Jacobins (mainly supporters of Robespierre) participated in the Convention, where they advocated the unity of the country, strengthening national defense in the face of counter-revolution and harsh internal terror; by 1793 they became the most influential force in it. Having overthrown the Girondins on June 2, 1793, and later dealt with the Hébertists and Dantonists, the Jacobins had a strong influence on the minds of Parisians until the fall of Robespierre as a result of the coup of 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794). After the death of the Jacobin leaders, the persecution of the Jacobins by the Thermidorians and the royalists who raised their heads after Thermidor, the Jacobin Club was closed in November 1794. The motto of the "Society of Friends of the Republic, One and Indivisible" (the official name of the Jacobin Club) was "Vivre libre ou mourir" - "Live free or die."
Club history
Origin
The cradle of the Jacobin Club was the Breton Club, that is, meetings organized by several deputies of the third estate of Brittany upon their arrival at Versailles for the Estates General even before their opening.
When the king and the National Assembly moved to Paris, the Breton Club disintegrated, but its former members began to meet again, first in a private Parisian house, then in a room they rented in a monastery of Jacobin monks (Dominican order) near the arena where the National Assembly met. Some of the monks also took part in the meetings; Therefore, the royalists nicknamed the club members in mockery Jacobins, and they themselves adopted the name “Society of Friends of the Constitution.”
In fact, the political ideal of the then Jacobin Club was a constitutional monarchy, as understood by the majority of the National Assembly. They called themselves monarchists and recognized law as their motto.
Club organization
Date of creation and charterThe exact date of the opening of the club in Paris - in December 1789 or January of the following year - is not known. Its charter was drawn up by Barnav and adopted by the club on February 8.
Membership
It is not known (since minutes of meetings were not kept at first) when outsiders, that is, non-deputies, began to be accepted as members.
As the number of members grew, the organization of the club became much more complex. At the head was a chairman, elected for a month; he had four secretaries, twelve inspectors, and, which is especially typical for this club, four censors; all these officials were elected for three months: five committees were formed at the club, indicating that the club itself assumed the role of a political censor in relation to the National Assembly and France - committees for the representation (censorship) of members, for supervision ( Surveillance), by administration, by reports and by correspondence. At first, meetings took place three times a week, then daily; the public began to be allowed to attend meetings only on October 12, 1791, that is, already under the Legislative Assembly.
At this time, the number of club members reached 1211 (based on voting at the meeting on November 11). Even earlier (from May 20, 1791), the club moved its meetings to the church of the Jacobin Monastery, which it hired after the abolition of the order and the confiscation of its property, and in which meetings took place until the closure of the club. Due to the influx of non-deputies, the composition of the club changed: it became the organ of that social stratum that the French call la bourgeoisie lettrée (“intelligentsia”); the majority consisted of lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists, writers, painters, who were also joined by people from the merchant class.
Some of its members bore famous names: doctor Cabanis, scientist Lacepede, writer Marie-Joseph Chénier, Choderlos de Laclos, painters David and Carl Vernet, La Harpe, Fabre d'Eglantine, Mercier. Although with a large influx of members, the mental level and education of those arriving decreased , however, the Parisian Jacobin Club retained two original features to the end: doctoralism and some stiffness in relation to the educational qualification. This was expressed in antagonism towards the Cordeliers Club, which accepted people without education, even illiterate ones, and also in the fact that the very entry into The Jacobin club was subject to a fairly high membership fee (24 livres annually, and upon joining another 12 livres).
Subsequently, a special branch was organized at the Jacobin Club called “fraternal society for the political education of the people,” where women were also admitted; but this did not change the general character of the club.
Newspaper
The club acquired its own newspaper; its editing was entrusted to Choderlos de Laclos, close to the Duke of Orleans; the newspaper itself began to be called the “Moniteur” of Orléanism. This revealed a certain opposition to Louis XVI; nevertheless, the Jacobin Club remained faithful to the political principle proclaimed in its name.
Fall of the Feuillants
Due to the flight of the king and his detention in Varenna, disagreements arose in the club, causing a schism between the club members; the more moderate of them, led by Barnave, Duport and Alexandre Lamet, left the club in large numbers and founded a new one, called the Club des Feuillants. Adherents of this trend later formed the right wing in the Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, following the model of the Parisian Jacobin Club, similar clubs began to appear in other cities and even in villages: there were about a thousand of them; they all entered into correspondence and relations with the Parisian, recognizing themselves as its affiliates.
This sharply revealed the dominance of Paris and the desire for centralization inherent in the “Old Order”; the influence of the Parisian club on the provincial ones played a large role in the revolutionary re-education of France and significantly contributed to the final triumph of the principle of centralization in the country. The separation of the more moderate Feuillants from the Jacobins strengthened the position of radical elements in the Jacobin Club. It was very important for his future fate that in the dispute between the Feuillants and the Jacobins, the provincial clubs took the side of the latter. In the elections to the Legislative Assembly that took place in early September, the Jacobins managed to include only five club leaders among the 23 deputies of Paris; but his influence grew, and in the November elections to the Paris municipality the Jacobins gained the upper hand. After this, the Paris Commune became an instrument of the Jacobin Club.
The most influential of the Parisian newspapers spoke for the Jacobins against the Feuillants. The Jacobin Club founded its own organ called the Journal des débats et des décrets to replace the former Journal d. 1. soc. etc.”, which went to the Feuillants. Not limiting themselves to the press, the Jacobins moved at the end of the year to direct influence on the people; To this end, prominent members of the club - Pétion, Collot d'Herbois and Robespierre himself - devoted themselves to the “noble calling of teaching the children of the people the constitution,” that is, teaching the “catechism of the constitution” in public schools. Another measure was of more practical importance - the recruitment of agents who were supposed to engage in the political education of adults in the squares or galleries of the club and the National Assembly and win them over to the side of the Jacobins.These agents were recruited from military deserters who fled in droves to Paris, as well as from workers previously initiated into the ideas of the Jacobins.
The disagreement between them and their adherents was especially clear on the issue of declaring war on Austria, which Brissot advocated. Personal relationships and party rivalries became even more intense when Louis XVI agreed to form a ministry from people close to the circle of deputies of the Gironde.
Overthrow of the monarchy. Radicalization of the club
The uprising of August 10, which led to the overthrow of the monarchy, will remain incomprehensible to anyone who does not know the activities of the Jacobin Club from June 28 to August 10.
Its members systematically brought under their direct influence three forces, which they led in an attack against the king and the constitution: the federates, the sections and the Commune. The federates, that is, the volunteers who came from the departments, were subject to the influence of the Jacobin Club with the help of a central committee from among them, which held secret meetings in the Jacobin Club. This committee selected from among its members 5 members to form a secret directory, and to these 5 persons 10 Jacobins were added. It was the headquarters of the revolutionary militia created to capture the Tuileries. Through agitation in the sections, a “rebel commune” was created, which on the night of August 9–10 captured the town hall and paralyzed the defense of the palace by the National Guard, killing its commander.
Upon the overthrow of the king, the Jacobin Club demanded that he be immediately brought to trial. On August 19, a proposal was made to replace the previous name of the “Club of Friends of the Constitution” with a new one - “Society of Jacobins, Friends of Liberty and Equality”; the majority rejected this name, but on September 21 the club began to be called that. At the same time, it was decided to “cleanse” the club of unworthy people, for which a special commission was elected. The Jacobin Club as such did not take a direct part in the September murders, but there can be no doubt about the solidarity of the club leaders with them; this is confirmed both by the content of their speeches at this time and the testimony of their fellow club members, such as Pétion, and by the open approval of the murders by club members later. The further activities of the Jacobin Club were dominated by the principle of terror. In the first period of its history, the Society of Friends of the Constitution was a political club that influenced the formation of public opinion and the mood of the National Assembly; in the second it became a hotbed of revolutionary agitation; in the third, the Jacobin Club became a semi-official institution of the ruling party, the organ and at the same time the censor of the National Convention. This result was achieved through a long struggle.
Participation in the National Convention
The role of the Jacobin Club in the French Revolution
The role of the Jacobin Club in the French Revolution has not yet been sufficiently recognized, although individual historians - both apologists for the revolution and its critics - have repeatedly pointed out this role. In fact, the influence of this club is one of the most characteristic facts in the “evolution” of the revolutionary movement. If the press of that time inflamed revolutionary passions, then the clubs, and Jacobinsky at their head, united and directed the movement. Herzen's apt expression about the “staging” of revolutions best defines the role of the Jacobin Club. Among the French historians, Quinet, idealizing the revolution, sums up the activities of the Jacobin Club as follows:
“The ideas of the revolution were spread by thousands of lips and were heard from everywhere like an echo. The principles of the revolution, which would have remained a dead letter in books, suddenly illuminated the thousand-year night. No government was able to fight these clubs. They imposed their opinions on the three great legislative assemblies, sometimes appearing at their meetings, sometimes giving them orders through their addresses. The idea emanating from the Jacobin Club flew around France in a few days and, returning to Paris, was heard in the legislative assembly or convention like a peremptory plebiscite. This, perhaps, was the newest side of the revolution.
The provinces, so silent two years before, were illuminated by the flame that was lit in Paris. But the consequence of this was that it was enough to put an end to the electrical radiation of the club for everything to change in a few months. And then the old ignorance was restored.” Viewing the revolution from the opposite point of view, Taine also exposes, but in a more real light, the interaction of the capital club and its ramifications, or colonies. The Paris Club publishes a list of clubs, prints their denunciations, because of this, in the most remote village, every Jacobin feels that he is supported not only by the club, but by the entire association that covers the country and protects with its powerful patronage the smallest of its adherents. In return, each local club obeys the password sent to it from Paris. From the center to the periphery, as well as vice versa, continuous correspondence maintains the established consensus. This is how a huge political mechanism has developed with thousands of levers acting at a time under one common pressure, and the handle that sets them in motion is in the Rue Saint-Honoré in the hands of several businessmen.
There was no more effective, better constructed machine for fabricating an artificial and bitter opinion, giving it the appearance of a national and instinctive (spontané) impulse, in order to transfer to a noisy minority the rights of the silent majority and subordinate the government to it.
In the last two works on the revolution, the role of the Jacobin Club is obscured. There is no mention of it in Jaurès’s voluminous work; Olar, a specialist in this matter, who published a collection of documents on the history of the Jacobin Club, devotes only one paragraph to it and, belittling its influence, says: “The Jacobin Club followed in this era (Sept. 1792) all the vicissitudes of public opinion and expressed them true and prudent."
The enormous influence of the Jacobin Club on the course of the revolution is beyond doubt and can be proven by the reviews of contemporaries. It manifested itself in two directions: the club prepared laws for the convention and forced it to adopt them. In the first respect, we can refer to Saint-Just, who directly admits that the speakers presented bills to the convention, having previously developed them in the Jacobin Club. About the method of instilling Jacobin fabrications in the convention, Abbé Gregoire says: “Our tactics were very simple. By agreement, one of us took advantage of the opportunity to throw out a proposal in one of the sessions of the national assembly. He knew in advance that it would meet with the approval of only a very small number of members of the assembly, while the majority would burst out against him. But it didn't matter. He demanded that his proposal be submitted to the commission; our opponents, hoping to bury him there, did not object to this. But the Parisian Jacobins took possession of the issue. According to their circular or under the influence of their newspapers, the question was discussed in three or four hundred affiliated clubs (branches), and three weeks later addresses poured in from all sides to the meeting, which adopted by a significant majority the project it had previously rejected.” In view of this, to fully illuminate the role of the Jacobin Club, it is necessary not only to study the activities of the central club, but also the local ones, which is much more difficult.
Political movement
The radical political revolutionary movement - Jacobinism - survived the Jacobin Club and continues to live in history.
see also
Notes
Literature
- Robespierre M. Selected works. In 3 vols. M. “Science” (Literary monuments). 1965
- Gladilin A. The Gospel of Robespierre M. Politizdat (Fiery revolutionaries). 1970
- Genife P. French Revolution and Terror // French Yearbook 2000: 200 years of the French Revolution 1789-1799: Results of the anniversary. M.: Editorial URSS, 2000.
- Zacher Y. M. Robespierre. M. 1925
- Lewandowski A. Maximilian Robespierre M. “Young Guard” (ZhZL). 1959
- Lukin N. M. Maximilian Robespierre. In the book: Lukin N. M. Izbr. works. t.1 M. 1960
- Manfred A. Z. Three portraits of the era of the Great French Revolution. M. "Thought" 1978.
- Manfred A. Z. Maximilian Robespierre. Debates about Robespierre. Robespierre in Russian and Soviet historiography. In the book: Manfred A. Z. The Great French Revolution. M. "Science". 1983
- Mitrofanov A. A. The image of Russia in revolutionary journalism and the periodical press of France during the Jacobin dictatorship // Russia and France: XVIII-XX centuries. / Rep. ed. P. P. Cherkasov. Vol. 9. M.: Nauka, 2009. pp. 69-99.
- Molchanov N. Montagnards. M. “Young Guard” (ZhZL). 1989
- Levandovsky A.P. Robespierre. Rostov-on-Don. "Phoenix" (Trace in History). 1997
- // French Yearbook, 1970. M., 1972. P. 278-313.
- Chudinov A.V. Reflections on the hidden meanings of the discussion on the problem of the Jacobin dictatorship (60s - 80s of the twentieth century) // French Yearbook 2007. M., 2007. pp. 264-274.
(except for the above-mentioned Jacobin Club newspapers).
Later, like-minded deputies from other provinces began to join them. In Paris, the club was reorganized and took the name “Society of Friends of the Constitution” (after the proclamation of the Republic, the Jacobins changed this name to “Society of Friends of Liberty and Equality”). Similar clubs began to emerge in other cities, and almost all of them established constant correspondence with the Parisian club, becoming its branches. Club membership is estimated at up to 500,000 nationwide. In November 1790, the Jacobins began publishing their own publication, the Journal of the Society of Friends of the Constitution.
Gradually, the influence of the club grew and from a debating society the club began to determine the direction of the development of the revolution, and after the escape attempt of Louis XVI to Varennes, it became one of the revolutionary bodies that influenced and participated in the uprisings of August 10 and May 31. After the Revolutionary Government came to power, the club was transformed into one of the administrative bodies of the government; many club members become government functionaries, following its policies. " The revolution became frozen, all its principles weakened, only the red cap remained on the heads of intrigue"- Saint-Just recorded at this time.
Origin
Gradually, like-minded deputies from other provinces began to join them, including Mirabeau, Sieyès, Duke d'Aiguillon, Viscount Noaille, Barnave, Pétion, Volney, Abbot Gregoire, brothers Charles and Alexandre Lamet, lawyer from Arras Maximilian Robespierre. Members of the club usually met on the eve of important meetings of the Estates General and outlined a general line of conduct. It soon became clear, however, that in an assembly where the nobles and clergy had a representation equal to the Third Estate, even a well-organized party could not form a majority. It became clear that support was necessary from outside the meeting, the formation of public opinion, when private individuals could contact the meeting with petitions, influence local governments, and support discussion of pressing issues in the press.
Jacobin Club in Paris
When the king and the National Assembly moved to Paris, the Breton Club disintegrated, but its former members began to meet again, first in a Parisian private house, then in a room they rented in a monastery of Jacobin monks (Dominican order) near the arena where the National Assembly met. Some of the monks also took part in the meetings; Therefore, the royalists nicknamed the club members in mockery Jacobins, and they themselves adopted the name “Society of Friends of the Constitution.”
Varenna crisis
The king's escape attempt is one of the most important events of the revolution. Internally, this was clear evidence of the incompatibility of the monarchy and revolutionary France and destroyed the attempt to establish a constitutional monarchy. Externally, this hastened the approach of military conflict with monarchical Europe.
Escape changed the situation. By this time, none of the Jacobins, including the left wing - Robespierre, Pétion, Roederer, Buzot, adhered to or expressed republican views. For the first time since the beginning of the Revolution, the press began to openly discuss the possibility of establishing a republic. However, constitutionalists, not wanting to deepen the crisis and question the fruits of almost two years of work on the Constitution, took the king under protection and declared that he had been kidnapped. The Cordeliers called on the townspeople to collect signatures on a petition on July 17 on the Champ de Mars demanding the abdication of the king. City authorities banned the demonstration. The mayor of Bailly and Lafayette arrived at the Champ de Mars with a detachment of the National Guard. The National Guardsmen opened fire, killing several dozen people.
Events led to deep divisions and a split in the Jacobin Club; the moderate part, among whom were many deputies of the Legislative Assembly, led by Barnave, Duport and Alexandre Lamet, left the club in large numbers and founded a new club, called the Club des Feuillants. Most of the members left with them, as did the club's branches across the country. About 400 provincial clubs sided with the Feuillants, and only about a dozen remaining took the side of the Jacobins. Robespierre remained. It was at this time that Robespierre became the most famous and influential member of the Jacobin Club. In the next few months, along with the radicalization of the country, agitation and explanation, many returned. Prieur, Gregoire, Barer, Dubois-Cranse, Talleyrand, and Sieyès returned at the end of July. By September the club's membership had risen to 800, and soon about 500 provincial clubs requested affiliations with the Parisian club.
The split led to a rapprochement between the Jacobins and other popular movements of Paris, which was facilitated by new democratic slogans - republicanism, the right of universal suffrage, and the abolition of slavery in the colonies. These events, the split and change in the political orientation of the club, were one of the main turning points of the revolution, the consecration of which, as François Fouret writes, occurred a year later with the fall of the monarchy and the proclamation of the republic.
Second revolution
Jacques-Pierre Brissot
Camille Desmoulins
Etienne Clavier
Jacques Nicolas Billot-Varenne
The preservation and even increase in the influence of the club was largely a consequence of the work of one of the most important committees of the club - the correspondence committee (French Comité de Correspondance), whose members now included Robespierre, Brissot, Carra, Desmoulins, Claviers, Collot-Derbois, Billot-Varenne . Future Montagnards, future Girondins, future Hébertists and Dantonists - the entire future of the revolution, temporarily united. Preparing for debates in the assembly was no longer the club's goal. The public began to be admitted to meetings on October 12, 1791, and with the appearance of the public, pressure on the club's debates from Parisian activists increased. The club began to turn into something like the headquarters of the revolution.
The influence of the Jacobins on the Legislative Assembly was relatively small, and it was the Jacobin Club that was the tribune of the “messianic” agitation of Brissot and his associates before the declaration of war on Austria. It was at the club in December 1791 and January 1792 that Robespierre made his famous anti-war speeches. The differences between the Girondins and the Montagnards were quite blurred. After the catastrophic outbreak of the war and the radicalization of the revolution, the club became a unifying force between the Parisian sections and the revolutionary federates who arrived in Paris in the movement to overthrow the monarchy. The legalist trend was abandoned once and for all in July 1792 in support of the election of a new assembly that reflected the new balance of forces - the National Convention.
The Jacobins were not a political party in the modern sense and therefore it is difficult to find any centralizing principle in the events leading to the uprising of August 10 and the overthrow of the king. But what is certain is the participation of the Jacobins in the struggle for dominance in the Parisian sections, agitation and fraternization with federates arriving from the provinces. The revolutionary committee of the insurgent commune included Jacobins, who found themselves in the most important positions after the fall of the Tuileries and the victory of the rebels. The same can be said about the Jacobin Club's biggest rival, the Cordeliers Club. The composition of the revolutionary Commune was increased to 288 members, with the predominant influence of the Jacobins. For François Furet, the club's contribution was the crucible (French le creuset) in which the very spirit of the August 10 revolution, the fall of the monarchy and the proclamation of the republic was forged.
To achieve victory, Jacobinism fully mobilized national feeling and the desire for equality. National unity was revived after August 10 around the “society of friends of Liberty and Equality” (French. Amis de la Liberté et de l'Égalité), as the Jacobins began to call themselves. The Paris Commune considered the club its ally. The very name of the club, originally given as a mockery, has now become a proud title. Volunteers going to the front considered the Jacobin emblem a sign of true citizenship and patriotism, before which all enemies of the revolution would shudder with horror.
Participation in the National Convention
Club organization
Date of creation and charterThe exact date of the opening of the club in Paris - in December 1789 or January of the following year - is not known. Its charter was drawn up by Barnave and adopted by the club on February 8, 1790.
Membership
It is not known (since minutes of meetings were not kept at first) when outsiders, that is, non-deputies, began to be accepted as members.
As the number of members grew, the organization of the club became much more complex. At the head was a chairman, elected for a month; he had four secretaries, twelve inspectors, and, which is especially typical for this club, four censors; all these officials were elected for three months: five committees were formed at the club, indicating that the club itself assumed the role of a political censor in relation to the National Assembly and France - committees for the representation (censorship) of members, for supervision ( Surveillance), by administration, by reports and by correspondence. At first, meetings took place three times a week, then daily; the public began to be allowed to attend meetings only on October 12, 1791, that is, already under the Legislative Assembly.
At this time, the number of club members reached 1211 (based on voting at the meeting on November 11). Even earlier (from May 20, 1791), the club moved its meetings to the church of the Jacobin Monastery, which it hired after the abolition of the order and the confiscation of its property, and in which the meetings took place until the closure of the club. Due to the influx of non-deputies, the composition of the club changed: it became the organ of that social stratum that the French call la bourgeoisie lettrée (“intelligentsia”); the majority consisted of lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists, writers, painters, who were also joined by people from the merchant class.
Some of its members bore well-known names: doctor Cabanis, scientist Lacepede, writer Marie-Joseph Chenier, Choderlos de Laclos, painters David and Carl Vernet, La Harpe, Fabre d'Eglantine, Mercier. Although with a large influx of members, the mental level and education of those arriving decreased , however, the Parisian Jacobin Club retained two original features to the end: doctoralism and some attention to educational qualifications. This was expressed in antagonism towards the Cordeliers Club, which accepted people even illiterate people, and also in the fact that the very entry into the Jacobin Club was determined by a rather high membership fee (24 livres annually, and upon joining another 12 livres).
Subsequently, a special branch was organized at the Jacobin Club called “fraternal society for the political education of the people,” where women were also admitted; but this did not change the general character of the club.
Newspaper
The club acquired its own newspaper; its editing was entrusted to Choderlos de Laclos, close to the Duke of Orleans; the newspaper itself began to be called the “Moniteur” of Orléanism. This revealed a certain opposition to Louis XVI; nevertheless, the Jacobin Club remained faithful to the political principle proclaimed in its name.
political club during the French Revolution. Its predecessor was the Breton Club, created in June 1789 in Versailles by a group of deputies of the Estates General from the third estate of Brittany; soon it included many deputies from the third estate of other provinces and some deputies from the nobility (bourgeois liberal nobles). After moving in Oct. 1789 in Paris, the Breton Club was transformed into the "Society of Friends of the Constitution", it began to be called the Jacobin Club after its meeting place - in the hall of the former library of Jacobin monks (as members of the Dominican Order were called in France). Access to the club was open not only to deputies of the Constituent Assembly. It included the most prominent political figures, members of legislative and government institutions. It had a wide network of branches in the provinces. The club's political orientation and composition democratized as the revolution progressed in an upward direction. Initially, the club united all opponents of the feudal absolutist system, but the predominant influence in it belonged to monarchist constitutionalists, representatives of the moderate big bourgeoisie and the liberal nobility. In the spring of 1790, the most conservative members of the club (E. J. Sieyes, O. G. Mirabeau, M. J. Lafayette, etc.) separated into the narrow “Society of 1789”, formally retaining membership in the club. The first split of the YK occurred on July 16, 1791 during an acute political crisis in the country. Monarchist-constitutionalists who left the club founded the Feuillants Club. The more radical bourgeois movement - supporters of J.P. Brissot (future Girondins) - became predominant in the Jacobin club. After the overthrow of the monarchy on August 10. In 1792, within the Jacobin club there was an intensive division between the Girondins, who sought to slow down the further development of the revolution, and the Jacobins (M. Robespierre and others). In Oct. In 1792, the second split of the club occurred - Brissot was expelled, after which other Girondins left him. From that time on, the club's leadership was led by bourgeois revolutionary democrats. During the period of the Jacobin dictatorship, the club was the most important center for developing the government's political line; during the period of intensification of the struggle between various movements among the Jacobins, he remained the support of the Robespierrists. After the Thermidorian coup (July 27/28, 1794) it was closed by a decree of the Convention of November 12. 1794.
political club from the period of the French bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century. Its predecessor was the Breton Club, created in June 1789 in Versailles by a group of deputies of the General. states from the third estate of Brittany; soon it included many deputies from the third estate of other provinces and some deputies from the nobility (bourgeoisized liberal nobles). With the move Established. meetings from Versailles to Paris (October 1789), the Breton Club also moved there, which was transformed into the “Society of Friends of the Constitution”. This club settled in the hall of the former library of the Dominicans, who in France were called Jacobins (Jacobins), and therefore was nicknamed (at first only in colloquial speech, in the press, and then in official speeches) J.K. In contrast to the Breton Club , not only deputies of the Establishment were accepted into the YK. meetings; however, relatively high membership fees fenced it off from the most democratic. elements. JK had a wide network of branches in the province: in June 1790 it had approx. 100 branches (in Lille, Arras, Verdun, etc.), and in June 1791 - 406 branches. In the development of the revolution, Yakovlev played a major political role. role; it included the most prominent political figures. figures, members of legislators. and governments. institutions. Political the orientation of the club and its composition changed, democratizing as the revolution progressed along an ascending line; the struggle of currents in the YK reflected the dynamics of the political. the struggle and relationships of social forces during the revolution as a whole. Initially, the JK united all opponents of the feudal-absolutist system - from the Duke of Aiguillon, O. G. Mirabeau to M. Robespierre, but the predominant influence in it belonged to the constitutionalist monarchists, representatives of the moderate big bourgeoisie and the liberal nobility. In the spring of 1790, the most conservative members of the J.K. (E. J. Sieyes, Mirabeau, M. J. Lafayette, J. S. Bailly, I. R. Le Chapelier, etc.) formed a narrow, closed “Society of 1789” ", formally remaining part of the Ya. K. July 16, 1791 during an acute political crisis. crisis associated with the Varennes flight, the first split of the YK occurred. Monarchist-constitutionalists who left the YK founded the Feuillants Club, which included the majority of members of the “Society of 1789”; This club was headed by A.P. Barnav, A.T. Lamet, A. Duport (former prominent members of the J.K.). The predominance in the YK passed to a more radical bourgeoisie. current - supporters of J.P. Brissot (future Girondins, representing primarily the trade-industrial and agricultural bourgeoisie). With aggravation of class. struggle in the country and the deepening of the revolution, the struggle within the self intensified. To.; after the overthrow of the monarchy on August 10. 1792 in the bosom of the JK there was an intensive demarcation between the Girondins, who sought to slow down the further development of the revolution, and the Jacobins (M. Robespierre and others), in October. In 1792, the second split of the JK occurred - Brissot was expelled, after which the JK was left by other Girondins. From that time on, the management of Yak. K. had bourgeois. revolutionary democrats. During the period of the Jacobin dictatorship, Yakovlev was the most important center for the development of political policies. lines of Jacobin power. At the meetings of the Paris J.K. all the most important internal issues were discussed. and ext. politics, bills submitted to the Convention were preliminary considered. Branches of Yakom in the provinces (“folk societies”), the composition of which by this time meant. least updated due to democracy. layers of the population played a major role in the implementation of the revolution. local measures (in cleaning up local authorities, in solving the trade issue, in organizing military supplies, etc.). Decree of the Convention of September 13. 1793 and circulars of the Committee of Societies. rescue from 13 Nov. 1793 and 4 Feb. 1794 specifically encouraged the activity of “popular societies” in this direction. Since the autumn of 1793, Jacobin became the arena of intense struggle among various movements among the Jacobins. The Dantonists (“lenient”), associated with the new bourgeoisie that grew up during the revolution, advocated weakening the regime of the revolutionary-democratic. dictatorship. "Extreme" (left) Jacobins, reflecting the aspirations of the people. masses, sought further intervention in the economic. life in the interests of the poor, strengthening the revolutionary. terror (supporters of extreme terrorism were Ebert and his like-minded people - the Ebertists). Until the Thermidorian coup (July 27/28, 1794), JK remained the support of the Robespierrists. During the Thermidorian reaction, Yakovlev was defeated by gangs of “golden youth” and closed by a decree of the Convention of November 12. 1794. In subsequent years, attempts were made to restore, in one form or another, the organization of Yakovlev K., for example. in Aug. 1799 in Paris. Source: La soci?t? des Jacobins. Recueil de documents pour l´histoire du Club des Jacobins de Paris, r?d. par F. A. Aulard, t. 1-6, P., 1889-97. Lit.: Monosov S., Essays on the history of the Jacobin Club, 2nd ed., X., 1928; Cardenal L., La province pendant la Révolution. Histoire des clubs jacobins (1789-1795), P., 1929; Brinton C., The Jacobins, N. - Y., 1930; Woloch I., Jacobin legacy, Princeton, 1970. A. V. Ado. Moscow.
Plan
Introduction
1 Origin of the term
2 Jacobin Club
2.1 Fall of the Feuillants
2.2 Apostasy of the Girondins
2.3 Overthrow of the monarchy. Radicalization of the club
3 National Convention
3.1 Jacobin dictatorship and terror
4 9 Thermidor. Agony of the Club
5 Dissolution of the club
6 The role of the Jacobin Club in the French Revolution
7 Jacobins as a political and psychological type
9 Essays
11 Fiction
Introduction
Jacobins (French jacobins) - members of the political club of the era of the French Revolution, who established their dictatorship in 1793-1794. They were formed in June 1789 on the basis of the Breton faction of deputies of the National Assembly. They got their name from the club located in the Dominican monastery of St. James. The Jacobins included primarily members of the revolutionary Jacobin Club in Paris, as well as members of provincial clubs closely associated with the main club.
The Jacobin party included the right wing, whose leader was Danton, the center, led by Robespierre, and the left wing, led by Marat (and after his death, Hébert and Chaumette).
The Jacobins (mainly supporters of Robespierre) participated in the Convention, and on June 2, 1793 they carried out a coup d'etat, overthrowing the Girondins. Their dictatorship lasted until the coup on July 27, 1794, as a result of which Robespierre was executed.
During their reign, the Jacobins carried out a number of radical reforms and launched mass terror.
1. Origin of the term
Until 1791, club members were supporters of a constitutional monarchy. By 1793, the Jacobins had become the most influential force in the Convention, advocating for the unity of the country, strengthening national defense in the face of counter-revolution, and harsh internal terror. In the second half of 1793, the dictatorship of the Jacobins led by Robespierre was established. After the coup of 9 Thermidor and the death of the Jacobin leaders, the club was closed (November 1794).
Since the 19th century, the term “Jacobins” has been used not only to designate the historical members of the Jacobin Club and their allies, but also as the name of a certain radical political-psychological type.
2. Jacobin Club
The Jacobin Club had enormous influence on the course of the French Revolution of 1789. It has been said, not without reason, that the revolution grew and developed, fell and disappeared in connection with the fate of this club. The cradle of the Jacobin Club was the Breton Club, that is, meetings organized by several deputies of the third estate of Brittany upon their arrival at Versailles for the Estates General even before their opening.
The initiative of these meetings is attributed to d'Hennebon and de Pontivy, who were among the most radical deputies of their province. Soon deputies of the Breton clergy and deputies of other provinces, holding different directions, took part in these meetings. There were Sieyès and Mirabeau, the Duke d'Aiguillon and Robespierre, Abbot Gregoire, Barnave and Pétion. The influence of this private organization was strongly felt on the critical days of June 17 and 23.
When the king and the National Assembly moved to Paris, the Breton Club disintegrated, but its former members began to meet again, first in a private house, then in a room they rented in a monastery of Jacobin monks (Dominican order) near the arena where the National Assembly met. Some of the monks also took part in the meetings; Therefore, the royalists called the members of the club in mockery Jacobins, and they themselves adopted the name of the Society of Friends of the Constitution.
Jean-Paul Marat
In fact, the political ideal of the then Jacobin Club was a constitutional monarchy, as understood by the majority of the National Assembly. They called themselves monarchists and recognized law as their motto. The exact date of the opening of the club in Paris - in December 1789 or January of the following year - is unknown. Its charter was drawn up by Barnave and adopted by the club on February 8, 1790. It is unknown (since minutes of meetings were not kept at first) when outsiders, that is, non-deputies, began to be accepted as members.
As the number of members grew, the organization of the club became much more complex. At the head was a chairman, elected for a month; he had four secretaries, twelve inspectors, and, which is especially typical for this club, four censors; all these officials were elected for three months: five committees were formed at the club, indicating that the club itself assumed the role of a political censor in relation to the National Assembly and France - committees for the representation (censorship) of members, for supervision ( Surveillance), by administration, by reports and by correspondence. At first, meetings took place three times a week, then daily; the public began to be allowed to attend meetings only on October 12, 1791, that is, already under the Legislative Assembly.
Saint-Just, Louis Antoine
At this time, the number of club members reached 1211 (based on voting at the meeting on November 11). Even earlier (from May 20, 1791), the club moved its meetings to the church of the Jacobin Monastery, which it hired after the abolition of the order and the confiscation of its property, and in which meetings took place until the closure of the club. Due to the influx of non-deputies, the composition of the club changed: it became the organ of that social stratum that the French call la bourgeoisie lettrée (“intelligentsia”); the majority consisted of lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists, writers, painters, who were also joined by people from the merchant class.
Fabre d'Eglantine
Some of its members bore famous names: the doctor Cabanis, the scientist Lacepede, the writer Marie-Joseph Chenier, Choderlos de Laclos, the painters David and Carl Vernet, La Harpe, Fabre d'Eglantine, Mercier. Although with a large influx of members, the mental level and education of those arriving decreased , however, the Paris Jacobin Club retained to the end two original features: doctoralism and a certain stiffness in relation to the educational qualification. This was expressed in antagonism towards the Cordeliers Club, which accepted people without education, even illiterate ones, and also in the fact that the very entry into The Jacobin club was subject to a fairly high membership fee (24 livres annually, and upon joining another 12 livres).
Georges Couthon
Subsequently, a special branch was organized at the Jacobin Club called “fraternal society for the political education of the people,” where women were also admitted; but this did not change the general character of the club. The club acquired its own newspaper; its editing was entrusted to Choderlos de Laclos, close to the Duke of Orleans; the newspaper itself began to be called the “Moniteur” of Orléanism. This revealed a certain opposition to Louis XVI; nevertheless, the Jacobin Club remained faithful to the political principle proclaimed in its name.
2.1. Fall of the Feuillants
He was not led astray from this path by the flight of the king and his detention in Varenna. The clashes caused by these events, however, caused a split between the club members; the more moderate of them, led by Barnave, Duport and Alexandre Lamet, left the club in large numbers and founded a new one, called the Feuillant Club. Adherents of this trend later formed the right wing in the Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, following the model of the Parisian Jacobin Club, similar clubs began to appear in other cities and even in villages: there were about a thousand of them; they all entered into correspondence and relations with the Parisian, recognizing themselves as its affiliates.
This sharply revealed the dominance of Paris and the desire for centralization inherent in the “Old Order”; the influence of the Parisian club on the provincial ones played a large role in the revolutionary re-education of France and significantly contributed to the final triumph of the principle of centralization in the country. The separation of the more moderate Feuillants from the Jacobins strengthened the position of radical elements in the Jacobin Club. It was very important for his future fate that in the dispute between the Feuillants and the Jacobins, the provincial clubs took the side of the latter. At the elections to the Legislative Assembly that took place in early September 1791, the Jacobins managed to include only five club leaders among the 23 deputies of Paris; but his influence grew, and in the November elections to the Paris municipality the Jacobins gained the upper hand. After this, the Paris Commune became an instrument of the Jacobin Club.
The most influential of the Parisian newspapers spoke for the Jacobins against the Feuillants. The Jacobin Club founded its own organ called the Journal des débats et des décrets to replace the former Journal d. 1. soc. etc.”, which went to the Feuillants. Not limiting themselves to the press, the Jacobins moved at the end of 1791 to direct influence on the people; To this end, prominent members of the club - Petion, Collot d'Herbois and Robespierre himself - devoted themselves to the “noble calling of teaching the children of the people the constitution,” that is, teaching the “catechism of the constitution” in public schools. Another measure was of more practical importance - the recruitment of agents who were supposed to engage in the political education of adults in the squares or galleries of the club and the National Assembly and win them over to the side of the Jacobins.These agents were recruited from military deserters who fled in droves to Paris, as well as from workers previously initiated into the ideas of the Jacobins.
At the beginning of 1792 there were about 750 such agents; they were under the command of a former officer who received orders from the secret committee of the Jacobin Club. Agents received 5 livres a day, but due to a large influx, the salary was reduced to 20 sous. A great influence in the Jacobin spirit was exerted by visiting the galleries of the Jacobin Club, open to the public, which could accommodate up to one and a half thousand people; Seats were occupied from two o'clock in the afternoon, although meetings began only at six in the evening. Club speakers tried to keep the audience in constant excitement. An even more important means of acquiring influence was the seizure of the galleries of the Legislative Assembly through agents and a mob led by them; in this way the Jacobin Club could directly influence the speakers of the Legislative Assembly and the vote. All this was very expensive and was not covered by membership fees; but the Jacobin Club enjoyed large subsidies from the Duke of Orleans or appealed to the “patriotism” of its wealthy members; one of these collections brought in 750,000 livres.