Thoughts on Strategy of Protest and Rebellion 2: The French Revolution, 1789
*
*
== 1) Literature Review (in Youtube description) ==
*
- Hazan’s book (translated from French) is a fairly standard introductory text. Brinton’s book touches slightly on the French Revolution, but is more a comparative study with other revolutions.
*
- Rude’s book is an influential one in the study of the French Revolution; that’s because he actually went through the records of the Paris government as part of his research into the people who participated in the extended French Revolution (including after 1789). Being a member of the Marxist school of history, he saw the French Revolution as a ‘bourgeois revolution’ ushering in the transition from feudalism to capitalism but still oppressing the workers. It’s hard to disagree with this line of thought when it comes to the French Revolution.
*
- Alpaugh tries to rescue the extended French Revolution from its bloody reputation, arguing that the vast majority of political demonstrations were peaceful and the intentions of the revolutionary crowd was always more about persuasion (even if it involved intimidation) rather than violence. This isn’t some groundbreaking thesis; violence is a high-cost action so of course people will not deploy it at every available opportunity. BUT he does shed very useful light on the more peaceful revolutionary actions – especially the religious origins of political protest + the way authorities and movement activists cooperate on the ground to manage public anger.
*
- Osman focuses on the attitude of the French officer corps from the 1750s to the Revolutionary period, trying to trace the origins of the famous Revolutionary ideas of the ‘citizens’ army’ and the ‘levee en masse’. The most interesting section here is not actually 1789, but in fact the parts where French reformist officers try and find a ‘French’ response to the Prussian army. Basically reformist French officers argued that because it was impossible to out-drill the Prussians, the French had to make up for it by having better motivation, and the best way to do that (using US as an example) is by turning soldiers into citizens and vice versa – the Roman idea that soldiers fight better if they have a stake in what they are supposed to defend.
*
- Velde and Weir have the distinction of actually making me re-assess the historical ‘inevitability’ of the French Revolution, which is quite impressive for an article that is focused on tracing the interest rates of French bonds. Essentially, they make the argument that because the French absolutist system required an unequal tax system to maintain aristocratic support, periodic bankruptcies were an in-built feature of the system, and even acted as a sort of safety valve that allowed the French state to continue functioning despite this massive handicap.
*
- Of course, there was a price to be paid for this – France lagged behind the UK in debt financing and so was at a persistent disadvantage when the two fought. But King Louis XVI’s refusal to declare bankruptcy created a far greater catastrophe for Versailles, because without bankruptcy the fiscal pressures would inevitably break absolutism, as was demonstrated in the video. But if a simple declaration of bankruptcy could have averted or at least lessened the impact of the French Revolution, then the entire event seems much less inevitable than most people like to imagine it to be…
*
*
== 2) Thoughts on the Creation of the Video ==
*
- The largest section that ultimately got cut from the video was how movement activists came up with the ‘repertoire’ of protest actions in the period running up to the French Revolution: effigy burning, marching etc. These actions actually evolved from religious processions (Saint’s Days/funerals etc), which in those days were the centerpiece of people’s lives. By mimicking these processions, 18thC activists created a familiar environment where ordinary people could be more receptive to whatever political issue they were selling. This is a prime example of protest innovation.
*
- In terms of video creation, nothing too challenging – although I found I had to delete large chunks of Paris in order to reduce clutter.
*
*
No comments:
Post a Comment