RG

IN CONTEXT

IDEOLOGY

Socialism

FOCUS

Revolutionary criticism

BEFORE

1748 Montesquieu analyzes different forms of government, distinguishing republics from monarchies and despotisms.

1789 The French Revolution begins, stimulating a period of revolutionary activity in France and beyond.

AFTER

1861 Serfdom is abolished in Russia by Tsar Alexander II, after growing pressure from liberals and radicals.

1890 The German Social Democratic Party is legalized, and starts on the road toward a reformist socialist party.

1917 The Russian Revolution sweeps away the tsarist regime, bringing the Bolsheviks to power.

The Russian revolutionary Alexander Herzen began his collection of essays From the Other Shore in 1848, the year of the failed revolutions in Europe. In it he conjured the image of a ship sailing for new lands that runs into gales and storms, representing the hopes and uncertainties of the time. But by 1850, in the collection’s later essays, Herzen believed that real revolutionary fervor had been dampened, and betrayed by a more conservative vision of reform.

In one essay, Herzen lampooned the republican celebrations held in France in September 1848. He argued that beneath the pomp and slogans, the “old Catholic-feudal order” remained intact. He claimed that this had prevented realization of the authentic ideal of revolution—true liberty for all. Many of the liberals who professed to support revolution were in fact scared of its logical conclusion—the sweeping away of the old order entirely. Instead, Herzen claimed, they sought to secure freedom for their own circle, not for the worker with his “axe and blackened hands.” The architects of the republic had, in a sense, broken the chains but left the prison walls standing, making them “assassins of freedom.” Herzen believed that society was suffering contradictions that were dulling its vitality and creativity. Many shared his disappointment with the 1848 revolutions, and his writings influenced the populist movements that followed.

RG

The penal colonies of French Guiana were extended in the 19th century. Despite the French Revolution of 1789, feudal-era punishments continued.

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