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
| 1 | |
| 28 | |
| 53 | |
| 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 |
Select Bibliography | 208 |
Index | 219 |
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Rethinking the French Revolution: Marxism and the Revisionist Challenge George C. Comninel No preview available - 1991 |
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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
Popular passages
Page 8 - The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his 'natural superiors', and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous 'cash payment'.
Page 136 - It is not a question of what this or that proletarian, or even the whole proletariat, at the moment regards as its aim. It is a question of what the proletariat is, and what, in accordance with this being, it will historically be compelled to do.
Page 141 - Men can be distinguished from animals by consciousness, by religion or anything else you like. They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical organisation.
Page 168 - The specific economic form, in which unpaid surplus-labour is pumped out of direct producers, determines the relationship of rulers and ruled, as it grows directly out of production itself and, in turn, reacts upon it as a determining element.
Page 8 - The bourgeoisie keeps more and more doing away with the scattered state of the population, of the means of production, and of property.
Page 8 - At a certain stage in the development of these means of production and of exchange, the conditions under which feudal society produced and exchanged, the feudal organization of agriculture and manufacturing industry, in one word, the feudal relations of property became no longer compatible with the already developed productive forces ; they became so many fetters. They had to be burst asunder ; they were burst asunder.
Page 128 - Political economy starts with the fact of private property, but it does not explain it to us. It expresses in general, abstract formulas the material process through which private property actually passes, and these formulas it then takes for laws. It does not comprehend these laws, ie, it does not demonstrate how they arise from the very nature of private property.
Page 8 - ... conquered for itself, in the modern representative state, exclusive political sway. The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part.
Page 144 - How far the productive forces of a nation are developed is shown most manifestly by the degree to which the division of labour has been carried.