The Great French Revolution - 1789–1793

Victor Robinson, Peter Kropotkin

Description

Written by one of the greatest anarchists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “The Great French Revolution – 1789–1793” is not to be missed by those with an interest in history and sociology. In this volume, Kropotkin offers a thought-provoking alternative perspective on the French Revolution. Contents include: “The Two Great Currents of the Revolution”, “The Idea”, “Action”, “The People Before the Revolution”, “The Spirit of Revolt: the Riots”, “The Convocation of the States General Becomes Necessary”, “The Rising of the Country Districts During the Opening Months of 1789”, “Riots in Paris and Its Environs”, etc. Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (1842–1921) was a Russian writer, activist, revolutionary, economist, scientist, sociologist, essayist, historian, researcher, political scientist, geographer, geographer, biologist, philosopher and advocate of anarcho-communism. He was a prolific writer, producing a large number of pamphlets and articles, the most notable being “The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops” and “Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution”. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an excerpt from “Comrade Kropotkin” by Victor Robinson.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Understanding
• History of France
• French Revolution
• History
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 26 mai 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528790178
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE GREAT FRENCH REVOLUTION
1789–1793
By
PETER KROPOTKIN
WITH AN EXCERPT FROM Comrade Kropotkin BY VICTOR ROBINSON

First published in 1909


This edition published by Read Books Ltd. Copyright © 2019 Read Books Ltd. This book is copyright and may not be
reproduced or copied in any way without
the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library


Contents
In Later Life by Victor Robinson
The Man (1842-1921)
Preface
Chapter 1 The Two Great Currents of the Revolution
Chapter 2 The Idea
Chapter 3 Action
Chapter 4 The People Before the Revolution
Chapter 5 The Spirit of Revolt — the Riots
Chapter 6 The Convocation of the States General Becomes Necessary
Chapter 7 The Rising of the Country Districts During the Opening Months of 1789
Chapter 8 Riots in Paris and Its Environs
Chapter 9 The States-General
Chapter 10 Preparations for the Coup d’État
Chapter 11 Paris on the Eve of the Fourteenth
Chapter 12 The Taking of the Bastille
Chapter 13 The Consequences of July 14 at Versailles
Chapter 14 The Popular Risings
Chapter 15 The Towns
Chapter 16 The Peasant Rising
Chapter 17 August 4 and Its Consequences
Chapter 18 The Feudal Rights Remain
Chapter 19 Declaration of the Rights of Man
Chapter 20 The Fifth and Sixth of October 1789
Chapter 21 Fears of the Middle Classes — The New Municipal Organisation
Chapter 22 Financial Difficulties — Sale of Church Property
Chapter 23 The Fête of the Federation
Chapter 24 The “Districts” and the “Sections” of Paris
Chapter 25 The Sections of Paris Under the New Municipal Law
Chapter 26 Delays in the Abolition of the Feudal Rights
Chapter 27 Feudal Legislation in 1790
Chapter 28 Arrest of the Revolution in 1790
Chapter 29 The Flight of the King — Reaction — End of the Constituent Assembly
Chapter 30 The Legislative Assembly — Reaction in 1791–1792
Chapter 31 The Counter-Revolution in the South of France
Chapter 32 The Twentieth of June 1792
Chapter 33 The Tenth Of August— Its Immediate Consequences
Chapter 34 The Interregnum — The Betrayals
Chapter 35 The September Days
Chapter 36 The Convention — The Commune — The Jacobins
Chapter 37 The Government — Conflicts With the Convention — The War
Chapter 38 The Trial of the King
Chapter 39 The “Mountain” and The Gironde
Chapter 40 Attempts of the Girondins to Stop the Revolution
Chapter 41 The “Anarchists”
Chapter 42 Causes of the Rising on May 31
Chapter 43 Social Demands — State of Feeling In Paris — Lyons
Chapter 44 The War — The Rising in La Vendee — Treachery of Dumouriez
Chapter 45 A New Rising Rendered Inevitable
Chapter 46 The Insurrection of May 31 and June 2
Chapter 47 The Popular Revolution — Arbitrary Taxation
Chapter 48 The Legislative Assembly and the Communal Lands
Chapter 49 The Lands Restored to the Communes
Chapter 50 Final Abolition of the Feudal Rights
Chapter 51 The National Estates
Chapter 52 The Struggle Against Famine — The Maximum — Paper-Money
Chapter 53 Counter-Revolution In Brittany — Assassination of Marat
Chapter 54 The Vendee — Lyons — The Risings in Southern France
Chapter 55 The War — The Invasion Beaten Back
Chapter 56 The Constitution — The Revolutionary Movement
Chapter 57 The Exhaustion of the Revolutionary Spirit
Chapter 58 The Communist Movement
Chapter 59 Schemes for the Socialisation of Land, Industries, Means of Subsistence and Exchange
Chapter 60 The End of the Communist Movement
Chapter 61 The Constitution of the Central Government — Reprisals
Chapter 62 Education — The Metric System — The New Calendar — Anti-Religious Movement
Chapter 63 The Suppression of the Sections
Chapter 64 Struggle Against the Hebertists
Chapter 65 Fall of the Hebertists — Danton Executed
Chapter 66 Robespierre and His Group
Chapter 67 The Terror
Chapter 68 The 9th Thermidor — Triumph of Reaction
Chapter 69 Conclusion




In Later Life
by Victor Robinson
"There are at this moment only two great Russians who think for the Russian people, and those thoughts belong to mankind, - Leo Tolstory and Peter Kropotkin"
- Georg Brandes
Such are some of the scenes in the life of Peter Kropotkin- imprisoned by governments, pursued by police, followed by spies, hounded by agents of autocracy.
This peace-loving man whose name is synonym for kindness, this tender soul as modest as Newton, as gentle as Darwin, has been hunted from frontier to border-line. Against none of his persecutors does he utter a single invective. He is the epitome of mildness, the incarnation of humaneness.
Ask anyone who has seen Kropotkin for an hour or has known him for a generation, to describe his most characteristic trait, and the invariable answer will be: simplicity. His is a great spirit- it has cast out flam. "Kropotkin is one of the most sincere and frank of men," says Stepniak. "He always says the truth, pure and simple, without any regard for the amour propre of his hearers, or for any consideration whatever. This of his character. Every word he says may be absolutely believed. His sincerity is such, that sometimes in the ardour of discussion an entirely fresh consideration unexpectedly presents itself to his mind, and sets him thinking. He immediately stops, remains quite absorbed for a moment, and then begins to think aloud, speaking as tho he were an opponent. At other times he carries on this discussion mentally, and after moments of silence, turning to his astonished adversary, smilingly says, 'You are right.' This absolute sincerity renders him the best of friends, and gives especial weight to his praise and blame."
An Excerpt From Comrade Kropotkin The Man


The Man
(1842-1921)
Prince Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin , revolutionary and scientist, was descended from the old Russian nobility, but decided, at the age of thirty, to throw in his lot with the social rebels not only of his own country, but of the entire world. He became the intellectual leader of Anarchist-Communism; took part in the labor movement; wrote many books and pamphlets; established Le Révolté in Geneva and Freedom in London; contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica ; was twice imprisoned because of his radical activities; and twice visited America. After the Bolshevist revolution he returned to Russia, kept himself apart from Soviet activities, and died true to his ideals.



Preface
The more one studies the French Revolution the clearer it is how incomplete is the history of that great epoch, how many gaps in it remain to be filled, how many points demand elucidation.
How could it be otherwise? The Great Revolution, that set all Europe astir, that overthrew everything, and began the task of universal reconstruction in the course of a few years, was the working of cosmic forces dissolving and re-creating a world.
And if in the writings of the historians who deal with that period and especially of Michelet, we admire the immense work they have accomplished in disentangling and co-ordinating the innumerable facts of the various parallel movements that made up the Revolution, we realise at the same time the vastness of the work which still remains to be done.
The investigations made during the past thirty years by the school of historical research represented by M. Aulard and the Société de la Revolution françalse, have certainly furnished most valuable material.
They have shed a flood of light upont the acts of the Revolution, on its political aspects, and on the struggles for supremacy that took place between the various parties.
But the study of the economic side of the Revolution is still before us, and this study, as M. Aulard rightly says, demands an entire lifetime.
Yet without this study the history of the period remains incomplete and inmany points wholly incomprehensible. In fact, a long series of totally new problems presents itself to the historian as soon as he turns his attention to the economic side of the revolu-tiohary upheaval.
It was with the intention of throwing some light upon these economic problems that I began in 1886 to make separate studies of the earliest revolutionary stirrings among the peasants; the peasant risings in 1789; the struggles for and against the feudal laws; the real causes of the movement of May 31, and so on.
Unfortunately I was not able to make any researches in the National Archives of France, and my studies have, therefore, been confined to the collections of printed matter in the British Museum, which are, however, in themselves exceedingly rich.
Believing that it would not be easy for the reader to ap-preciate the bearing of separate studied of this kind without a general view of the whole development of the Revolution understood in the light of these studies, I soon found it necessary to write a more or less consecutive account of the chief events of the Revolution. In this account I have not dwelt upon the dramatic s