I HATE THE BLASTED FROGS!!!!!
I've always maintained that the French revolution was the first comunist revolution.
Marx was a latecomer.
One of the historians wrote a book called "In Defense of Marx".
Yes, I've watched about half of it. Excellent, so far. No mention yet of Burke and the founding of modern conservatism -- no doubt this is extensively covered in conjunction with the desciption of the Terror.
Yes, I've watched about half of it. Excellent, so far. No mention yet of Burke and the founding of modern conservatism -- no doubt this is extensively covered in conjunction with the description of the Terror.
The French have always been revolting.
The most famous instrument of the French revolution was the guillotine. The most famous instrument of the US revolution was a piece of paper.
i think they did an excellent job with it. in addition to the french revolution, watching it gave me the sick feeling that i was witnessing the birth of modern liberalism. they even attempted to start their own religion. the goddess of virtue? yikes! what a screwed up country.
I loved the part when Robespierre took power and revoked the "Rights of Man." LOL
Also, one of the historians used language like "advancing the historical process" or some such dialectic codewords and I yelled "Marxist!" at my television. About half-an-hour later, he got a screen credit as author of "In Defense of Marx." LOLOL They're so predictable.
I stumbled accross this document while researching something else: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm I am amazed that the French have gotten SOOoooooo far off track from this obviously clear understanding of liberty. Just thought it would make good reading (even though it's from Yale)
Can't hang around 'cause my "bills" are blowing the work whistle.
No kidding, I knew there was bloodshed, but good golly. There were killing anyone, left and right. What did they say, it got up to 80 or was it 800 beheadings a month?
Robespierre blew a fuse and became emblamatic of the problems he thought he was solving.
All that bloodshed. And wasn't the American Revolution the Revolution of Revolutions?
The American and French revolutions have a lot more in common than many American conservatives are willing to admit. They were both products of the Enlightenment and, from a contemporary point-of-view, left-wing in their outlook. Of course, royalist and anti-Enlightenment conservatism has never really existed in America.
This is similar to Burkes quote, "Better to be trod on with a satin slipper than a hobnailed boot." (Quote picked up on FR some time ago.)
Later, Jefferson repented and said he was wrong about the French Revolution. Jefferson was wrong in many ways.
I should have watched it, since I am woefully under-educated on the matter, beyond reading 'A Tale of Two Cities' and an old Black Adder episode ridiculing the Scarlet Pimpernel. :)
Did they talk about Lafayette's participation?
"Declaration of the Rights of Man - 1789
Approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789
The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:
Articles:
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.
4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents.
7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.
8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense.
9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely repressed by law.
10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted.
13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means.
14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes.
15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration.
16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.
17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified.
Hard to do the subject justice in two hours. The only real issues I had were the too-favorable treatment of Danton (a more personally likable character than Robespierre or St. Just, but ideologically very near as bad), and the failure to cover the Vendee rising of 17summer '93.
The comments up-thread that this was the first real communist goverment are well taken. Lenin said in so many words that the Bolsheviks had to be "the Jacobins of today".
"There are three forms of life on earth.. The highest form of life are the plants becuase they are so attuned to their enviornment, the next lowest form of life are the animals includeing humans becuase of predation, but the lowest form of life on earth is the Frenchmen becuase of the terrible things they have done to their own people.. "
(paraphrased)