The Great

The Great

French Revolution

1789-1793

By Peter Kropotkin

Translated by NF Dryhurst

Red and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida

Originally published New York: GP Putnam’s Sons 1909

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz’, 1842-1921.
   [Grande Révolution. English]
   The great French Revolution, 1789-1793 / by Peter Kropotkin ; translated by NF Dryhurst.
       p. cm.
   Originally published: New York : GP Putnam's Sons, 1909.
   ISBN 978-1-934941-90-4
1. France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799. 2. France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799--Causes. I. Title.
   DC148.K8 2010
   944.04'1--dc22
                                                                                                         2010015088

Red and Black Publishers, PO Box 7542, St Petersburg, Florida, 33734

Printed and manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Preface to the Red and Black Edition 5

I. The Two Great Currents of the Revolution 11

II. The Idea 13

III. Action 17

IV. The People before the Revolution 20

V. The Spirit of Revolt: the Riots 22

VI. The Convocation of the Estates-General becomes Necessary 29

VII. The Rising of the Country Districts during the Opening

Months of 1789 32

VIII. Riots in Paris and its Environs 38

IX. The Estates-General 40

X. Preparations for the Coup d’etat 45

XI. Paris on the Eve of the Fourteenth 51

XII. The Taking of the Bastille 58

XIII. The Consequences of July 14 at Versailles 64

XIV. The Popular Rising 68

XV. The Towns 70

XVI. The Peasant Rising 77

XVII. August 4 and its Consequences 83

XVIII. The Feudal Rights remain 90

XIX. Declaration of the Rights of Man 97

XX. The Fifth and Sixth of October 1789 100

XXI. Fears of the Middle Classes—The New Municipal Organisation 107

XXII. Financial Difficulties—Sale of Church Property 114

XXIII. The Fete of the Federation 118

XXIV. The “Districts” and the “Sections” of Paris 121

XXV. The Sections of Paris under the New Municipal Law 126

XXVI. Delays in the Abolition of the Feudal Rights 130

XXVII. Feudal Legislation in 1790 137

XXVIII. Arrest of the Revolution in 1790 141

XXIX. The Flight of the King—Reaction—End of the Constituent

Assembly 149

XXX. The Legislative Assembly—Reaction in 1791-1792 156

XXXI. The Counter-Revolution in the South of France 162

XXXII. The Twentieth of June 1792 167

XXXIII. The Tenth of August: Its Immediate Consequences 176

XXXIV. The Interregnum—The Betrayals 184

XXXV. The September Days 194

XXXVI. The Convention—The Commune—The Jacobins 200

XXXVII. The Government—Conflicts with the Conventions—

The War 205

XXXVIII. The Trial of the King 213

XXXIX. The “Mountain” and the Gironde 219

XL. Attempts of the Girondins to Stop the Revolution 224

XLI. The “Anarchists” 227

XLII. Causes of the Rising on May 31 233

XLIII. Social Demands—State of Feeling in Paris—Lyons 238

XLIV. The War—The Rising in La Vendée—Treachery of Dumouriez 243

XLV. A New Rising Rendered Inevitable 251

XLVI. The Insurrection of May 31 and June 2 256

XLVII. The Popular Revolution—Arbitrary Taxation 260

XLVIII. The Legislative Assembly and the Communal Lands 264

XLIX. The Lands Restored to the Communes 269

L. Final Abolition of the Feudal Rights 271

LI. The National Estates 274

LII. The Struggle Against Famine—The Maximum—Paper-Money 278

LIII. Counter-Revolution in Brittany—Assassination of Marat 282

LIV. The Vendée—Lyons—The Risings in Southern France 287

LV. The War—The Invasion Beaten Back 293

LVI. The Constitution—The Revolutionary Movement 298

LVII. The Exhaustion of the Revolutionary Spirit 303

LVIII. The Communist Movement 306

LIX. Schemes for the Socialisation of Land, Industries, Means of Substance and Exchange 310

LX. The End of the Communist Movement 315

LXI. The Constitution of the Central Government—Reprisals 320

LXII. Education—The Metric-System—The New Calendar—Anti-Religious Movement 326

LXIII. The Suppression of the Sections 332

LXIV. Struggle against the Hebertists 335

LXV. Fall of the Hebertists—Danton Executed 340

LXVI. Robespierre and his Group 345

LXVII. The Terror 347

LXVIII. The 9th Thermidor—Triumph of Reaction 351

Conclusion 358

Preface to the Red and Black Edition

The French Revolution may have been the single most powerful political event in human history. In one sweeping blow, it removed thousands of years of monarchy and enthroned instead the world-shaking idea that the people themselves should rule, through democracy and an elected republic. The colonial rebellion in the United States in seventeen years earlier had, of course, introduced the same idea, but the English colonies in North America were then a distant political backwater, and had only a limited impact. The French Revolution, however, happened in the very heart of Europe, in its most powerful and influential nation—and was far more radical in its aims and goals.

The effects of the French Revolution are far-reaching, and its echoes are still being felt. The defiant “Declaration of the Rights of Man” and the equally defiant anthem “La Marseillaise” still inspire revolutionaries, as they did Russian, Austrian and German anti-monarchists in the 19^th century, and Sun Yat-Sen, Ho Chi Minh and other anti-colonial rebels in the 20^th century. For a hundred years afterwards, every great political thinker, from Alexis de Toqueville to Karl Marx to Edmund Burke to Thomas Paine, wrote about the French Revolution. The Revolution led to the execution of a King and a Queen, to two different Restorations of the Monarchy and to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, to the death of thousands on the guillotine, to the near-destruction of the Catholic Church in France, to war with every major European power, to the sharpening of class warfare and the rise of the socialist movement, and finally to two more Revolutions in 1830 and 1848, which finally ended monarchy in Europe and established the democratic republic.

The Great French Revolution is Peter Kropotkin’s classic account of the history of the upheavels from 1789 to 1793. Although Kropotkin is best known as the chief theorist for the political theory of anarchism, he was also a highly educated man (a member of the Russian nobility), a skilled historian, and a compelling and powerful writer. This sweeping account is written not from the point of view of great leaders, politicians or speechmakers, but from the great mass of ordinary French people, who began the Revolution on their own and who, at every crucial stage, took to the streets on their own initiative to carry the Revolution forward, to end autocracy and introduce democacy.

Timeline of the French Revolution

1786

As a result of the recent between France and England (which included French economic and military aid to the rebellious English colonies in North America), the French government’s treasury is depleted, leading to financial crisis. King Louis XVI responds by removing some of the tax exemptions on the wealthy French aristocracy.

1787

February—Representatives from the aristocracy meet in an “Assembly of Notables” to oppose the King’s taxes on them. The King orders the Assembly to disperse.

July—The Parlement, or local governmental council, of Paris rejects the imposition of taxes on the nobility. King Louis orders the Parlement dissolved, and bans political clubs (early political parties) in Paris.

1788

June 7—In defiance of the King, the nobility attempt to form another Parlement in Grenoble. They are met by royal troops, who open fire. It becomes known as “The Day of the Tiles”.

August—The French Government stops payments on its foreign loans. Jaques Necker is appointed Finance Minister to get France out of its financial crisis.

November—Necker considers convening a meeting of the Estates-General, an old government body consisting of representatives from the aristocracy (the First Estate), the church clergy (the Second Estate) and the common people (the Third Estate). Necker calls another Assembly of Notables to talk about adding more representatives from the Third Estate to the Estates-General; the aristocracy refuses. Groups of common people, who live in increasing poverty produced by the government’s bankruptcy, press for social reforms, and call for greater representation in the Estates-General.

December—King Louis dissolves the Second Assembly of Notables and calls for a meeting of the Estates-General, unilaterally doubling the number of representatives from the Third Estate.

1789

April 27—Food riots by starving French workers break out in Paris—25 are killed as royal troops suppress them.

May—King Louis convenes the Estates-General, which quickly bogs down in an argument over representatives. The clergy and the aristocracy want voting to be done on the basis of one vote per each Estate, which would give them the majority; the Third Estate wanted voting to be done on the basis of one vote per each representative, which would give them the majority.

June 17—To break the deadlock in the Estates-General, the representatives of the Third Estate leave, go to a nearby indoors tennis court and establish their own convention, and declare themselves to be the National Assembly, representing the will of the people of France.

June 20—The National Assembly, now joined by some representatives from the clergy, announce that they will not disband until a Constitution is written to limit the powers of the King and the aristocracy. The declaration becomes known as “The Tennis Court Oath”.

July 14—Bastille Day. Mobs of French people storm the Bastille, free all the political prisoners inside, and begin to tear it down brick by brick.

August 4—The National Assembly ratifies a number of decrees outlawing most of the aristocracy’s feudal privileges, but King Louis refuses to certify the August Decrees.

August 17—The National Assembly publishes “The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens”, calling for democracy and representative government.

October 5—A mob of women from Paris march on the palace at Versailles. King Louis is forced to certify the August Decrees, and moves his court to Paris.

November 2—The National Assembly passes decrees confiscating all church property and suspending all clergy privileges.

December—The National Assembly passes decrees anouncing that only “active” citizens (property-owners) would be allowed to vote.

1790

May—All the rights of nobility for the aristocracy are abolished.

July—All clergymen in France are required to swear an oath of loyalty to the government of the National Assembly.

1791

June—King Louis and his family attempt to flee to Germany, where the Prussians have agreed to lend him troops to invade France and restore the monarchy. Louis is captured and returned to Paris.

July 17—A large demonstration at the Champs de Mars in Paris demands the arrest of King Louis. Fifty demonstrators are killed when troops of the National Guard open fire.

September 13—King Louis formally accepts the Constitution, but retains veto power. The National Assembly is reconstituted as the Legislative Assembly. France is a constitutional monarchy.

1792

February—Prussia and Austria make preparations to send troops to Paris to restore the French monarchy.

July 30—Prussian and Austrial troops enter France.

August 9—Workers in Paris organize a local city government at the Hotel de Ville, known as the Commune, to defend the city against Prussian troops.

August 10—A mass of commoners storms Tuileries Palace and arrests King Louis and his family.

August 16—The Paris Commune demands charges against Louis XVI, and calls for a National Convention to write a Republican Constitution.

September 21—The National Convention abolishes the monarchy and declares the Republic.

December—King Louis is tried before the National Assembly on charges of treason.

1793

January 21—King Louis XVI is executed.

March—Pro-royalist rebellions break out. The National Assembly forms a Committee of Public Safety to put down the rebellions.

June—The Jacobin party arrests members of the opposing Gironde Party, and gains control of the Committee of Public Safety, which now virtually runs the French government.

July 13—Revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat is killed in his bath.

July 27—Robespierre becomes head of the Committee of Public Safety.

September 1793-July 1794 —The Reign of Terror

The Jacobins, under Robespierre, carry out the repression of all their political opponents. Thousands of people are arrested and guillotined, most on the flimsiest of evidence and many without any trial. Among the executed are the former revolutionary leaders Hebert, Desmoulins, and Danton.

1794

July 27—Robespierre and the rest of the Committee of Public Safety are arrested by members of the National Assembly. Robespierre is guillotined without trial.

1794-1795 — The White Terror

The Jacobin Club is outlawed, and its members are arrested. The Revolutionary Tribunals are disbanded. The French Army, meanwhile, defeats the last of the Prussian and Austrial invaders, and, under General Napoleon Bonaparte, attempts to spread the French Revolution throughout Europe.

1795

August 22—New Constitution is ratified, giving power to a two-chambered legislature known as the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred, and executive power to a panel of five known as the Directory.

1799

November 3—General Bonaparte, in a bloodless coup, dissolves the Directory. The coup became known as the “18^th Brumaire”, after the date in the French Revolutionary Calender. Napoleon rewrites the Constitution to put power in the hands of a Consulate, with himself as First Consul (later proclaimed Emperor of France). This ended the first French Revolution.

Editor, Red and Black Publishers

Two great currents prepared and made the Great French Revolution. One of them, the current of ideas concerning the political reorganisation of States, came from the middle classes; the other, the current of action, came from the people, both peasants and workers in towns, who wanted to obtain immediate and definite improvements in their economic condition. And when these two currents met and joined in the endeavour to realise an aim which for some time was common to both, when they had helped each other for a certain time, the result was the Revolution.

The eighteenth-century philosophers had long been sapping the foundations of the law-and-order societies of that period, wherein political power, as well as an immense share of the wealth, belonged to the aristocracy and the clergy, whilst the mass of the people were nothing but beasts of burden to the ruling classes. By proclaiming the sovereignty of reason; by preaching trust in human nature—corrupted, they declared, by the institutions that had reduced man to servitude, but, nevertheless, certain to regain all its qualities when it had reconquered liberty—they had opened up new vistas to mankind. By proclaiming equality among men, without distinction of birth; by demanding from every citizen, whether king or peasant, obedience to the law, supposed to express the will of the nation when it has been made by the representatives of the people; finally, by demanding freedom of contract between free men, and the abolition of feudal taxes and services—by putting forward all these claims, linked together with the system and method characteristic of French thought, the philosophers had undoubtedly prepared, at least in men’s minds, the downfall of the old régime.

This alone, however, would not have sufficed to cause the outbreak of the Revolution. There was still the stage of passing from theory to action, from the conception of an ideal to putting it into practice. And the most important point in the study of the history of that period is to bring into relief the circumstances that made it possible for the French nation at a given moment to enter on the realisation of the ideal—to attempt this passage from theory to action.

On the other hand, long before 1789, France had already entered upon an insurrectionary period. The accession of Louis XVI. to the throne in 1774 was the signal for a whole series of hunger riots. These lasted up to 1783; and then came a period of comparative quiet. But after 1786, and still more after 1788, the peasant insurrections broke out again with renewed vigour. (Famine had been the chief source of the earlier disturbances, and the lack of bread always remained one of the principal causes of the risings. But it was chiefly disinclination on the part of the peasants to pay the feudal taxes which now spurred them to revolt.) The outbreaks went on increasing in number up to 1789, and in that year they became general in the east, north-east and south-east of France.

In this way the disaggregation of the body social came about. A jaquerie is not, however, a revolution, even when it takes such terrible forms as did the rising of the Russian peasants in I773 under the banner of Pougatchoff. A revolution is infinitely more than a series of insurrections in town and country. It is more than a simple struggle between parties, however sanguinary; more than mere street-fighting, and much more than a mere change of government, such as was made in France in 1830 and 1848. A revolution is a swift overthrow, in a few years, of institutions which have taken centuries to root in the soil, and seem so fixed and immovable that even the most ardent reformers hardly dare to attack them in their writings. It is the fall, the crumbling away in a brief period, of all that up to that time composed the essence of social, religious, political and economic life in a nation. It means the subversion of acquired ideas and of accepted notions concerning each of the complex institutions and relations of the human herd.

In short, it is the birth of completely new ideas concerning the manifold links in citizenship—conceptions which soon become realities, and then begin to spread among the neighbouring nations, convulsing the world and giving to the succeeding age its watchword, its problems, its science, its lines of economic, political and moral development.

To arrive at a result of this importance, and for a movement to assume the proportions of a revolution, as happened in England between 1648 and 1688, and in France between 1789 and 1793, it is not enough that a movement of ideas, no matter how profound it may be, should manifest itself among the educated classes; it is not enough that disturbances, however many or great, should take place in the very heart of the people. The revolutionary action coming from the people must coincide with a movement of revolutionary thought coming from the educated classes. There must be a union of the two.

That is why the French Revolution, like the English Revolution of the preceding century, happened at the moment when the middle classes, having drunk deep at the sources of current philosophy, became conscious of their rights, and conceived a new scheme of political organisation. Strong in their knowledge and eager for the task, they felt themselves quite capable of seizing the government by snatching it from a palace aristocracy which, by its incapacity, frivolity and debauchery, was bringing the kingdom to utter ruin. But the middle and educated classes could not have done anything alone, if, consequent on a complete chain of circumstances, the mass of the peasants had not also been stirred, and, by a series of constant insurrections lasting for four years, given to the dissatisfied among the middle classes the possibility of combating both King and Court, of upsetting old institutions and changing the political constitution of the kingdom.

The history of this double movement remains still to be written. The history of the great French Revolution has been told and re-told many times, from the point of view of as many different parties; but up to the present the historians have continued themselves to the political history, the history of the triumph of the middle classes over the Court party and the defenders of the institutions of the old monarchy.

Thus we know very well the principles which dominated the Revolution and were translated into its legislative work. We have been enraptured by the great thoughts it flung to the world, thoughts which civilised countries tried to put into practice during the nineteenth century. The Parliamentary history of the Revolution, its wars, its policy and its diplomacy, has been studied and set forth in all its details. But the popular history of the Revolution remains still to be told. The part played by the people of the country places and towns in the Revolution has never been studied and narrated in its entirety. Of the two currents which made the Revolution, the current of thought is known; but the other, the current of popular action, has not even been sketched.

It is for us, the descendants of those called by their contemporaries the “anarchists,” to study the popular current, and to try to reconstruct at least its main features.