Daniel Guerin Class Struggle in the First French Republic Bourgeois and Bras Nus 1793-1795 translated from the French by Ian Patterson First published in French in 1973 Copyright© Editions Gallimard 1973 This translation first published 1977 by Pluto Press Limited Unit 10 Spencer Court, 7 Chalcot Road, London NWl 8LH Copyright© Pluto Press 1977 ISBN 0 904383 44 X paperback 0 904383 30 X hardback Printed in England by Bristol Typesetting Company Limited Barton Manor, St Philips, Bristol Cover design by David King Contents Translator's Note/ vii Chronology / xi Preface to the English Language Edition / 1 Introduction/ 21 1. The Split to be A voided / 45 2. A Divorce in the Revolutionary Bourgeoisie / 73 3. Providing Support for the Poor I 94 4. Liquidation of the Enrages / 119 5. A Diversion Turns into an Upsurge/ 132 6. The Revolution Makes an About Turn/ 155 7. Strengthening the State/ 176 8. The Fall of the Hebertists / 195 9. Economic Retreat/ 218 10. The Fall of Danton, and its Reverberations / 234 11. Thennidor / 249 12. The Veil is Torn/ 268 Index/ 289 Translator's Note French terms have been translated wherever possible and explanatory phrases inserted where necessary. However, some aspects of revolutionary France demand fuller explanation. Revolutionary administration Under the law of 22 December 1789, which reorganised the electoral system, France was divided into 83 'departements', each of which was administered by an elected Council. Each Council appointed an Executive - or Directory - of eight mem bers, including a procureur-general-syndic who was responsible for the implementation and enforcement of law. These departe ments were subdivided into 'districts', and the districts sub divided again into 'communes'. District administration mirrored that of the departement, and the commune was controlled by a General Council, with a mayor and municipal officers (including a procureur syndic) as its executive. In Paris and other large towns the commune was further divided into electoral 'sections', Paris having first 60 then, after June 1790, 48 sections. The 48 sections were also grouped for some purposes into 12 'arrondis sements'. The sections, embodying the people's sovereignty, were at the heart of political activity in Paris and had their own com mittees whose functions and compositions changed with the political development of the revolution. The comites civils were intermediaries between the Commune General Council and the sections and arrondissements, and were responsible for supervis ing and assisting the work of the police administration, as well viii Class Struggle in the First Republic as providing information for the municipal authorities . .M ore important than the comites civils (which, because their members were for a long time unpaid, tended to be com posed of the more affluent members of the lower bourgeoisie) were the comites de surveillance or comites revolutionnaires. After 10 August some of the Paris sections set up comites de surveil lance revolutionnaire with special responsibility for examining the behaviour of suspects. After the defeat at Neerwinden in March 1793 the Convention agreed to 12-member committees being set up on a national scale in each commune or section. These rapidly extended their powers, and under the law of 17 September 1793 were reorganised into semi-independent bodies with wide powers to combat counter-revolution. The sansculottes on these committees received payment for their work. With the strengthening of central government, these committees were sup pressed. On 24 August 1794 the comites revolutionnaires were replaced by comites de surveillance which operated at ar rondissement level in Paris and the large towns, and at district level elsewhere, under the control of the Committee of Public Safety, as organs of the central power. When the revolutionary government ended the sections' per manent assemblies on 9 September 1793, the sansculottes trans formed the sections into societes populaires (the popular clubs which, in some sections, had existed since 1790) or societes sectionnaires to circumvent the law, and through them con tinued to control the political and administrative life of the sections ~ntil May 1794, when the societes were finally dissolved. Political divisions The revolutionary bourgeoisie in the Assembly and the Convention were led by two groups, the Girondins, who sat on the right-wing of the Chamber and were the spokesmen of the mercantile bourgeoisie, and the Montagnards, who sat on the left, so-called because the group of Paris Jacobin deputies at their head occupied the upper seats in the Chamber, the Moun tain. After the Girondins were defeated on 31 May 1793 many of Translator's Note ix their supporters went over to the Montagnard side. The majority of deputies did not adhere to either party and were referred to as the 'Marsh' or the 'Plain'. Outside the National Convention the popular vanguard found spokesmen in the 'enrages', revolutionaries who despite their bourgeois origins identified totally with the working people of Paris, and were given the label enrages (which literally means 'madmen') by the bourgeoisie because of their extremism. Finally, the term 'bras nus'. It was coined by the nineteenth century French historian Michelet to distinguish those who did hard physical labour - worked with their 'bare arms' - from the more petit-bourgeois among the sansculottes, and is used to refer to the members of the embryonic working class that Daniel Guerin describes. Chronology 1789 5 May: Estates-general assemble at Versailles. 17 June: National Constituent Assembly declared. 12-14 July: Paris revolution. Fall of the Bastille. 25 August: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. 5-6 October: Women's march to Versailles. King forced to return to Paris. November-December: Church lands confiscated by the state. Assignats issued against them. 22 December: Property qualification decreed for voters and deputies. 1790 February: Burke's diatribe against the revolution in the House of Commons. 19 June: Abolition of the nobility. 12 July: Civil Constitution of the Clergy. 14 July: First Festival of Federation. 27 November: Constituent Assembly requires oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution from all French priests. December: Austria crushes Belgian revolution, with British support. 1791 14 June: Le Chapelier Law bans strikes and workers' organisa tions. xii Class Struggle in the First Republic 20 June: King flees to Varennes. 17 July: National Guard massacre 50 Parisians at a meeting at the Champs de Mars. 30 September: Constituent Assembly dissolved. None of its members allowed to stand for re-election to the new Legislative Assembly. 1 October: Legislative Assembly meets. Autumn : Revolt of blacks in Santo Domingo. 1792 January-February: Food riots in Paris. 20 April : Girondin government declares war on Austria. 14 July: Festival of Federation: 'federes' form action committee. August: Paris sections win right of permanent assembly. 10 August: Insurrection. Revolutionary Commune set up in opposition to official Paris Commune. All citizens admitted to section assemblies - property qualifi.ca tion abolished. Assembly appoints Executive Council. 23 August: Fall of Longwy - France threatened with invasion. 25 August: Feudal dues abolished without compensation. 1 September: Fall of Verdun. 2-6 September : 'September massacres' of prisoners in Paris. 20 September: Prussian defeat at Valmy. 21 September: National Convention meets. Year I of the Republic begins. 14 November: General Dumouriez enters Brussels. 11 December: Trial of King Louis XVI begins. 1793 21 January: Louis XVI executed. 1 February: War declared on Holland and Britain. 25-26 February: Food riots in Paris. 10 March: Attempted insurrection. 18 March: Dumouriez defeated at Neerwinden.