Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- The revolutionary calendar
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Jacobin mainstream and the Robespierrist ascendancy
- 2 The family ethos and the common happiness
- 3 Food rationing, collectivism and the market economy
- 4 Land tenure, shelter and the right of ownership
- 5 Progressive taxation and the fair distribution of wealth
- 6 Jobs for all and to each a fair deal
- 7 A place at school and a time for rejoicing
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Past and Present Publications
1 - The Jacobin mainstream and the Robespierrist ascendancy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- The revolutionary calendar
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Jacobin mainstream and the Robespierrist ascendancy
- 2 The family ethos and the common happiness
- 3 Food rationing, collectivism and the market economy
- 4 Land tenure, shelter and the right of ownership
- 5 Progressive taxation and the fair distribution of wealth
- 6 Jobs for all and to each a fair deal
- 7 A place at school and a time for rejoicing
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Past and Present Publications
Summary
Believe me, Sir, those who attempt to level, never equalise … The levellers therefore only change and pervert the natural order of things; they load the edifice of society, by setting up in the air what the solidity of the structure requires to be on the ground.
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790WHO'S WHO AMONG THE JACOBINS AND THE GEOGRAPHY OF MODERATION
Before attempting to elucidate further the ideological underpinnings of Jacobin egalitarianism, it may be helpful to introduce the principal protagonists of this study, many of whom belong to the amorphous body of rank-and-file Montagnards not often the subject of historiographical scrutiny. The reader is entitled to ask who they were and why the regional centres in which they operated, often far from the capital, are of specific interest to our topic. The short answer is that they represent the mainstream, though by no means the silent majority, that they put into practice what they preached and that their activities were largely concentrated in areas free from terrorist excess.
While none were major revolutionaries of the stature of a Danton or a Robespierre, it would be equally misleading to suggest that they were merely practitioners imposing the will of the legislature in the depths of the French countryside.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Fair Shares for AllJacobin Egalitarianism in Practice, pp. 14 - 40Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996