| The revolutionary revival of democracy in France, 1789-95 |
 |
 |
 |
| Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 | |
|
Objectives 1) Establish that modern representative democracy was established through the revolutionary overthrow of absolutism. 2) Objectives 1) Establish that modern representative democracy was established through the revolutionary overthrow of absolutism. 2) Provide a brief descriptive overview of the French Revolution. 3) Provide a preliminary indication of the key institutional features of representative democracy which emerged from the French Revolution. Introduction
the
English Revolution revisited.
“The
most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of
the masses in historic events. In
ordinary times the state, be it monarchical or democratic, elevates
itself above the nation, and history is made by specialists in that
line of business — kings, ministers, bureaucrats, parliamentarians,
journalists. But at those
crucial moments when the old order becomes no longer endurable to the
masses, they break over the barriers excluding them from the political
arena, sweep aside their traditional representatives, and create by
their own interference the initial groundwork for a new regime. The
history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the
forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of rulership over their
own destiny.†The
French Revolution, to a much greater extent than the English
Revolution, was a genuinely mass revolution embroiling in one way or
other the vast bulk of the population (estimated at around 28 million
by the 1790s).
World-historic
significance of the French Revolution - establishing the foundations
of capitalism, liberalism and modern representative democracy
1)
Background, causes & main ‘players’
rise
of absolutist monarchy
huge
state apparatus sustained by increasingly heavy taxation of
freeholding peasantry
acted
as major brake on economic growth
fuelled
increasing social tensions between peasantry, nobility, bourgeoisie,
and the monarchy.
causes?
short and long term, internal and external
long
term, internal: economic stagnation, growth of absolutist state,
emergence of new capitalist classes, growing social tensions.
external:
increasing inability, because of economic stagnation & resulting
fiscal difficulties of the French state, to compete militarily with
emerging capitalist powers - England and Holland.
short
term causes:
-
effective bankruptcy of French state -
recession, agricultural catastrophe and resulting food crisis of
1787-1789 -
dramatic rise of social tensions due to widespread hunger -
influence of Enlightenment/liberal philosophy -
influence of American Revolution (1776-1789) “The
French Revolution appears, then, to have been the outcome of both
long-term and short-term factors which arose from the social-political
conditions and the conflict of the ancient regime. Main
players:
-
First Estate - clergy -
Second Estate - nobility -
Third Estate - bourgeoisie & the rest social
classes: nobility, bourgeoisie, urban petty bourgeoisie (san
culottes), proletariat, peasantry.
“We
may picture French eighteenth-century society as a kind of pyramid,
whose apex was filled by the Court and aristocracy, its centre by the
‘middling’ classes or bourgeoisie, and its base by the ‘lower
orders’ of peasants and urban tradesmen and craftsmen.†monarchy:
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
“For
it had a monarchy that, although absolute in theory, carried within it
the seeds of its own decay; an aristocracy that, though privileged and
mostly wealthy, was deeply resentful of its long exclusion from
office; a bourgeoisie that, though enjoying increasing prosperity, was
denied the social status and share in government commensurate with its
wealth; and peasants who (in part at least) were becoming more
literate and independent, yet were still regarded as a general beast
of burden, despised and over-taxed.
Moreover, these conflicts and the tensions they engendered were
becoming sharper as the century went on.†following
outbreak of revolution, foreign powers & outside military
intervention
2)
The Revolution and ‘Principles of 1789’
Four
inter-related and unfolding phases:
i)
revolt of the nobility from 1787 to 1789; ii)
bourgeois revolution of 1789; iii)
rise of the Jacobins from 1792 to 1794; iv)
the reactionary (but not counter-revolutionary) Thermidor of 1794 to
1799 (when Bonaparte took power in a coup). revolt
of the nobility: the French monarchy emerged from the American War of
Independence victorious but essentially bankrupt.
This forced the King’s ministers and finance to attempt to
reform the system of taxation, as well as tighten state expenditure.
not
possible to increase taxation of peasantry (following peasant revolt
in 1775), need to start taxing the nobility
nobility
resisted and declared that the King should convene the Estates General
to discuss and resolve the fiscal crisis.
hoped
to push tax increases required to resolve the fiscal crisis on to the
Third Estate.
forced
King to call Estates General which convened on May 5 1789
stimulated
political ferment throughout the country
leadership
of the Third Estate was almost exclusively bourgeois
debate
focused on whether or not the three estates should meet together or
separately
struggle
for power
King
failed to adopt clear position
while
the Estates General met the wider society was being convulsed by
mounting crisis and popular unrest.
“In
Paris, the price of bread was at almost twice its normal level; there
had been bloody riots in the Faubourg St Antoine; and in the
countryside the peasants had passed from words to deeds and were
stopping food-convoys, raiding markets and destroying game
reserves.†Having
failed to reach agreement on the question of whether the States should
meet in common, and with mounting support amongst the masses, the
Third Estate unilaterally declared itself the National Assembly on the
17th June and invited deputies of the other estates to join it (the
vote was 491 to 89 within the Third Estate).
King’s
response: “The King wishes the ancient distinction between the three
orders of the State to be preserved in its entirety as being
essentially linked to the constitution of his Kingdom.â€
McGarr, p. 31.
popular
insurrection - storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789.
National
Assembly was now, temporarily secure against the immediate threat and
counter-revolution. Revolution
spread throughout the country.
Constituent
Assembly (as it had become) voted on August 4 to ‘abolish feudalism
in its entirety’
‘Principles
of ‘89â€
-
Declaration of the Rights of Man 26th August 1789 -
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity -
BUT only through limited application of these principles. -
Liberty implied in an economic sense, freedom to dispose of property,
engage in trade, and to sell the capacity to work as a commodity on a
market for labour; and in a political sense, liberty implied a notion
of universal civic rights guaranteeing freedom of thought, writing and
speech. -
Equality meant equality before the law. -
Fraternity “was about the creation of a unified national state and
market. All were now
French citizens. Internal
barriers to trade and commerce were gone and class antagonism could be
blurred under the patriotic idealâ€
McGarr, p. 35. The
Declaration provided for:
-
protection of property; freedom of conscience, freedom of the press
and freedom from arbitrary arrest; equality before the law; equal
taxation and equal eligibility for office; and, to show the
deputies’ appreciation of practical realities, if implicitly
sanctioned - post factum - the right of rebellion. ‘principles
of ‘89’ most fully enshrined in Constitution of 1791
-
a constitutional monarchy in which the King had a right to veto
legislation, appoint his own ministers, and engage in diplomatic
relations with other states. -
but there was to be no upper house on the English model, nor the clear
separation of powers evident in the American constitution of 1789. -
Hence “the real power in the land was, in fact, to be the National
Assembly itself. It was
to be a unicameral body, untrammelled by ‘checks and balances’
..., armed with unlimited powers over taxation and with initiative and
authority in all legislative matters, restricted only by the
obligation to hold elections every two years.†Rude, p. 61. -
The franchise was extended to all men over 25 who fulfilled a certain
property qualification (paying direct tax equivalent to three days
unskilled labour). -
the old heredity offices were scrapped, public office was made open by
either election or appointment to talent (regardless of noble status). -
regional government was thoroughly reformed. -
civil liberties were guaranteed. -
the judiciary made independent of the executive and all were to be
treated equally before the law. -
fiscal policy was overhauled. -
the Church’s lands were nationalised and put up for sale. -
titles and hereditary nobility were abolished. 3)
The revolutionary Jacobin Government and the Constitution of 1793
ongoing
turmoil and crisis throughout society and within the revolutionary
government.
France
now at war (from April 20 1792- 1815)
background
to second revolution: “far from there being a profound discontinuity
between 1789-91 and 1791-4 the entire period between the fall of the
Bastille and Thermidor involves an increasingly radicalised version of
the same pattern, in which popular movements, in the cities at least
under the leadership of a section of the bourgeoisie, force through
and defend changes against the opposition of counter-revolutionary
forces whose strength is variable but which are always present.â€
Callinicos, p. 144.
King
seeks support from Austria and Prussia
second
popular insurrection August 10 1792 - overthrow of the monarchy
new
National Convention elected September 20 1792.
King
executed on January 21 1793. The
execution "made a deep impression on the people of France and
left Europe in a state of utter shock"
Soboul, LH, p285.
From
September of 1792 to May of 1793 the wider society in France was
convulsed by economic crisis, military reverses in the war,
counter-revolutionary civil war in the Vendée region of western
France, and riots over rising food prices in Paris.
Jacobins
under the skilful leadership of Robespiere, built popular support.
third
major popular insurrection of the revolution from May 31 to June 2
1793 had placed the Jacobins firmly in power by giving them a majority
in the Convention.
“Principles
of ‘93â€
“the
Declaration and Constitution of June 1793 marked the highpoint in the
liberal phase of the revolution.
Here for the first time in history a nation was given (on paper
at least) a system of government, both republican and democratic,
under which all male adults (with a few exceptions) had the right to
vote and to a considerable measure of control over their
representatives and rulers.†The
'93 constitution incorporated the basic rights of the '89 constitution
but greatly extended and augmented them.
-
stated general aim was "the happiness of all" within
society. -
extended the franchise to all adult men 21 years and over. Among
its declared rights it included:
-
equality, liberty, security, and property; -
equality before the law; -
accessibility of all citizens to public office; -
"liberty is the power which belongs to man to do all which does
not harm the rights of another" -
"the right to make known thought and opinion"; -
freedom of religious worship; -
"the law must protect public and individual liberty against the
oppression of those who governâ€; -
freedom from arbitrary arrest and other forms of state
coercion; -
the presumption of innocence; -
the right of property -
"All citizens have the right to concur in the
establishment of taxes, to supervise their use, and to have an account
rendered concerning them." -
"society owes subsistence to unfortunate citizens, whether
by finding them work
or by assuring the means of existence to those who cannot work" -
"education is necessary for all." -
"sovereignty resides in the people." -
"when the government violates the rights of the people,
insurrection is the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable
of duties for the people and for each portion thereof." definitive
rejection of absolutism, abolition of feudalism, declaration of
republican form of government
establishment
of majoritarian principle of representative democracy - government
elected on the basis of universal male franchise.
constitutional
codification of liberal democratic citizenship rights
emergence
of liberalism as the dominant political and economic philosophy and
ideology, in Western Europe and North America.
Quiz Question 1: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.†Who wrote this? What book? A: Rousseau, The Social Contract Question 2: “When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is the most sacred right, and the absolutely irremissible duty of the people as a whole and of each of its sections.†In which declaration of the French Revolution was this statement made, and who wrote it? A: Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1793 Robspierre |
Login
