Vincent
27th March 2005, 13:19
Last year I studied the French Revolution in quite some detail, and came across the following in a history book...
"The first real challenge to the Directory came from Gracchus Babeuf. Babeuf disliked the Constitution of the Year III, because it gave power to the wealthy. He belived that the aim of society should be 'the common happiness', and that the Revolution should secure the equal enjoyment of life's blessings for all. He thought that as private property produced inequality, the only way to establish real equality was 'to establish the communal management of property and abolish private possession'.
These ideas were much more radical than those put forward in the Year II and have led many historians to regard Babeuf as the first communist. He was novel too in the way he thought of organising his Conspiracy of Equals. A rising, Babeuf realised, would not come about spontaneously but must be prepared by a small group of dedicated revolutionaries. Through propaganda and agitation they would persaude key instituations like the army and police, who would provide the armed force to seize power, to support them.
After seizing power, the revolutionary leaders should not hand it over to an elected assembly but should establish a dictatorship, in order to make fundamental changes in the organisation of society.
Marxist historians like Soboul see Babeuf's importance in their theories by arguing that through Buonarotti (a fellow conspirator) his ideas passed to Blanqui in the nineteenth century and then to Lenin.
Babeuf's importance in the French Revolution itself was slight. His plot to overthrow the Directory was soon revealed by another conspirator. He reveiced no support from the sans-cullotes and little from former Jacobins. He was arrested in May 1796 and, with one other member of the Conspiracy, was executed a year later."
The things that I shall first comment on are these passages in particular:
He thought that as private property produced inequality, the only way to establish real equality was 'to establish the communal management of property and abolish private possession'.
So as far back as 1796, someone was speaking of the abolishment of private property. This was prior to the industrial revolution.
A rising, Babeuf realised, would not come about spontaneously but must be prepared by a small group of dedicated revolutionaries.
So BEFORE Marx advocated that communism was inevitable, Babeuf suggested a forced revolution into a communist/socialist state. This was new to me, as I thought that certain groups of Russians made this amdendment to Marxist doctrine.
After seizing power, the revolutionary leaders should not hand it over to an elected assembly but should establish a dictatorship,
And where have we seen this before?
My point in bringing this points up, and some potential discussion points, is to have a discussion on Babeuf's ideas. Even if you have never heard of him, does it surprise you that such ideas were floating around as far back as 1796?
If there are people out here who have studied him, did Marx borrow from him? If so, did Babeuf have it 'right' in the first place, or did Marx improve on it? I read Babuef's works and I am interest primarily in comparing and contrasting them with the comparitvly modern Marxist ideas.
If you are interested in reading his 'Conspiracy of Equals', or the 'Manifesto of Equals', or a number of other related articles go here (http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/conspiracy-equals/index.htm)
http://www.marxists.org/history/france/rev...quals/index.htm (http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/conspiracy-equals/index.htm)
A paper which mentions Babeuf and others in the context of the development of socialism can be found here:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/...souls.htm#Chap2 (http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/pamsetc/twosouls/twosouls.htm#Chap2)
I have linked to a section which seems the most relevant, but feel free to scan the whole thing for information.
Here is another artical from the CPA that touches on the history of socialism.
http://www.cpa.org.au/amrarch/38manif.html
There are probably thousands of articles on the web that mention Babeuf, and an even earlier revolutionary socialist (I have forgotten his name). I am wondering if anybody else is as interested in the development of Marx's ideas; where they orignated, what factors affected them, what factor affected Marx etc. as I am.
I think that f we are going to reject orthodox Marxism, as many apparently are these days, we should examine exactly why the ideas are there in the first place, what significane they hold and which of them we should adopt and which we should change or reject entirely.
Socialism and communism, it seems, are ever-changing concepts. We have seen some new ideas fail dismally in the last century and I tihnk it is important to understand the history of the theories to understand why they failed.
"The first real challenge to the Directory came from Gracchus Babeuf. Babeuf disliked the Constitution of the Year III, because it gave power to the wealthy. He belived that the aim of society should be 'the common happiness', and that the Revolution should secure the equal enjoyment of life's blessings for all. He thought that as private property produced inequality, the only way to establish real equality was 'to establish the communal management of property and abolish private possession'.
These ideas were much more radical than those put forward in the Year II and have led many historians to regard Babeuf as the first communist. He was novel too in the way he thought of organising his Conspiracy of Equals. A rising, Babeuf realised, would not come about spontaneously but must be prepared by a small group of dedicated revolutionaries. Through propaganda and agitation they would persaude key instituations like the army and police, who would provide the armed force to seize power, to support them.
After seizing power, the revolutionary leaders should not hand it over to an elected assembly but should establish a dictatorship, in order to make fundamental changes in the organisation of society.
Marxist historians like Soboul see Babeuf's importance in their theories by arguing that through Buonarotti (a fellow conspirator) his ideas passed to Blanqui in the nineteenth century and then to Lenin.
Babeuf's importance in the French Revolution itself was slight. His plot to overthrow the Directory was soon revealed by another conspirator. He reveiced no support from the sans-cullotes and little from former Jacobins. He was arrested in May 1796 and, with one other member of the Conspiracy, was executed a year later."
The things that I shall first comment on are these passages in particular:
He thought that as private property produced inequality, the only way to establish real equality was 'to establish the communal management of property and abolish private possession'.
So as far back as 1796, someone was speaking of the abolishment of private property. This was prior to the industrial revolution.
A rising, Babeuf realised, would not come about spontaneously but must be prepared by a small group of dedicated revolutionaries.
So BEFORE Marx advocated that communism was inevitable, Babeuf suggested a forced revolution into a communist/socialist state. This was new to me, as I thought that certain groups of Russians made this amdendment to Marxist doctrine.
After seizing power, the revolutionary leaders should not hand it over to an elected assembly but should establish a dictatorship,
And where have we seen this before?
My point in bringing this points up, and some potential discussion points, is to have a discussion on Babeuf's ideas. Even if you have never heard of him, does it surprise you that such ideas were floating around as far back as 1796?
If there are people out here who have studied him, did Marx borrow from him? If so, did Babeuf have it 'right' in the first place, or did Marx improve on it? I read Babuef's works and I am interest primarily in comparing and contrasting them with the comparitvly modern Marxist ideas.
If you are interested in reading his 'Conspiracy of Equals', or the 'Manifesto of Equals', or a number of other related articles go here (http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/conspiracy-equals/index.htm)
http://www.marxists.org/history/france/rev...quals/index.htm (http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/conspiracy-equals/index.htm)
A paper which mentions Babeuf and others in the context of the development of socialism can be found here:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/...souls.htm#Chap2 (http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/pamsetc/twosouls/twosouls.htm#Chap2)
I have linked to a section which seems the most relevant, but feel free to scan the whole thing for information.
Here is another artical from the CPA that touches on the history of socialism.
http://www.cpa.org.au/amrarch/38manif.html
There are probably thousands of articles on the web that mention Babeuf, and an even earlier revolutionary socialist (I have forgotten his name). I am wondering if anybody else is as interested in the development of Marx's ideas; where they orignated, what factors affected them, what factor affected Marx etc. as I am.
I think that f we are going to reject orthodox Marxism, as many apparently are these days, we should examine exactly why the ideas are there in the first place, what significane they hold and which of them we should adopt and which we should change or reject entirely.
Socialism and communism, it seems, are ever-changing concepts. We have seen some new ideas fail dismally in the last century and I tihnk it is important to understand the history of the theories to understand why they failed.