Georges Lefebvre's book The Coming of the French Revolution was recently translated into Arabic by Dr Abdul Nabi Kawara. It does not view the French revolution as a mere political event. Rather, the book establishes socio-economic links and studies their impact on the political situation. Besides, it presents an elaborate economic analysis while taking into account the effect of humanism theories most importantly equality and justice and their impact on the collective mind and the subsequent social effect on politics.
The author believes that there are two major reasons behind the French revolution: First, the people’s demand for the rights of man and citizens, the lack of which caused popular agitation and, second because Louis XVI (died 1793) put his finances in jeopardy by subsidising it. He believes that the revolutionary thoughts were spawned by the social and economic movement.
The frequently-raised question, pertaining to the making of the event and the consequences that follow, is: who makes the event. In other words, if the same personalities were reborn at a later era they would not be able to create that event out of genius.
This is why Lefebvre analyses the the French revolution from the 14th century to the 18th century that evolved from the aristocratic revolution to the bourgeois revolution and from the bourgeois revolution to populism and the farmers’ revolt. He is concerned with the event rather than the personalities. This approach is different from Arabic historical studies that focuses on personalities instead of the conditions that caused the event.
According to Lefebvre, the primary reason for the 1789 revolution is traced to French society, which remained aristocratic and preserved its origins when the land was almost the only source of wealth. The landlords were the owners of the farmers who were in need of the land for subsistence. Starting from the 14th century, the renaissance in trade and industry generated a new form of wealth i.e financial wealth, and a new class, the bourgeois class. In the 18th century a bourgeois used to bail out the royal treasury in times of financial crises. The bourgeoisie comprised public employees and professionals. Which is why writer François-René de Chateaubriand famously said: “The aristocracy began the Revolution, the masses completed it”.
Lefebvre says that in pre-revolution France the law distinguished between three classes: the clergy, nobility and commoners. The clergy enjoyed the greatest of privileges, they had special courts, they didn’t have to pay any taxes and in some villages, they received royalties instead. Next comes the nobility. They also enjoyed honorary as well as utility prerogatives despite at a lesser degree than the clergy.
The aristocracy set up a bloc against the king but the governors were hesitant to confront a coalition comprising kingdoms, regional assemblies, the supreme council of clergies. They stipulated the drafting of the constitution and the tax vote by general assemblies and were willing to protect personal freedom and freedom of the press and freedom of conscience.
The bourgeoisie revolution stood in contrast to the aristocratic revolution. Bourgeoisie is part of the third class, it ranges from the richest among the bourgeoisie to the poorest among the beggars. The third class spearheaded the revolution but the bourgeoisie reaped the fruits.
Against the backdrop of the opening of the General Assembly in 1789 and the ensuing heated debate therein, the king’s refusal to the wisdom of both the aristocrat and the bourgeoisie and the nobles’ clinching to their prerogatives, the popular uprising was born and fueled by the economic crisis, famine and high prices. The popular uprising transformed into a full-fledged revolution that saw the king stepping down. The farmers, comprising three quarters of the population, joined the revolution dealing the final blow to the feudal system.
These four revolutions, the aristocrat, bourgeoisie, the popular uprising and the farmers’ revolution resulted in the principle of equality before the law and the attachment between freedom and equality. The French people enjoyed freedom and re-established a unified, inseparable nation.
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