what they say: maximilien robespierre was basically the dictator of revolutionary france
what i hear: i have no idea how the national convention or committee of public safety worked and think that the only political stances during the revolution were moderate vs radical. in fact robespierre probably just woke up one day and decided he was going to dictate the fuck out of france.
[Robespierre was] a great citizen…whose memory the people should bless, because he was the people’s friend, who loved them as a mother loves her children and never ceased to make war on the hungry wolves that batten on their substance.
No, in German we call that capitalizing nouns. We call capitalizing random Words for emphasis the eighteenth century.
Women are presented apart from the Revolution or beside it; they are not included in the revolutionary process, conceptualized as it is without reference to their involvement. And once we do start to become more particularly interested in the women of the Revolution, it is a Revolution that, despite its richness and complexity, exists only as a backdrop. Women do not seem attached to it in any way— rather, they seem to transcend the social classes and political groups. Although women have become subjects worthy of historical interest, they are denied status as active subjects of Revolutionary history and their actions play more importance in the history of women than in the history of the Revolution.
Dominique Godeau, The Women of Paris and Their French Revolution (pg. xvi)
On this day in 1871, following elections held two days prior, the Paris Commune was officially proclaimed. The Commune seized power in opposition to the election of a conservative National Assembly February 1871; republican Parisians feared that when they met in Versailles the royalist Assembly would restore the monarchy. When officials of Adolphe Thiers’s government tried to remove the city guard’s cannons as a precautionary measure on March 18th, the people rebelled. The city guard called municipal elections for the 26th of March, which saw victory for the revolutionaries, who established the Commune to govern the city of Paris. On the 28th of March, the new government held its first meeting and was formally declared. The Commune immediately set about enacting socialist policies, which included a ten-hour work day, abolition of the death penalty, end of military conscription, banning established religion, and promoting female suffrage. They adopted a plain red flag as the flag of the Commune, and envisioned that the situation in Paris would encourage a nationwide revolution; though ultimately, similar attempts across France failed. The Commune’s lack of internal organisation left them vulnerable to attack, but the catalyst for retribution came when Communard soldiers killed two French troops. On the 21st of May, national forces entered Paris through an undefended area, launching a violent campaign of street fighting known as “La semaine sanglante” (“The Bloody Week”). Around 20,000 insurrectionists were killed before the Commune fell on the 28th of May. The government treated the surviving Communards and their supporters ruthlessly – arresting around 38,000 and deporting another 7,000. The Commune became a symbol of socialist revolution in Europe and further abroad, with their supporters lamenting the martyrdom of the Communards.
“Warned that Paris in arms possesses as much calm as bravery, that it supports order with as much energy as enthusiasm, that it sacrifices itself with as much reason as energy, that it only armed itself in devotion to the liberty and glory of all: let France cease this bloody conflict.” ~ from the Manifesto of the Paris Commune, dated the 19th of April, 1871
Because we have insufficient reliable information to state whether there is indeed a conspiracy. But, even if it were imaginary no one doubts that, were the enemy at our gates today, he would find us unprepared; such negligence in providing the capital with war supplies of any kind is a real crime against the state.
EY FATTY BOOM BOOM 