Rethinking the French Revolution: Marxism and the Revisionist ChallengeHistorians generally—and Marxists in particular—have presented the revolution of 1789 as a bourgeois revolution: one which marked the ascendance of the bourgeois as a class, the defeat of a feudal aristocracy, and the triumph of capitalism. Recent revisionist accounts, however, have raised convincing arguments against the idea of the bourgeois class revolution, and the model on which it is based. In this provocative study, George Comninel surveys existing interpretations of the French Revolution and the methodological issues these raise for historians. He argues that the weaknesses of Marxist scholarship originate in Marx’s own method, which has led historians to fall back on abstract conceptions of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Comninel reasserts the principles of historical materialism that found their mature expression in Das Kapital; and outlines an interpretation which concludes that, while the revolution unified the nation and centralized the French state, it did not create a capitalist society. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Marxist Response | 28 |
A Liberal Concept | 53 |
A Marxist Critique of Marxist Theory | 77 |
Liberal Ideology and the Politics of the Revolution | 104 |
Marxs Early Thought | 121 |
Historical Materialism | 133 |
Towards a Marxist Interpretation of the French | 179 |
| 208 | |
| 219 | |
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Rethinking the French Revolution: Marxism and the Revisionist Challenge George C. Comninel No preview available - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
agriculture Albert Soboul alienation analysis ancien régime argued aristocracy articulation of modes bour bourgeois class bourgeois revolution bourgeoisie capitalist capitalist class capitalist mode capitalist society central century character class exploitation class relations class revolution class society class struggle Cobban Collected Works vol commercial concept of bourgeois conflict conservative liberalism critical critique of political division of labor dynamic emergence essential existence fact feudal France French Revolution fundamental Furet German Ideology Guizot historians historical development historical materialism historical materialist history of class human Ibid idea Lefebvre liberal history liberal ideology liberal political logic Marx and Engels Marxist theory ment mode of production nobility origins Paris peasant perspective political economy Postel-Vinay pre-capitalist societies progress proletariat recognized relations of production Révolution française revolutionary Robin role ruling class sans-culottes Soboul social development social formation social interpretation social relations socialist stages theory structuralist structure surplus extraction surplus-value theoretical tion torical whole