Letters from France (Engels)

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Note from MECW :

When publishing the series of articles Letters from France the editor of The Democratic Review, Harney, tried to present them as reports received directly from Paris. At the same time, the articles were based not only on French material, but on British press reports and other information (private letters to Engels from Paris, and reports by a member of the Communist League, Ferdinand Wolff, who had been expelled from Paris and came to London in December 1849).

The fourth letter of the series was written by Engels while Marx was working on the third chapter of The Class Struggles in France (March 1850), which appeared in instalments in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-okonomische Revue. The facts and appraisal of the events given in Letters from France often coincide with what Marx wrote about France in The Class Struggles (the footnotes give references to relevant places), in the third international review and later in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Coincidence of thought and of approach testifies to the fact that Letters from France reflected Marx's and Engels' common point of view. The numbers of the letters have been supplied by the editors of this edition.

I.

The great question of the day is the excise upon "potable liquors" now under discussion in the National Legislative Assembly. This question is of such importance, and contains, in fact, in itself, so much of the whole present situation, that it will not be amiss to devote to it the whole of this letter.

The tax on potable liquors is of very old date. It formed one of the principal features of the financial system under the monarchy of the eighteenth century, and one of the main grievances of the people at the time of the first revolution. It was done away with by that revolution. But Napoleon restored it in a somewhat modified shape about the year 1808, at a time when, forgetting his revolutionary origin, he made the establishment of his dynasty in the midst of the ancient European royal families, his principal aim. The tax was so exceedingly obnoxious to the people, that at the downfall of Napoleon, the Bourbon family promised its immediate repeal, and Napoleon himself, at St. Helena, declared it had been that tax more than anything else which caused his fall, by setting against him the whole of the South of France. The Bourbons, however, never thought of redeeming their promise, and the tax remained as before up to the revolution of 1830, when, again, its abolition was held out to the country. This promise was no more fulfilled than the preceding one; and thus the excise existed when the revolution of 1848 broke out. The provisional government, instead of immediately repealing it and substituting for it a heavy income-tax upon the large capitalists and landed proprietors, only promised either its repeal, or at least its revision; the Constituent Assembly even went so far as to continue the tax altogether. It was only in the last days of its existence, when royalism was rifer than ever, that the "honest" and "moderate" members of that Assembly voted the repeal of the tax on potable liquors, to take effect from the 1st of January, 1850.

It is clear that the tax in question belongs essentially to the monarchical traditions of France. Repealed as soon as the mass of the people got the upper hand, it was restored as soon as either the aristocracy or the Bourgeoisie, represented by a Louis XVIII or a Louis Philippe, held the reins of government. Even Napoleon, though in many points opposed to both aristocracy and Bourgeoisie, and overthrown by the conspiracy of both--even the great Emperor thought himself obliged to re-establish this feature of the ancient traditions of Monarchical France.

The tax in itself weighs very unequally upon the different classes of the nation. It is a grievous burden upon the poor, while upon the rich the pressure is exceedingly light. There are about twelve millions of wine-producers in France; these pay nothing upon their consumption of wine, it being of their own growing; there are, further, eighteen millions of people inhabiting villages and towns under 4,000 inhabitants, and paying a tax from 66 centimes to 1 fr. 32 centimes per 100 litres of wine; and there are, finally, some five millions inhabiting towns of more than 4,000 inhabitants, and paying upon their wine the droit d'octroi, levied at the gate of the town, and varying in the different localities, but at all events incomparably higher than what is paid by the preceding class. The tax, further, falls quite as heavy upon the most inferior as upon the higher-priced wines; the hectolitre which sells at 2, 3, 4 francs, and the one sold at 12 to 1,500 fr., both pay the same tax; and thus, while the rich consumer of choice champagne, claret, and Burgundy, pays almost nothing, the working man pays to the government upon his inferior wine a tax of 50, 100, and, in some cases, 500 or 1,000 per cent upon the original value. Of the revenue derived by this tax, 51 millions of francs are paid by the poorer classes, and 25 millions only by the wealthier citizens. There cannot, under such circumstances, exist the slightest doubt that this tax is exceedingly injurious to the production of wine in France. The principal markets for this produce, the towns, are to the wine-producer so many foreign countries where he has to Pay, before bringing his produce to sale, a regular custom-house duty of from 50 to 1,000 per cent ad valorem. The other part of the market, the open country, is at least subject to a duty of from 20 to 50 per cent of the original value. The inevitable consequence of this is the ruin of the wine-growing parts of the country. It is true the production of wine has been augmenting in spite of the tax, but the population has outgrown this augmentation at a far quicker rate.

Why, then, has it been possible to keep up under the middle-class government such an obnoxious tax as this? In England, you will say, even Cobden and Bright would have swept it away long ago. And so they would. But in France, the manufacturers never found a Cobden or a Bright who stood up for their interests with invincible tenacity, nor a Peel to give way to their claims. The French financial system, although so much vaunted by the majority of the Assembly, is the most confused and artificial, mixtum compositum, that ever was imagined. None of the reforms carried in England since 1842 were attempted in France under Louis Philippe. Postage Reform was considered almost as blasphemy in the blessed time of Guizot. The tariff was, and is now, neither a free-trade nor a mere revenue, nor a protectionist, nor a prohibitive tariff, but contains something of all, except free-trade. Old prohibitions and high duties, that for many years have been to no purpose, nay, that are decidedly injurious to trade, are to be found in all parts of the tariff. Yet no one dared touch them. Local taxation, in all towns of more than 1,000 inhabitants, is indirect, and collected upon the produce brought into town. Thus the freedom of trade even in the interior is interrupted every ten or fifteen miles by a sort of inland-custom-house.

This state of things, disgraceful even to a middle-class government, remained untouched: from different causes. With all this oppressive taxation, with-receipts of 1,400 or 1,500 millions of francs, there was a deficit at the end of every year, and a loan after every fourth or fifth year. The stockjobbers of the Paris Bourse found an inexhaustible source of profit-making, jobbing, and peddling in this, low state of the Public Exchequer. They and their associates formed the majority in the two Chambers, and were thus the real dominators of the state, and always demanding fresh supplies of money. Financial Reform, besides, could not have been effected without sweeping measures, which would have brought the budget to its equilibre, changed the allotment of taxes, and, besides taxing these stockjobbers themselves, given a greater political weight to other fractions of the middle classes. And what consequences such a change would have had under the worm-eaten government of Louis Philippe you may judge, from the comparatively trifling pretext which led to the revolution of February.

That revolution brought into office no man able to reform the financial system of France. The gentlemen of the National, who took possession of that department, felt themselves borne down by the weight of-the deficit. Many attempts were made at bit-by-bit reform; all proved abortive, excepting the abolition of the tax upon salt and the Postage Reform. At last, in a fit of despair, the Constituent Assembly voted the repeal of the wine tax, and now the "honest" and "moderate" men of order in the present precious Assembly restore it! Nay, more: the Minister intends restoring the salt tax, and re-augmenting the Postage; so that the old financial system, with its eternal deficiences and difficulties, and consequent absolute sway of the Paris Bourse, with its jobbing, peddling, and profitmongering, will very shortly be restored in France.

The people, however, do not seem likely to submit quietly to a measure which restores a heavy tax upon an article of prime necessity for the poor, while it almost exempts the rich. Social democracy has spread wonderfully over the agricultural districts of France; and this measure will convert the remainder of the millions who, twelve months ago, voted for that ambitious blockhead, Louis Napoleon. The country once won for social democracy, there will be very few months, nay, weeks, indeed, ere the Red Flag floats from the Tuileries and the Elysee-National. Then only will it be possible to radically upset the old, oppressive financial system, by at one stroke doing away with the National Debt, by introducing a system of direct, progressive taxation; and by other measures of a similarly energetic character.

II. Striking Proofs of the Glorious Progress of Red Pepublicanism!

Source: MECW Volume 10, p. 21-23;

Written: Paris, January 21st, 1850;

First published: in The Democratic Review in February 1850.

A great many important events have occurred since my last, but as the generality of readers will have been informed of them from the daily and weekly papers, I shall refrain from going over the same ground from beginning to end, and instead shall limit this letter to some general observations on the state of the country.

During the last twelve or fifteen months, the revolutionary spirit has made immense progress throughout France. A class, which by its social position was kept apart, as much as possible in civilised society, from taking an interest in public business, which by the old monarchical legislation was shut out from all political rights, which never read a newspaper, and which, nevertheless, forms the vast majority of Frenchmen--this class, at last, is rapidly coming to its senses. This class is the small peasantry, numbering about twenty-eight millions of men, women, and children, counting amongst its ranks from eight to nine millions of small landed proprietors, who possess, in the shape of freehold property, at least four-fifths of the soil of France. This class has been oppressed by all governments since 1815, not excepting the provisional government, which imposed on it the tax of 45 additional centimes upon every franc of the land-tax, which in France is very heavy. This class, borne down also by a band of usurers to whom their property almost without exception is mortgaged at extraordinary high interest, is at last beginning to see that no government, except one acting in the interest of the working men of the towns, will free them from the misery and starvation into which, notwithstanding their land-allotments, they are falling deeper and deeper every day. This class, which in a great measure forced the revolution of 1789, and which formed the basement upon which arose the vast empire of Napoleon, has now, in its immense majority, joined the revolutionary party and the working men of Paris, Lyons, Rouen, and the other large towns of France. The tillers of the soil now see clearly enough how they have been cheated by Louis Napoleon, to whose presidential majority they at least furnished six millions of votes, and who has repaid them with the re-imposition of the wine and brandy tax. And thus, the vast majority of the French people are now united to overthrow, as soon as a proper occasion shall present itself, the insolent sway of the capitalist class, which, hurled down by the storm of February, has again seized the helm of government, and exercises its rule far more arrogantly than ever it did under its own well-beloved Louis Philippe.

The history of the last months affords innumerable proofs of this most important fact. Take the circular of Minister d'Hautpoul to the gendarmerie, by which espionage is carried into the very heart of the most obscure village; take the law against the schoolmasters, who, in French villages, are generally the best expression of the public opinion of their localities, and who are now to be placed at the mercy of government, because they now almost all profess social-democratic opinions; and many other facts. But one of the most striking proofs is to be found in the election which has just taken place in the department du Gard. This department is known as the most ancient stronghold of the "Whites"--the Legitimists. It was the scene of the most horrid outrages against the republicans in 1794 and '95, after the downfall of Robespierre; it was the central seat of the "white terrorism" in 1815, when Protestants and Liberals were publicly murdered, and outrages of the most horrible nature were committed on the wives, daughters, and sisters of those victims by Legitimist mobs, headed by the renowned Trestaillon, and protected by the government of legitimate Louis XVIII. Well, this department had to elect a deputy, in the place of a Legitimist, deceased; and the result was, a great majority for a thoroughly Red candidate, while the two Legitimist candidates were in a signal minority.

Another proof of the rapid progress of this alliance of the working men in the towns and the peasantry of the country, is the new law on public education. The most inveterate Voltairians of the bourgeoisie, even M. Thiers, see there is no way left to oppose that progress but by surrendering their old theories and principles, and by prostrating public education at the feet of the priesthood!

Again. There is, now, a general rush of all public papers and public characters, that are not exactly reactionaries, to claim the once despised title of "Socialist". The oldest enemies of Socialism now proclaim themselves Socialists. The National, even the Siecle, monarchist under Louis Philippe, declare they are Socialists. Even Marrast, the infamous traitor of 1848, now hopes, though in vain, to get elected by proclaiming himself a Socialist. The people, however, are not thus to be duped, and the rope to hang that vagabond is ready, and only waiting for the occasion.

To-day they discuss in the National Assembly the law for killing the remaining 468 prisoners of the June insurrection, by transporting them to, and setting them to work in the most unhealthy parts of Algeria. No doubt the law will pass by an immense majority. But before the unfortunate heroes of that grand battle of labour can reach the shore destined to bury them, there is little doubt but another popular storm will have swept away the voters of this law of murder, and carry, perhaps, to that land of banishment, those of the present majority who may have escaped a prompter, more radical, and most righteous revenge on the part of the people.

III. Signs of the Times.-The Anticipated Revolution

Source: MECW Volume 10, p. 24-26;

Written: Paris, February 19th, 1850;

First published: in The Democratic Review in March 1850.

I must limit this letter somewhat in space, but the facts which have occurred in the course of this month are so striking, that they will speak for themselves. The revolution is advancing so rapidly, that every one must see its approach. In all spheres of society it is spoken of as imminent; and all foreign papers, even if opposed to democracy, declare it an unavoidable thing. Nay, more, you may with almost certainty foresee, that if no unexpected events give a turn to public affairs, the great contest between the united Ordermongers and the vast majority of the people, can hardly be postponed beyond the latter end of this spring. And what the result of that contest will be, is a matter admitting of no doubt. The people of Paris are so sure of having very shortly the most splendid case for a revolution they ever had, that there is a general order amongst them — "Avoid all petty squabbles, submit to anything which puts not a vital question to you." Thus, with all their efforts, the other day, when the trees of liberty were cut down, the government could not excite the working people to even a petty street-row, and the individuals dancing round the tree at the Forte Saint-Martin, which your London Illustrated News depicted in such a terrific manner, consisted of a set of police spies who lost all their day's job through the coolness of the people. Thus, in spite of what the government papers say to the contrary, the 24th of this month will pass off very quietly. The government would give almost anything if they could have a row in Paris, with some fictitious conspiracies and outbreaks in the departments, in order to inflict the state of siege upon the capital and those departments which, on the 10th of March, will have to elect new deputies in lieu of the condemned of Versailles. A word on the new system of military despotism. To keep the provinces in bondage, the government have invented the new system of commanders-in-chief. They have united a number of the seventeen military divisions of France into four grand districts, each of which is to be under the command of one general, who, thus, has almost the arbitrary power of an eastern satrap or a Roman proconsul. These four military districts are so arranged, that they surround Paris and the whole centre of France, as it were, with an iron circle, in order to keep it down. This measure, illegal as it is, has however been adopted not only on account of the people, but on account of the Bourgeois opposition too. The Legitimist and Orleanist parties now see clear enough that Louis Napoleon is serving them very badly. They wanted him as a means to the re-establishment of monarchy, as an instrument to be shuffled aside when worn out, and they now see him aspiring to a throne for himself, and going a good deal faster than they want. They know well enough that at this moment there is no chance for monarchy, and that they must wait; and yet Louis Napoleon does everything in his power to come to a settlement, and to risk a revolution which may cost him his head, rather than wait his time. They know, too, that neither party, Legitimist or Orleanist, has gained so much ground upon the other as to make the victory of one of the two an undeniable necessity; and as before the 10th of December, 1848, they want another neutral man, who, while they await the course of events, may govern according to the common interests of both. Thus, these two parties, the only important fractions of the Ordermongers, are now against the prolongation of Louis Napoleon's presidency, although four months ago they would have done anything to carry it; they are again, for once, for the neutral ground of the republic, with General Changarnier as president. Changarnier seems to be in the plot; and Napoleon, who does not trust him but dares not dismiss him from his proconsulate at Paris, has put the four military districts as a fetter around him. This may explain why M. Pascal Duprat's (a traitor of June '48, who now courts popularity again) speech against the new military system and against Louis Napoleon himself, was very tolerantly listened to by the majority. There occurred two curious incidents on this occasion. When M.Duprat said, according to a newspaper, Louis Napoleon had to choose between the position of his uncle, or that of Washington, a voice from the left shouted, "or that of the Emperor Soulouque of Haiti". A general burst of laughter hailed this comparison of the French would-be-emperor to a personage, than whom none offers more matter for ridicule to all the Charivaris of Paris; and yet not even the President of the Assembly interposed. You see what even this precious majority thinks of Louis Napoleon! The Minister of War then got up, and, turning to the left, concluded a most violent speech with these words: "And now, gentlemen, if you like to commence we are ready!" This expression of the Minister will show you more than anything, how generally a violent struggle is expected.

In the meantime, the Social-Democratic party are actively preparing for the elections. Although there is a chance for the "honest and moderate", to elect one or two of their candidates in Paris, where some sixty thousand working men have been, under a variety of pretexts, struck off the voting register; yet there is no doubt that the socialists will have a signal triumph in the departments. The government themselves are expecting it. They therefore have prepared a measure for doing away with what is now openly called the conspiracy of "Universal Suffrage". They intend to make the suffrage indirect; the voters to elect a limited number of electors, who again name the representative. In this the government are sure of the support of the majority. But as this amounts to an open overthrow of the constitution, which cannot be revised before 1851, and by an assembly elected for the purpose, they expect violent resistance on the part of the people. These, therefore, are to be intimidated by the foreign armies making their appearance on the Rhine at the time this measure is brought into the House. If this really come to pass--and Louis Napoleon seems foolish enough to risk such a thing--then you may expect to hear something like the thunder of a revolution. And then, the Lord have mercy upon the souls of all Napoleons, Changarniers, and Ordermongers!

IV. The Elections.-Glorious Victory of the Reds.-Proletarian Ascendancy.-Dismay of the Ordermongers.-New Schemes of Repression and Provocations to Revolution

Victory! Victory! The people have spoken, and they have spoken so loud that the artificial fabric of bourgeois rule and bourgeois plotting has been shaken to its very foundation. Carnot, Vidal, Deflotte, representatives of the people for Paris, elected by from 127,000 to 132,000 votes, that is the answer of the people to the odious provocations of the government and parliamentary majority. Carnot, the only man of the "National" fraction who, under the provisional government, instead of flattering the bourgeoisie, brought down on his head a handsome share of its hatred; Vidal, an openly pronounced communist of longstanding; Deflotte, vice-president of Blanqui's club, one of the foremost, active invaders of the Assembly on the 15th of May, 1848, in June following, one of the leading combatants on the barricades, sentenced to transportation, and now stepping directly from the hulks into the legislative palace--really, this composition is significant! It shows, that if the triumph of the Red party is owing to the union of the small trading class with the proletarians, this union is based upon totally different terms to that momentary alliance which brought about the overthrow of monarchy. Then, it was the small trading class, the petty bourgeoisie, who, in the provisional government, and still more so in the Constituent Assembly, took the lead, and very soon set aside the influence of the proletarians. Now, on the contrary, the working men are the leaders of the movement, and the petty bourgeoisie, equally pressed down and ruined by capital, and rewarded with bankruptcy for their services rendered in June, 1848, are reduced to follow the revolutionary march of the proletarians. The country farmers are in the same position, and thus the whole mass of those classes that now are opposed to the government--and they form the vast majority of Frenchmen--are headed and led on by the proletarian class, and find themselves obliged to rely, for their own emancipation from the pressure of capital, upon the total and entire emancipation of the working men.

The elections in the departments, too, have been very favourable to the Red party. They having carried two-thirds, the Ordermongers one-third of their candidates.

This party, or aggregation of parties, has admirably understood the broad hint given by the people. They now see certain ruin before their eyes if they allow the general election of 1852 both for the Assembly and the new President to come off with the present system of suffrage. They know, that the people are so fast rallying round the red flag, that it will be impossible for them to carry on the government even until that term. On one side the President and the Assembly; on the other, the vast mass of the people every day organising themselves stronger and stronger into an invincible phalanx. Thus the conflict is inevitable; and the longer the Ordermongers wait, the greater hope there will be for the victory of the people. They know it, and therefore they must strike the decisive blow as soon as possible. To provoke an insurrection as soon as possible, and to fight it to the utmost, is the only chance left for them. The "Holy Alliance", besides, after the elections of the 10th of March, can have no more doubts as to the course they must pursue. Switzerland, now, is out of the question. Revolutionary France is again standing up before them in all her terrible grandeur. France, then, must be attacked, and as soon as possible. The "Holy Alliance" are getting low in cash, and there is now very little chance of getting fresh supplies of that desirable commodity. The different armies cannot be maintained at home much longer, they must either be disbanded or they must be made to maintain themselves by quartering upon the enemy. Thus, you see that, if in my last I told you that the revolution and war were fast approaching, events are fully bearing out my prediction.

The Ordermongers have for the moment again set aside their party squabbles. They have re-united to attack the people. They change the garrison of Paris, of which three-fourths voted for the red list; and, yesterday, a law re-establishing the newspaper stamp, another law doubling the caution money to be deposited by all newspapers, and a third, suspending the liberty of electoral meetings, were laid on the table of the Assembly by the government. Other laws will follow: one to grant powers to the police to expel from Paris any working man not born there; another, to empower the government to transport, without judgment, to Algiers, any citizen who shall have been convicted of being a member of a secret society, and many more, the whole to be crowned by a more or less direct attack upon universal suffrage. Thus, you see, they provoke revolt, by battering down all the rights and privileges of the working classes. Revolt will follow, and the people, united with the mass of the national guard, will very soon hurl down that infamous class government which, in its utter impotency to do anything but odiously oppress, has, nevertheless, the impudence to call itself the "Saviour of Society"!!!

V.

Source: MECW Volume 10, p. 30-32;

Written: Paris, April 20th, 1850;

First published: in The Democratic Review in May 1850.

The outbreak of the revolution, which has become inevitable since the elections of the 10th of March, has been retarded by the cowardice both of the government and of the men who, for the moment, have taken the lead of the Paris movement. The government and the National Assembly were so terror-struck by the vote of the 10th of March, and by the repeated proofs of mutinous spirit in the army, that they dared not come immediately to any conclusion. They resolved upon passing new repressive laws, a list of which I gave you in my last; but if the ministry and some of the leaders of the majority had confidence in these measures, the mass of the members had not, and even the government very soon lost its confidence again. Thus, the more stringent of these repressive laws were not brought forward, and even those that were--the laws on the press and on electoral meetings--met with a very doubtful reception from the majority.

The Socialist party, on the other hand, did not Profit by the victory as it ought to have done. The reason for this is very plain. This party consists not only of the working men, but it includes, now, the great mass of the shopkeeping class too, a class whose socialism is indeed a great deal tamer than that of the proletarians. The shopkeepers and small tradesmen know very well that their own salvation from ruin is entirely dependent upon the emancipation of the proletarians; that their interests are indissolubly tied up with those of the working men. But they know also, that if the proletarians conquered political power by a revolution, they, the shopkeepers, would be entirely set aside, and be reduced to accept from the hands of the working class any thing they might give them. If the present government on the contrary, be overthrown by peaceful means, the shopkeepers and small tradesmen, being the least obnoxious of the classes now in opposition, would very quietly step in and take hold of the government, giving, at the same time, the working people as small a share of it as possible. The small trading class, then, were quite as much terrified at their own victory as the government was at its own defeat. They saw a revolution starting up before their eyes, and they strove immediately to prevent it. There was a means for this ready at hand. Citizen Vidal, in addition to being elected for Paris, had been elected for the Lower Rhine too. They managed to make him accept for the Lower Rhine, and thus there is to be a new election in Paris. But it is evident, that as long as there is an opportunity given to the people to obtain peaceful victories, they will never raise their cry "to arms"; or if, nevertheless, provoked into an emeute, they will fight with very little chance of victory.

The new election was fixed for the 28th of this month; and the government immediately profited by the favourable position created by the amiable shopocracy. Ministers disinterred old police regulations, in order to expel from Paris a number of working men, for the moment without work; and showed that they could do even without the proposed law against electoral meetings, by directly putting a stop to all of them. The people knowing that the day before an election, they could not fight to any advantage, submitted. The social and democratic press, entirely in the hands of the shopocracy, of course did every thing to keep them quiet. The behaviour of this press has, ever since the affair of the "trees of liberty", been most infamous. There have been numbers of occasions for the people to rise; but the press has always preached peace and tranquillity while the representatives of the shopocracy in the electoral committee and other organised bodies have always managed to lessen the chances of a street victory, by opening peaceful outlets for the popular exasperation.

The false position in which the Red party has been forced, and the advantage given by the new election to the Ordermongers, is fully shown by the names of the two opposing candidates. The red candidate, Eugene Sue, is an excellent representative of that well-meaning, "soft sawder", sentimental shopocrat-socialism, which, far from recognising the revolutionary mission of the proletarians, would rather mock-emancipate them by the benevolent patronage of the petty trading class. As a political man, Eugene Sue is a nullity; as a demonstration, his nomination is a step backwards from the position conquered on the 10th of March. But it must be confessed, that if sentimental socialism is to have the honour of the day, his name is the most popular to be put forward, and he has a great chance to be elected.

The Ordermongers, on the other side, have so far recovered, that they now oppose to Eugene Sue, whose name signifies nothing or very little, a name which signifies everything--M. Leclerc, the bourgeois Lacedemonian of the insurrection of June. Leclerc is a direct reply to Deflotte, and a direct provocation to the working men, more direct than any other name could possibly be. Leclerc, candidate for Paris--that is a repetition of the words of General d'Hautpoul:--"Now, gentlemen, whenever you please to descend into the streets, we are ready!"

The repeated election in Paris, as you see, offers no advantage, but, on the contrary, has already put to a great deal of disadvantage the proletarian party. But there is another fact to be noticed. The election of the 10th of March was carried under the old list; that of the 28th of April is to come off under the new revised list of voters for 1850, which came into force on the 1st of April; and in this revised list there are from twenty to thirty thousand working men struck off under various pretexts.

However, even if this time the Ordermongers obtain a small majority, they will not be the gainers. The fact remains, that, with universal suffrage, they can no longer govern France. The fact remains, that the army is largely infected with socialism, and only awaits an occasion for open rebellion. The fact remains, that the working people of Paris are in better spirits than ever for putting an end to the present state of things. Never before did they come out so openly as they have done this time in the electoral meetings, till they were suppressed. And the government, forced to attack universal suffrage, will thereby give the people an occasion for a combat, in which there is for the proletarians the certainty of victory.

VI.

Source: MECW Volume 10, p. 33;

Written: End of May, 1850;

First published: in The Democratic Review in June 1850.

"If the proletarians suffer the suffrage to be taken from them, they submit to the undoing of the Revolution of February, as far as they are concerned. For them the republic will no longer exist. They will be shut out from it. Will they allow this?

"The law certainly will pass. Not a tittle of it will be weakened. The will of the majority, upon this point, has already shown itself clearly. And as matters stand to-day, no one can tell what will follow, whether the people will rise and hurl down the government and Assembly, or whether they will wait until another occasion. Paris seems quiet; there is no direct sign of an approaching revolution; but a spark will suffice to call forth a tremendous explosion.

"That explosion would have taken place before now but for the treacherous conduct of the popular chiefs, who have been doing nothing but preaching 'peace', 'tranquillity', and 'majestic calm'. This, however, cannot last long. The situation of France is eminently revolutionary. The Ordermongers cannot stand where they are. They must advance a step every day in order to maintain themselves. If this law should pass without provoking a revolution, they will come outwith fresh, more violent, and more direct attacks on the constitution and the Republic. They want an emeute, and they will have a revolution, and have it soon, too. For it must be borne in mind that this is a question of weeks, perhaps days, not of years.

VII.

Source: MECW Volume 10, p. 34-37;

Written: Paris, June 22th, 1850;

First published: in The Democratic Review in July 1850.

The Electoral "Reform" Law has passed, and the people of Paris have not moved. Universal Suffrage has been destroyed, without the slightest attempt at disturbance or demonstration, and the working people of France are again what they were under Louis Philippe: political Pariahs, without recognised rights, without votes, without muskets.

It really is a curious fact, that Universal Suffrage in France, won easily in 1848, has been annihilated far more easily in 1850. Such ups and downs, however, correspond much with the French character, and occur very often in French history. In England such a thing would be impossible. Universal Suffrage, once established there, would be won for ever. No government would dare to touch it. Only think of the minister who should be foolish enough to consider seriously re-establishing the Corn Laws. The immense laughter of the whole nation would hurl him down.

The people of Paris have, undoubtedly, committed a serious mistake, in not profiting of the occasion for insurrection given by the destruction of Universal Suffrage. The army was well disposed, the small trading class was forced to go with the people, and the Mountain, nay, even the party of Cavaignac knew that in case of a defeated insurrection they would inevitably be made to suffer for it, whether they stood with the people or not. Thus, at least, the moral support of the small trading class and of its parliamentary organs, the Mountain, was sure this time, as soon as the insurrection had broken out; and with that the resistance of a large portion of the army would be broken. But the occasion has been missed, partly from the cowardice of the parliamentary chiefs and the press, partly from the peculiar state of mind the people of Paris are in at present.

The working people of the capital are at present in a state of transition. The different socialist systems which, up to this time, have been discussed amongst them, no longer suffice to them; and it must be confessed, take all French systematic Socialism together, and there is not much in it of a very revolutionary nature. On the other hand the people, so many times deceived by their chiefs, have such a deep distrust towards all men who ever have acted as their leaders--not excepting even Barbes or Blanqui--that they are resolved not to make any movement in order to bring any of these leaders into office. Thus the whole working-class movement is about to take a different, far more revolutionary aspect. The people, once thinking for themselves, freed from the old socialist tradition, will soon find socialist and revolutionary formulas which shall express their wants and interests far more clearly than anything invented for them, by authors of systems and by declaiming leaders. And then, arrived thus at maturity, the people will again be enabled to avail themselves of whatever talent and courage may be found among the old leaders, without becoming the tail of any of them. And this state of the popular mind in Paris accounts for the indifference displayed by the people, at the destruction of Universal Suffrage. The great struggle is postponed for the day in which one or both of the two rival powers of the state, the President or the Assembly, will try to overthrow the Republic.

And this day must soon arrive. You recollect what was boasted in all the reactionary papers, about the cordial understanding between the President and the majority. Now, this cordial understanding has just resolved itself into the most deadly struggle between the two rivals. The President has been promised, as the price for his adhesion to the Electoral Law, an annual addition to his salary of 3,000,000 fr. (L120,000), which additional pay was most awfully wanted by the debt-ridden Louis Napoleon, besides being considered as the preliminary step to the prolongation of his presidency for ten years. The Electoral Law was hardly passed, when the ministers stepped in and asked for the three millions a year. But all at once the majority got frightened. They, who no longer consider the imbecile Louis Napoleon as a serious pretender, far from being ready to consent to the prolongation of his presidency, on the contrary want to get rid of him as soon as possible. They name a select committee to report on the Bill, and that committee reports against its adoption. Great consternation at the Elysee-National. Napoleon threatens abdication. A most serious collision between the two powers of the state is imminent. The ministry, a lot of bankers, a number of other "friends of order" interpose, with no result. Several "transactions" are proposed; in vain. At last an amendment is come to, which seems to satisfy all parties more or less. The majority, not quite sure as to the consequences of a rupture with the President, and having, as yet, not quite concluded the compact which is to unite the Legitimists and Orleanists into one party, seems to recoil a little, and to be ready to grant the money in another shape. The discussion is to come off on Monday; what the result will be no one can say. However, a serious rupture with Napoleon is, I think, not yet in the line of policy of the royalist majority.

The compact which is to unite the Orleanists and Legitimists, the younger and the elder branch of the house of Bourbon, is, at present, more than ever spoken of. It is a fact that most active negotiations are carried on with regard to this subject. The journey of Messrs. Thiers, Guizot, and others to the death-bed of Louis Philippe, at St. Leonards, had no other object than this. I shall not repeat to you the various versions as to the state of this affair, and the results obtained by the journey above mentioned. The daily papers have said more than enough about that. A fact, however, it is, that the Orleanist and Legitimist parties are in France pretty much agreed as to the conditions, and that the only difficulty is to have these conditions adopted by the two rival branches. Henry, Duke of Bordeaux, is to be made king, and as he has no children, the adoption of the Count of Paris, grandson of Louis Philippe, and heir to the throne by regular succession, is a matter almost of course, and offering no difficulties. The tricolour flag, besides, is to be maintained. The expected death of old Louis Philippe would facilitate this solution. He seems to have submitted to it, and the Duke of Bordeaux, too, appears to have accepted the agreement. The Duchess of Orleans, mother of the Count of Paris, and her brother-in-law, Joinville, are said to be the only obstacles in the way of a settlement. Louis Napoleon is to be paid off with ten millions of hard cash.

There is no doubt but this, or a similar settlement, will finally be come to; and as soon as this is done, the direct attack upon the Republic will follow. In the meantime, a preliminary engagement is to be commenced by the councils-general of the departments. They have been just called together before their regular time of meeting, and are expected to call upon the National Assembly to revise the constitution. The same thing was considered last year, but thought premature by the councils themselves. There is no doubt they will show considerably more pluck this time, particularly after the successful blow at the Suffrage. And then the occasion will come for the people to show that if they abstained from showing their power for a time, they are not willing to be thrust back to the most infamous epoch of the Restoration.

P.S.--I have just read a small pamphlet sold at three sous (halfpence) and given out gratis with the Republique. This pamphlet contains the most astounding disclosures as to the plots and conspiracies of the royalists, as far back as the spring of 1848. It is by one Borme, a witness examined in the trial of Barbes and Blanqui, at Bourges. He confesses himself a paid royalist agent, who at that trial committed gross perjury. He contends that the whole movement of the 15th of May, 1848, originated with the royalists, and many other things of a most curious character. There is something, too, which regards The Times. Borme gives name and address. He lives in Paris. The pamphlet is one which must call forth more disclosures still. I call your most earnest attention to it.

VIII.

Source: MECW Volume 10, p. 38-40;

Written: Paris, July 23th, 1850;

First published: in The Democratic Review in August 1850.

As I anticipated in my last, the dotation to Louis Bonaparte finally passed the Assembly--in substance allowing him the sum he wanted, in form humiliating him deeply before the eyes of all France. The Assembly then resumed its work of repression--taking up the press law. Atrocious as this law was when produced from the hand of its originator, M. Baroche, it was innocent and harmless compared with what the spite of the majority has made it. The majority, in its furious and yet impotent hatred against the press, has dealt out its blows almost blindfolded, not caring whether it hits the "good" or the "bad" press. Thus the "law of hatred" has been enacted. The caution money is raised. The stamp is re-established on newspapers. An extra stamp is put upon the "roman-feuilleton" that part of the newspaper which is dedicated to the publication of novels--a measure which would be quite incomprehensible if it was not a reply to the election of Eugene Sue, the effect of whose socialist novels has not yet been forgotten by the majority. All works published in weekly numbers or monthly parts of less than a certain size, are subjected to the stamp in the same manner as newspapers. And lastly, every paragraph appearing in a newspaper must be provided with the signature of the author.

This law, as the blind fury of the majority has made it, falls heavily, not only upon the socialist and republican press, but on the counter-revolutionary press: and perhaps far more heavily upon this than upon the opposition press. The names of the republican writers are pretty well known, and it matters little whether they sign their paragraphs or not; but let the Journal des Debats, the Assemblee nationale, the Pouvoir, the Constitutionnel, &c., be obliged to come out with the names of their contributors, and their leaders will immediately lose all influence even upon their class of readers. The name of a great daily paper, particularly an old-established one, is, to respectable people, always a respectable firm; but let these firms, Bertin and Co., Veron and Co., Delamarre and Co., once be dissolved into their literary components, let that mysterious "Co." once decompose into venal "penny-a-liners" of old standing, who, for hard cash, have defended all possible causes, such as Granier de Cassagnac, or into foolish old women calling themselves statesmen, such as Capefigue, let all the little men who raise loud voices and spout big articles once creep out into daylight under the new law, and you will see what a sad figure the respectable press will make.

It is true that, under the new law, by the enhanced price of newspapers a very numerous class of readers will be excluded from this mode of getting information. Both newspapers, cheap periodicals, and other popular publications will be above the reach of numerous working-men, and particularly of the majority of the country-people. But the press was always an auxiliary means merely to agitate the peasantry; this class being far more sensible to their own material sufferings and to the increase of taxation than to the declamations of the press; and as long as the present bourgeois government cannot find out the means--which it never can--to alleviate the weight of usury and taxation upon the peasantry, as long will there be discontent and "revolutionary tendencies", manifested amongst this newly-roused class. As to the working-men in the towns, they cannot be entirely excluded from seeing the newspapers, and if cheap periodical publications are stopped, they will make up for that by increasing secret societies, secret debating clubs, &c. But if the government, with respect to diminishing the number of revolutionary tracts and periodicals, have obtained some result, they have obtained it at the cost of ruining the whole of the publishing and bookselling trades; for it is impossible that these trades can subsist under the restrictions imposed by the new law. And thus this is very likely to contribute much to breaking up the party of order both in and out of the Assembly.

As soon as the law on the press was voted, the Assembly proceeded to give Louis Napoleon another broad hint that he was not to exceed the limits the constitution had placed him in. The Bonapartist paper, Le Pouvoir, had an article commenting in not very favourable terms upon the Assembly. An old law of the Restoration was dug up, and the publisher of the Pouvoir, arraigned at the bar for breach of privilege, and sentenced to 5,000fr. (L200) fine, which fine was, of course, immediately paid. The penalty was not very severe, but the act of the Assembly was sufficiently significant. "We strike low but we mean to hit higher," said a member, and was loudly applauded.

The Assembly then resolved to suspend its sitting for three months, from the 11th of August next. As provided by the constitution, it had to elect a commission of twenty-five members, which is to remain at Paris during the adjournment, and to watch the executive power. The chiefs of the majority, believing Louis Napoleon to be sufficiently humiliated, drew up a list of these candidates, including none but members of the majority, Orleanists, Moderate Legitimists, some Bonapartists, no Republicans nor ultra-legitimists. But in the vote all the Bonapartists have been thrown out, and in their stead some Moderate Republicans and several ultra-legitimists have been elected, thus again showing the disposition of the Assembly to have none of the coup d'e'tat which Louis Napoleon is always dreaming of.

I do not expect that there will be anything serious until the experiment is made to upset the Republic; be it by the President, or be it by one of the royalist factions. This would, no doubt, rouse the people from their torpor; and this is an event which must take place between now and May 1852, hut at what precise epoch it is impossible to predict.