enemy of the Revolution
– Also hated “aristocratic behavior”• Came to believe that anyone with wealth
and property was an aristocrat and enemy of the Revolution– Not opposed to private property per se– Against the possession of large
amounts of property by those who had inherited it or use inherited money to buy it
CLASS-CONSCIOUS PROLETARIAT?• Being urban consumers and small producers,
they were hostile to large scale commercial capitalism– Hostility turned to violence during 1793
• Definition of a sans-culottes therefore based on who they were against– Aristocrats– Anyone who lived off unearned income– Large merchants
• But sans-culottes did not have a clearly developed class consciousness– You were considered a sans-culotte by
they way you acted, dressed, and by your attitude towards the wealthy
• Not precisely by your social station
SANS-CULOTTES DEMANDS I• Wanted to guarantee all
people equal opportunity– Not based on theory– Based in response to the
pressure of events and the problems of daily living
• Recurrent food shortages cause they to demand equal distribution of food– From the idea of equality
in food came ideas of equality in everything
• Wealth, property, etc.
SANS-CULOTTES DEMANDS II• Not against property rights
– Believed that property should be shared equally through all levels of society
• Thereby insuring everyone a decent livelihood
– Tried to put idea into practice• Advocated such programs as high
taxation of rich and the Maximum• Sans-culottes motivated by their hard living
conditions, not the power of ideas– Their demand for equality arose from the
need for steady, cheap supply of food– Tended to support concrete measures
rather than abstract expressions of general principles
SANS-CULOTTE SOCIAL IDEAL• Social ideal was a society of small
producers– Each person owning their own,
small production unit– Believed state should intervene
and prevent growth of large production concerns and monopolies
• Never realized this was an impossible dream– That system of small enterprise
would inevitably turn into system of large, concentrated enterprises
– Antagonism between their idealized social dream and reality would ultimately defeat sans-culottes movement
SANS-CULOTTE POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS
• Primary concept was the idea that sovereignty resided in the people– Not an abstract principle but a
concrete reality• Meant that they, united in the
neighborhood assemblies, should exercise their political rights
• Should have final say in approving laws, should have right to bear arms, should have the right to rebel when laws violated their rights
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSEMBLIES
• Viewed their neighborhood assemblies as watchdogs over government activity– Not as local legislatures– Needed to be permanent– Tended to skip
meetings when there was not a crisis
• Wasted much potential power
RIGHT TO REBEL
• Believed in right to rebel– Did not necessarily
mean armed insurrection
– Could also mean “continual state of useful defiance”
• Refusal to obey unjust laws
– Could also mean mass demonstration
Attack on the Tuilieries Palace
PUBLIC POLITICS• Believed political life was a public
affair– Considered publicity and public
demonstration as a civic duty• Publicity meant such things as
roll-call voting– No secret ballot
• Also meant denunciation– Public accusation of a person
as enemy of the Revolution– Justified as a means to fight
aristocratic enemies of the Revolution
• Therefore had no odious connotations
SANS-CULOTTE LEISURE• Militant sans-culottes spent most of their
time engaged in politics– Especially neighborhood assemblies
• Symbol was red cap and pike• Used informal pronoun “tu” instead of the
more formal “vous”• Wanted to abolish all insignias of rank in
army• Sang patriotic songs, talked politics and
listening to the reading of newspapers in taverns
• Demanded rent ceilings• Demanded cheap, good quality bread in
adequate supplies– Passionate desire for equality stemmed
from their overwhelming concern for food
FALL OF THE SANS-CULOTTES • Collapsed after death of Robespierre• Jacobins had enlisted support of sans-
culottes– But they were uneasy allies
• Sans-culottes insistence on popular sovereignty interfered with government efficiency
• Sans-culottes unhappy with Jacobin tendency to concentrate on abstract expressions of equality instead of concrete implementation of idea
– Wanted action, not words• Disagreed on economic issues
– Differences in goals and outlook became glaring by 1794
WHY DID THEY LET THEMSELVES BE DESTROYED?
• Plain, old-fashioned fatigue• Many had joined the army• Perils of success
– Many dropped out once their personal demands had been met
• Not a class but a coalition of various social groups united by their hatred of aristocracy and desire for a cheap, steady supply for bread– No alternative for the future
except a vague concept of a society of small producers
• An idea already out-of-date
REVOLUTIONARY WOMEN
• Women have not been studied until recently– Some stuff on
symbolic role– Some stuff on
famous women• Mme Roland and
Claire Lacombe
• But what about ordinary women?
Madame Roland
ROLE OF ORDINARY WOMEN• Worked as servants before marriage and
at home for a manufacturing contractor after marriage– Sometimes performed jobs men
wouldn’t do• Important component of family economy• Other important functions as well
– Keeping family together• Clung more devotedly to their
families than men– Kept food on table in times of
shortage• Had right to riot if she was unable
to get enough food• Food riot was therefore a
predominantly female terrain
POLITICZATION OF WOMEN
• Participation in food riots made them aware of political issues involved in food shortages– Made them see beyond their
family-oriented issues to the larger picture of how the Revolution would solve the root causes of their problems
• Did not happen until 1792
FEMALE ACTIVISM
• Formed club des femmes in 1792– Demanded fixed prices for food – Supported the war effort
• Donated household linen for bandages
– Sent patriotic petitions to government– Swore to carry out “internal war”
against traitors • Sometimes went to ugly extremes
• Tended to be more frenzied, more intense, and more vindictive than men– Although opportunities to express
these emotions were more limited
WHAT CAUSED VIOLENT EMOTIONS?
• Revolution hit poor families hard– War removed
breadwinners – Political involvement
kept husbands away from family
• Women gradually accumulated experiences that would ultimately sour them on the Revolution
COMPLETE BURN OUT• Famine of 1795• Women spent more and more time in food
lines• Government abandons rationing and fixed
prices in 1795– Women pawn possession– Participate in food riots
• Sexually selective results of malnutrition and starvation appear– Women hit harder than men
• Miscarriages, stillborn and malformed babies, had to watch children weaken and die
– Food riots of 1795 were last gasp before women slipped into the twilight world of the weak and worn-out
RESULTS
• Increased suicides• Revival of Catholicism
– Formerly women had been anti-Church
– Many women began to feel guilty about this after 1795 and returned to the Church
• With a vengeance
• After 1795, poor women dropped out the Revolution and returned to religion for comfort
WHO CAN BLAME THEM?
• Revolution, war, and famine had threatened or destroyed families of women
• At least the Church stood for integrity of family – More important to women
than politics
• Women forced to conclude that the price they had paid for the intangible benefits of the Revolution had been far too high