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