FORREST, Alan. Review Article - Ideology and Politics in the French Revolution

8/9/2019 FORREST, Alan. Review Article - Ideology and Politics in the French Revolution

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Historical Jozlrtial: 39: 3 (1996), p p 807 81

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Copyright 1996 Cambridge University Press

R V I W A R T I C L E S

I D E O L O G Y A N D P O L I T I C S I N T H E F R E N C H

R E V O L U T I O N

E n d i n g t h e t e ~ r o r th e F r e n c h r e a o l ut io n a ft e l- R o b e s p i e r r e .

By Bronislalv Baczko. Cambridge

:

C a m b r i d g e Un iv e r si ty P re s s, 1 9 9 4 . Pp . x ii 2 6 9 L 3 7 . 0 .

T h e r e m a k i ng o f F r a n c e : t he n a t io n a l a s s e m b b a n d t he c o n st it ut io n o f

1791

By h l i chae l

P . F i t zs i m m o n s . C a m b r i d g e : C a m b r i d g e U~ l i v e r s it y r es s. 1 9 94 . P p x v i + 2 7 3 L 3 5. 00 .

T h e H i b e r t i s t e s to t he g u i l l o t in e : a n a t o m j o j a c o n s p i r a g i n r ev o lu ti or 2a g ~F r a n c e .

By Morr is

Slav in . Ba ton R oug e : L ou i s i a~ la t a t e Unive rs i ty Press: 1994 . Pp . xv i i+ 280 . L35 .00 .

T ho ug h pol i tica l fashions come an d go, an d w i th the m the focus of his tor ical in terest :

these three books a l l serve to dem ons t ra te holv for his tor ia~ ls f revo lut io~ laryFr a n c e

poli t ics has retained i ts primacy. Social historians may explain that poli t ics in terms of

c lass interest , and cul tura l h is tor ians examine the revolut ion in the wider context of

l i te racy an d symbol ism, yet in t imes of revolut ion pol i t ica l ac t ions rem ain c ent re-stage .

W h at ch a~ lg es ram at ica l ly , of course , is the focus of pol it ica l in terest , the kind of

poli t ics which is deemed a frui tful subject for analysis. And here these three books

reveal wide divergences, even thou gh in the i r d i f ferent ways they ar e wri t ten by

histor ians wi th more t ha n a wisp of sym path y for the revolutionar ies ' in tent ions.

W here as Morr is Slavin remains fa i thful to the Par is ian

sans -cu lo t tes

a n d t o t h e p o p u l a r

mo vem ent dissected by Alber t S ob ou l- to whose overa l l analysis he close ly adh eres

Bronislaw Baczko is far mo re inf luenced by qu est io ~ls f pol it ica l theory a n d of Ja co b i~ l

cul tu re , whi le M ichael Fi tzsimmons is fasc inated by the l ibera l inst i~ lc ts f the ear ly

revo lut io~ lar ies , he i r essent ial opt imism in th a t f irst g lad mo rnin g of revolut ionary

en thus ia sm, and the i r deep commi tment to cons t i tu t iona l p ropr i e ty . Al l sha re the

c o nv ic ti on t h a t t h e k ey t o u ~ l d e r s t a n d i ~ l ghe revolution l ies in the study of poli t ical

ac t ion.

Baczko's book is a translat io n of his 198 9 wo rk,

C o m m e n t s o r t i r de l a t e i- r eu r ,

which has

done much to renew in t e res t i n the pe r iod o f the the rmidor i an reac t ion , t he pe r iod

when po l i t i c i a~ l s ,wh o h ad of ten themselves been personal ly involved in the workings

of te rror o111y a few m o ~l th s ar lie r : a t t em pte d to com e to term s w i th the i r exper ience

an d to s t ee r t he revo lu t io~l l lt o new wa te r s . T h e p rob lem they faced s t emm ed pa r t ly

f rom the i r own ambiva lence . They were , a f t e r a l l , men who had looked to t e r ro r t o

mak e revolut ionary legisla tion work an d h ad of ten imposed the i r d ic ta tes ruthlessly on

p r o v i n c i a l o p i ~ l i o ~ lu r i n g

I

7 93 a n d

I

7 9 4 H a d not FrCron terrorized M arse il le af ter

the col lapse of federa l i sm the previous year , was not Tal l ien s t i l l execra ted by the

re la t ives of his v i c tims in Bordeau x? But th a t was n o t t he i r p r i~ lc ipa l and icap . They

faced problems in th e present as well as legacies f rom thei r p ast , an d w ere confused a n d

perplexed by the cen t ra l problem of Baczko 's book, tha t of emerg ing f rom a regime, a

menta l i ty : a cu l tu re tha t was r idd led th rou gh a nd th ro ugh w i th t er ro r is t m e thods . T h e

memory of the Year I1 could not be wished away easi ly , nor ye t i t s inst i tu t ions

abol ished, and i t i s s igni f icant tha t , whatever the i r s ta ted ideals , the thermidoria~ls

should ha ve t aken so long to d i smant l e the s t ruc tu res tha t h ad ma de t e r ro r possibl e. I t


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J O U R N L

is clear, indeed, that many among them coiltinued to display the psychological scars

of the Year I1 long after the revolutionary tribunal had been reorganized and its

mandate modified. Emerging from terror was to prove a long and often I,~.utalizing

process.

The clearest evidence of this ambiguity is to be found in the language of the

thermidorian period: a language as full of hatred and innuendo as any during the

terrorist months. Baczko tells us tha t he stuinl~lecl nto this su l~ ject as is the case with

so much of the best historical research almost by acc identj when he became aware of

a rumour that spread rapidly through Paris, from sectional assembly to sectional

assembly, dur ing the night of 9-10 thermidor, a runlour to the effect tha t Robespierre

sought to have himself proclaimed king, even, soine said, that he wanted the hand of

Louis XVI s daughter. Th e rumour may , of course, have been without foundat ion: it

certainly sounds highly implausible to those who have studied Robespierre s attitudes

and moral posturings during the previous year. But it war influential anlid the

coilfusion of the days that followed, when the charge was thro\\n at hiin in the

Conventioil and a

J iez t~ . -de-bs

mysteriously appeared at tlle Paris Commune. Baczko

devotes his first chapter to a detailed study of tlle rumour, its conilotatioils and its

possible provenance, skilfully knitting it into tlle political context of abl-2s-t / ierr~zido,

which is his central theme. He shows how already agents of the coininittee of general

security were at work ill Paris, how Vadier and others engaged in a huge process of

fabrication ill order to blacken Robespierre s name and, by inference, all those ~v h o

associated themselves with the terrorist regime. The process of emerging from terror

Lvas based not on a scrupulous maintenance of the rule of la\\., as its supporters liked

to claim, but on rumour, lies and \iolence. It demoilstrates tlle essential continuity

between the terrorist and the thermidorian: like the rumours that had previously been

spread about Danton and HCbert. Robespierre-the-Kiilg was a big lie, and of its

essence a terrorist invention.

The aut hor dwells as long as he does on this incident because it is very telling about

the psychology of Paris ill these crucial hours and helps explain why Robespierre was

allowed to fall. It also provided the thermidorians with the alibi they ileeclecl to make

their olvn policies credible, as they rapidly sought vengeance against those they

associated with Robespierre and with his system of power. Associati011 with Robespierre

had convenieiltly become the litinus test of terrorist behaviour; now others would fiilcl

their recent actions and speeches subjected to searching scrutiny. As the nlost famous

pamphlet of these moilths.

La

q u e u e d e R o b e s i e r r e , made clear, no one man could have

been solely responsible for a whole system of power: and those who had been his allies

and his henchmen during the moilths of the great terror were now sought out for

retribution. The mood sooil swung to anti-Jacobinism, as the leaders of the club were

identified with the hated b u a e z l ~ .s e s a n g . It was ail understaildable mood after hat the

French political class had come through, the more so in that many of them were in fear

of their lives in the summer of 794. B L I ~t is also a curious public inood in which to

build a constitutioilal system of government, respectful of property, press freedoms, and

the rule of law. Baczko s study goes far to sho\v why the constitution of the Year I11

would face such an uncertain initiation, and hoxi violeilce and the thirst for revenge,

the principal characteristics of this period in much of the provinces, were reflected in,

and encouraged by, the attitudes of the political leadership in Paris.

Where the politicialls of 1795 talked obsessively of their du ty to restore the

coilstitutional rights of the individual, their predecessors in 1791 clearly believed that

they already had this issue resolved. They come across in Michael P. Fitzsimmons s


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new book: The remaking o France, as men who foresalv few of the problems that lay

ahead and who had a worthy, if rather optimistic, view of the world they were creat i~ lg .

Like the good provincial lawyers so many of them were, they shared a common faith

i11 the power of the law and a belief that only by securing a balanced co~lst itu tion ould

the rights of the citizenry be protected. Th e au tho r demonstrates just holv much they

achieved i11 spreading their faith through French society and in rallying even the

farthest-flung provinces to support for the new polity. This achievement should not be

underestimated, as Fitzsimmons would argue it too often has in the past. It i~lvolved

a huge exercise in civic education, through treatises and pamphlets, symbols and

festivals. The France of the eighteenth century, a corporate society which thought of

itself in terms of guilds and provinces, privileges and liberties, had to be enlightened,

reeducated as a nation that understood the concept and the responsibility of citizenship

and which recognized the primacy of the assembly and the rule of law. Fitzsimmons

is adamant tha t this was a new concept for most Fre1lchme11, one tha t had not evolved

slowly and easily from the language of the ancien rtgime, and he is insistent tha t it was

the work of the national assembly, and most particularly that of its constitutional

committee, which tra~lsformed he relative apath y of the spring of I 789 (as displayed

i11 the drawing up of the cahiers into consensus and enthusiasm by the summer of I 791

This is not merely his belief, stated as a matter of faith; it is demonstrated through a

copious docum e~l tat io~ ~,oth from national and from depar tmenta l sources. Indeed, it

is the author s careful an d painstaking work in provi~lcial rchives his bibliography

lists no fewer than 34 departmental and 2 mu~licipal epots and reflects a deeply

scrupulous concern for historical accuracy that gives this book such authority.

From all parts of France the same message came back to Paris, a message of

overlvhelming support for the new polity and of loyalty to the aspirations of the

assembly. Town after town expressed its faith in the deputies and its support for the

constitution, even for the numerous sacrifices which the new nation was demanding.

Fitzsimmo~lsconcludes from this, quite plausibly, that mentalities had undergone a

significant sea-change from those which had pertained o111y a few short months earlier.

For many the central event in the process of collversio~lwas the night of August, when

those who had previously guarded and defended their personal interests were impelled

to offer them up in an orgy of self-sacrifice to the greater good of the nation. Indeed.

Fitzsimmons attaches far greater weight to the symbolic power of 4 August than many

previous historians of the assembly. Ou t of this meeting , he concludes. th e nation

emerged as a u~ li fy i~ lg the paradigm of privileged corporatism thatdeal, tra~lsce~lding

had hi therto prevai led . Both deputies and observers: he notes, frequently used the

word sublime to describe the new mood of selflessness and idealism. Peti tio~ls nd

letters of congra tula tio~ llowed in to the assembly; the consensus in favour of the new

polity seemed overwhelmi~lg.

O r did it ? Michael Fitzsimmons has certainly provided us with a convi~lcingableau

of public e~lthus iasm nd unanimity, a nd there is much in what he says tha t must alter

our judgments of the national and co~lstituent ssemblies. Cynics might feel, however.

that he sometimes allows his own e~lthus iasm or the constitutional work of the early

revolution to take over: and that his insistence on consensus does rather run in the face

of other, equally powerful evidence. Indeed, it is possible that the choice of primary

materials used in this study the debates of the deputies an d the addresses sent in to

the assembly necessarily emphasizes the co~lsensual t the expense of the critical. The

months he is studying did, after all, provide their share of crises, and the discourse of

consensus and agreement is paralleled by another , much harsher one in many areas of


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national life where people saw their faith and interest under attack. There were

disagreements, often bitterly pursued, over local bou~ldaries nd jurisdictions, as the

administrative and judicial ma p of France was redralvn in 790, and these would not

simply be forgotten in the years ahead. The fears of catholic Frenchmen were aroused

by the Civil Const itu tio~l f the Clergy, which left the church deeply divided and large

tracts of the countryside a prey to non-juring priests. The army in 790 was racked by

mutinies, and many of its officers had joined thousa~ldsof their fellow nobles in

emigration rather than play their part in the politics of co~lsensus. he role of the king

in the new constitution was already being challe~lged, and his prepared~less o

cooperate questioned, after the flight to Varennes. In many local towns and cities the

compet i~ lg olitics of different clubs an d popular societies were already beginning to

cast a shadow over the initial enthusiasm Fitzsimmons describes. Constitutionalism was

highly influential, and we should be grateful to him for providing us with such powerful

evidence of that influence; but I suspect he is overinsiste~lt11 the theme of consensus,

just as, in a very different context. Baczko s emphasis on violence in the language of

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795 may risk underplaying the widespread demand a t that time for a new collstitution

that would guarantee once more the sort of liberties which the constituent assembly

had been so keel1 to guarantee.

Both Baczko and Fitzsimmons have written important and i~lnovative tudies; and

both bring new meani~lgo what might at first glance seem to be well-worked areas of

political history. They have som eth i~l g istinctive to say, and they say it with verve and

directness. The third book under discussio~l ere, Morris Slavin s T h e He 6el -t is tes t the

gztilloti?ze,

focuses

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the political microcosm that was Parisian politics during the

terrorist months, an d offers a rather more conventio~lal ~lterpreta tionof what he calls

the struggle to the death between two revolutionary factions, the Dantonistes and the

HCbertistes, which eventually led to the demise of both. 111 thib introduct ion he places

himself squarely in the historiographical tradit ion of Soboul alld Guerin

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the sans-

culotte movement , and a large part of his focus is the degree to which the HCbertistes

did indeed reflect the aspiratio~ls f the 61-0s mis of the capital. Slavin treats his subject

with a degree of open sympathy. Eschewing the more exaggerated Marxist claims for

the Htbertistes, he contents himself with the relatively sober reflection that they

helped advance politically and give dignity to the ord inary people of their day . For

that reason they should not be dismissed as extremists or as men of blood, but rather

as the political expression of a perfectly respectable aspect of revolutionary opi~lion.

Indeed, he believes that they had a quite vital political role to play since they were

essential to the political balance that kept the Parisian revolution afloat a balance

which also included their bitter opponents, the Dantonistes. His thesis is that

Robespierre s regime depended ultimately

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a paradox, and that, if any sense of

equilibrium were to be mai~ltai~ledithin the revolution, both factio~ls ad to exist.

The story of their bitter struggle the story which is told here is therefore the story

of an u~lfolding ragedy.

That story is essentially one of personal squabbling and faction-fighting, as

i~ldividuals an d interest-groups used all their guile and any methods, however

underhand, to undermine their opponents. Indeed, what becomes instantly clear from

this account is the degree to which Parisian politics was a hotbed of intrigue, a prey to

police spies and agents, to denu~lciation nd to constant allegations of co~lspiracy.

There is little in these pages that recalls the alleged idealism of the groups i~lvolved, s

they throw themselves into the murky u ~lderw orl d f popular politics. The Htbertistes.

of course, were a part of this culture, playing the game of their political allies and


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mainta in ing as soc ia t io~l sw i th s uc h a s Co ll ot d H e r bo i s a nd M a y or P a c he . T h e

Cordel iers played an a l l - im po rtant role in fur ther ing the interes ts of the people , m akin g

comm on cause wi th H tb er t when the re seemed to he advantag e in do ing so . Fea r and

suspic ion emerge as co~ls tantsof everyday l i fe in the sect ions and the revolut ionary

commi t t ees of the cap i t a l , t he same fea r tha t spread through the c i ty in May 1793

before the Ja co bi ~l o up an d which he lped p roduce the rm idor in the summ er of

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( the same fear , indeed, which David Andress has uncovered in his readi l lg of the

district p olice files as earl y as

I

7 9 1 ) . Sl av i~ ls excel lent a t chronic l ing such fear , bas ing

many of his conclus io~ls 11 a close reading of the .Ifoniteiil- and the debates in the

Jacobin c lub. I t i s a metho dology tha t has served him well before , an d here h e uses i t

to exce l l e~l t f fec t, d i scuss i~ lg , o r i~ l s t a ~ lc e ,he activity of Ronsin in poli t ical plots and

repeatedly revert ing to the role of both Col lot and Bi l laud-Varenne as agents of

intrigue. He is suitably sensit ive to place, locali ty, and the tension on the streets , and

makes the acu te ob serv at io~ l ha t in the business of dilntion- as in so much e lse-

wh e the r a po li ce observer recounted oppo s i t io~l or su ppor t for the Htber t i s t e s

depen ded l a rge ly on the ne ighbourhood of the ca fes he f requented . R icha rd C ob b, one

fee ls , would n ot have dem urre d .

T h e real value of Morris Slavin s w ork l ies , as wi th the o ther books reviewed h ere ,

in the depth of i ts read ing , the exhaus t ive an d de ta i l ed doc ume nta ry work tha t went

i l lto it s prep arat io n. H e m ay not dissent f rom Soboul s overal l vis io ~lof the sans-

culot tes , but he adds a weal th of deta i l , especia l ly about the a tmosphere that

do min ated po pula r pol it ics a t the t ime , which br ings the se ct io~ ls o l ife a n d is

suggestive of the real n at ur e of poli t ical activism . An d his collclusions go far to nu an ce

our vie lv of Htbert isme and of the pol i t ica l predicament i11 which they found

themselves . Th ey com e across less as violent a n d u nyielding eg al i tar ians t ha n as s imple

m en, ou tma noe uvr ed an d ul t imately des t royed by th e ruthlessness of Rob espierre s

s t a t e machine . For , h e a rgues , the HCber ti st es ha d no a ims th a t were fund amen ta l ly

different f rom those of the C onvent ion an d i ts comm it tees ; an d thei r fa i lure merely

broug ht the end of any ex per imen ta t ion , any innova t ion of the k ind tha t h ad g iven

s t re ~l gth o th e pop ular revolut io11. Robe spierre acted ou t of personal am bi t ion , out of

a n u nde rs tand ing of the im pl icat ion of war: a nd most especia lly ou t of excessive respect

for the ins t i tut ions of the centra l is t s ta te . There could be no compromise , and so the

Htb ert is tes e nd ed , like th e D antonis tes , the vic tims of a sp ectacular ca inpaig11 of

den unc ia t ion an d f inal ly of a wave of show t r ia ls. Th ere is somethi i lg deeply pa thet ic

ab ou t Slavin s acco unt of thei r las t weeks , an d less because of the nat io nal pol i tica l

effects tha n because , a t local level, po pula r su ppo rt proved so very f ickle a nd loyalt ies

so easy to subve rt . Police spies we re a n effective weap on again st the m precisely b ecause

they were bel ieved in a c l imate wh ere any plot or conspiracy seemed ins tant ly credible .

Ind eed , i t is difficult to disagree th at pe rh ap s the most depressing ou tco m e of this

affai r was the re la t ive ease wi th w hich so m an y o rdin ary sans-culottes , il lembers of the

sec tions an d pol it ica l sympath i se rs , were convinced to a b a ~ ld o nheir longt ime fr iends .

In Paris , even m ore tha n e lsewhere i11 revolut ionary France: poli tics w ould a lways be

diff icul t to dis t inguish from fear : denuncia t io~l nd co~lspiracy.

U S I V E R S I T Y

O Y O R K

i \ L t \ S

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FORREST, Alan. Review Article - Ideology and Politics in the French Revolution