The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (103 page)

Liberty to express opinions and ideas without hindrance, and especially without fear of punishment. Despite the constitutional guarantee of free speech in the United States, legal systems have not treated freedom of speech as absolute. Among the more obvious restrictions on the freedom to say just what one likes where one likes are laws regulating incitement, sedition, defamation, slander and libel, blasphemy, the expression of racial hatred, and conspiracy. The liberal tradition has generally defended freedom of the sort of speech which does not violate others' rights or lead to predictable and avoidable harm, but it has been fierce in that defence because a free interchange of ideas is seen as an essential ingredient of democracy and resistance to tyranny, and as an important agent of improvement. The distinction between an action falling under the description of speech and one which does not is not clear cut, because many non-verbal actions can be seen as making a statement—for example, burning a flag or destroying a symbol. Again, valued freedom of speech embraces publication—writing, broadcasting, distributing recordings—as well as oral delivery of ideas.
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See
Enlightenment, French
.

 
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(1789)The first modern revolution because it changed the structure of society, rather than simply replacing the existing ruler or even the political regime, and created new ideologies to explain its course when nothing suitable could be adopted from the past. It produced the modern doctrine of
nationalism
, and spread it directly throughout Western Europe, something that has had enormous indirect consequences up to the present. The European wars of 1792–1815, sparked off by the French Revolution, spread both revolutionary ideas and nationalism (although the only newly free state created by the French Revolution was Haiti). The French Revolution also provided the empirical origin of modern theories of revolution, including that of
Marx
, as well as an important model for subsequent revolutions. Part of the reason for this was that France was pre-industrial, just as many of the countries that underwent subsequent revolutions were to be. Interpretations of the French Revolution have varied enormously, depending upon the political position and historical views of the writer, and the information available.
The relationship between the French
Enlightenment
and the Revolution is extremely complex.
Burke
blamed the Enlightenment, in which he included
Rousseau
, for the Revolution. But while the Enlightenment spread a sceptical rationalism, it did not propose the extremism or the political solutions adopted during the Revolution.
Before 1789, France combined an absolute monarchy with feudalism. As
Tocqueville
first suggested, this was, in effect, the result of an arrangement whereby the aristocracy was exempted from taxation in return for not interfering with the king's policy. The latter was, however, fundamentally limited by the former even under Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1714), the most absolute of French kings. Because the wealthy paid no taxes, there was a permanent fiscal crisis, and the effects were only avoided by taxing the rest heavily, and by using the most extraordinary manoeuvres in selling offices and letters of nobility. Because of its fiscal privilege, the aristocracy felt no need for a parliamentary system such as developed in England.
The Revolution proper started in 1789 and ended ten years later. There had been a series of political and social crises leading up to it, including widespread popular discontent because of poverty made worse by poor harvests. The royal treasury's normal state of near bankruptcy had become desperate because of help given to the American revolt against Britain. Attempts in 1787 and 1788 by ministers of Louis XVI (reigned 1774–92) to address the financial problem by reducing the privileges of the aristocracy (and the clergy) produced what amounted to revolt on their part. They induced him to call, for May 1789, the first meeting since 1614 of the Estates General, an assembly of representatives of feudal society. This body consisted of the First Estate, the clergy, the Second, the aristocracy, and the Third, the rest. The aristocracy expected to dominate the Estates General and although the king had decided in December 1788 that the Third Estate would have the same number of representatives as the other two together, they were still intended to sit and vote separately. If the First and Second agreed, they would always have defeated the Third.
None of the estates was united. Each was divided between rich and poor members, and among different interest groups. When the Estates General met, the Third Estate withdrew and declared itself the National Assembly, inviting the others to join it. After some of the first two estates, especially the clergy, joined the Third, the king ordered them to combine into a single chamber, which then declared itself competent to give a new constitution to France.
On 14 July 1789, the fortress in Paris known as the Bastille, then used as a prison, was seized and demolished as a symbol of despotism. In fact, although this event has been celebrated almost ever since as a national holiday, it contained only seven prisoners, and it is even possible that the demolition had already been ordered by the existing regime.
On 4 August, remaining privileges, and effectively
feudalism
, were abolished, although various remnants continued in dispute. The Revolution continued, becoming more and more extreme as different groups succeeded for a time in gaining control. The wealth of the clergy was transferred to the nation and priests were required to accept civil status, which led to papal condemnation.
Eventually, in 1791, the king attempted to escape from France, but was arrested. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished, France was proclaimed a Republic, and the king was put on trial. A new calendar was adopted, starting with Year I, with ten new months, named after prevailing weather conditions, in place of the old. In 1793, the king was executed, and Robespierre , leader of the Jacobins, succeeded in becoming effective leader of the Committee of Public Safety, from which position he and his followers brought about the Terror in which thousands were summarily executed for supposed crimes against the Revolution. After a year, Robespierre fell, and was himself executed. Various schemes to reorganize government were tried, none of which worked for long, and eventually Napoleon Bonaparte succeeded with a
coup d'état
in 1799 which eventually led to his election as emperor in 1804.
Although started by the privileged, control of the Revolution rapidly passed to the middle classes and then, for a time, to the
sans-culottes
(the nearest translation is ‘the lower orders’, while the French name indicates that they did not wear breeches as did the wealthy, but trousers) in Paris who were poor and extreme. Robespierre and the Jacobins obtained power with their support against their rivals, the
Girondins
, mainly because they were willing to accept the
sans-culottes
demand for strict control of food prices, especially bread. Their failure to carry out the policy in full explains why the
sans-culottes
did not intervene on Robespierre's behalf when he was under attack. The price of bread was crucial because even in normal times, it took half the expenditure of the majority of the population, and in difficult times, much more.
After Robespierre fell, control passed back to the middle classes. Napoleon's success represented a change in that it was based upon a desire for internal order and victory abroad, although it was presented as the only way to keep the Revolution's achievements.
The view of the Revolution, following
Marx
, as the replacement of a feudal economic system, based on agriculture and a rigid social hierarchy, by capitalism, based on industry with hierarchy established in the market, is far too crude. One aspect of the abolition of privilege was the reinforcement of the peasantry, both that which continued from before 1789 and the new members who joined it as a result of the disposal of land previously owned by the Church and some of the aristocracy. This class continues to exist and to wield considerable political influence.
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