Influence of Sans-Cullotes?!

[anti-authoritarian]

I'm writing an essay upon the overall effects of the French Revolution and I'm looking for the Marxist/Leninist opinion on wether or not the Sans-Cullotes benifited in the long term from the French Revolution.

Any opinions would be gratefully recieved.

[ComradeOm]

Well they replaced a feudal state with a bourgeois one. So yes, they benefited from living under a more progressive regime.

That's not to suggest that the sans-cullotes had any power of course. Plus the revolutionary wars were pretty hard on the population in the short term.

[anti-authoritarian]

Yeh...

But when you look at it, the Nobility remained for a short while as the ruling elite. And the Sans-Cullotes lost all their brief infulence over the assembly...

And really how progressive was the regime post-Directorate?

[chimx]

following 18 brumaire, napoleon had former nobility and non-nobility as his 'notables'.

progressive? i don't like applying that term to history. history is processive, not progressive. that being said, the brief period of time that saw the Sans-culottes influence french politics was an abbreation of the french revolution. from the onset, the National Assembly worked to create a society that defined the foundation of france along property lines with its declaration of rights of man. liberalism was always used as a tool for the french bourgeoisie to garnish futher political power and defend property rights.

Although Napoleon destroyed institutions that allowed for political participation, he was a strict defender of france's rising middle class. He included them into his "notable" class, worked to abolish feudalism, stabilized the french economy via war taxation, created the bank of france , industrialized, suppressed strikes, suppressed unionization of labor, forced workers to carry "livrets" which had to be signed by an employer during dismissal (if the livret was unsigned, it was impossible for the employee to get a new job). It was these policies that saw the stabilization of the french economy and the rise of capitalism.

Remember, Sans-culottes were not the industrialized proletariat of the 19th century, but were a fairly multi-faceted group. they were made up of unskilled laborers, but also composed of artisans, small shop owners, etc. while the former were certainly hurt by union laws of the french empire , the latter benefited from the growth of the french economy and the regime's defense of property.

[anti-authoritarian]

Thats really helpful, thanks guy!