The technological advances of the time also facilitated, to some extent, spreading ideas to more readers as a ‘print culture’ developed. The widespread availability of the ideas which developed out of the Enlightenment and the fact that around half of the population of France could read resulted in an increasing level of public opinion on politics. Consequently, a huge number of French citizens came to question the legacy of absolutist rule and the role of the nobility. This went some way towards introducing the concept of setting up a republic in France to rid them of the monarchy’s unfair taxation methods and military demands, amongst others. Rodney Bruce Hall illustrates this fact by writing that, ‘The first act of the French National Assembly, upon learning of the plans of Louis XVI to restore absolutist rule in France...was to radically assert the collective identity of the sovereign people of France by destroying the institution of the monarchy.’ However, T C W Blanning suggests that evidence from the cahiers de doleances hints that ‘Enlightenment had not created a revolutionary mentality, that most people wanted moderate reform.’
In Russia, the link between the initial theory of communism from Marx and Engels and the actual events in Russia during 1917 is clear but perhaps more complex than in the case of France. The authors of ‘The Communist Manifesto’ were based in England whilst writing the book and the climate there was quite different to the one in early 20th Century Russia. England’s industry was advancing rapidly with radical technological breakthroughs which increased the efficiency of manufacturing processes and transport across the country. This contrasts with Russia because it was only in its early stages of industrial development and the proletariat was in no position to rise to ‘the position of the ruling class to win the battle of democracy’. However, the aim which is engrained in Marx’s work is that sense that ‘the history of class struggles’ must be confronted and this is a key element of the causes of the Russian Revolution.
The role of a leader in any group is an extremely important one and the ideas of the leader tend to dictate the ideas of the group. A strong, focused leadership is a key element in causing a revolution and it can certainly be argued that both Lenin and the Bolsheviks in 20th Century Russia and the number of revolutionaries in 18th Century France which included men like Marquis de Lafayette and the priest, Abbe Sieyes. In fact, the weaknesses of both the French Louis XVI and the Russian Nicholas III can be held partially culpable for the rebellions in the sense that their contrast with passionate new leaders was clearly visible.
It could be argued that the role of a strong leader was of greater importance in the Russian Revolution because of Lenin’s work in developing a form of communism (sometimes referred to as ‘Leninism’) which was tailored to meet the needs of Russia and his efforts to maintain the Bolsheviks as a serious and hard line political entity. This contrasts with France in the 18th Century where there was no specific leader and some so-called leaders were classed as part of the nobility which was supposedly discredited at the time. He redefined Marx’s communism in order to sidestep decades of historical development and implement a communist state in Russia ahead of ‘The Communist Manifesto’s suggested timeframe. He came up with a policy of ‘Bread, Peace and Land’ to attract support from the proletariat who were in need of all three. He permitted a split in the Russian communist party to keep the Bolsheviks as a closed party which acted more as an elite vanguard than a political party. In his book, ‘Lenin’, Robert Conquest discusses Lenin’s role in the Russian Revolution, detailing the amount of personal effort Lenin put into the movement. He conclusively states that, ‘[Lenin] was to offer [the people] the only political organisation standing for the total and immediate overthrow of capitalism.’
A.J.P Taylor in 1961 wrote that ‘no matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic’. This statement holds a huge degree of truth as most of the problems that arise within a society or political system can be directly linked to economic difficulties, not just in the period leading up to the Second World War, but throughout history as a whole. In both France and Russia, significant economic problems emerged in the period before the revolutions.
The French had been experiencing long term economic hardship as well as the mounting crisis of the 1780s. Between 1785 and 1788 there was a serious fiscal crisis. The tax system was weak and uncontrolled in a way that it tended to hit the middle classes particularly harshly. Financing the military was also proving difficult and the country essentially went bankrupt in 1787 as finances were frozen. As a result a reinstatement of the Estates General was called for. The unfairness of the situation, however, was merely perceived as unfair. There were several finance ministers who attempted to make positive economic changes but they were never in place for long enough to see the changes come about. The harvest failures in 1788 and 1789 hit the French agrarian economy particularly hard and only served to further exacerbate the issues the French middle classes already had with the way their country was ruled.
There were also a number of economic problems in Russia in the period leading up to 1917. The results of rapid industrialisation were felt in the cities as workers who moved there from the country discovered that they were paid a pittance to work in horrendous conditions. Russia’s involvement in the First World War was also draining its economic resources as men were being killed by the dozen on the eastern front because they ‘lacked sufficient rifles and artillery shells’ and the country’s financial system was barely functioning. Merriman also writes that ‘worsening material conditions radicalized many workers, particularly in trade unions that had sprung up since February 1917’. This highlights how the proletariat were not content with the Provisional Government and is a partial cause of the drive towards the October Revolution.
Other social problems, which are not directly related to economic issues, add to the sense of disgruntlement amongst certain social groups and can, consequently, lead to rebellion. These problems are often related to religion or the class hierarchy which was still evident in both the 18th and 20th centuries in France and Russia respectively.
In France, the social problems lay mainly in the existence of the nobility and the privileges they experienced as well as issues relating to the Catholic Church and its role in uniting the population. Conor Cruise O’Brien discusses how nationalism became prevalent throughout France as a result of the institutions of the Church, the monarchy and the privileged nobility being discredited which was essentially an undermining of the ‘ancien regime’. He explicitly states that ‘by the second half of the 18th Century, there was a yawning emotional void, left by the discredited notions of God and king.’ The failure of France in the Seven Years War highlighted the differences between Catholic countries and the reformed Protestant countries such as Britain. In addition, the French national pride which was previously invested in the monarchy became focused on the nation itself and the sovereignty of its people. In the class-based society, social order was clearly apparent. The nobility were granted privileges such as tax exemption and their roles in the running of the country were visibly corrupt. These factors added to the growing disgruntlement of the French bourgeois and were consequently instrumental in causing rebellion.
In Russia, the rising awareness of class differentiation was also an issue. However, in the rural areas of Russia the substantial number of peasants, which made up the bulk of the population, even in 1917, had a hand in the eventual revolution. L A Owen expresses their importance in his book, ‘The Russian Peasant Movement’ by stating that the agrarian revolution of 1917, in which the peasants took control of much of the rural lands in Russia, was of some significance in October 1917 as it is an expression of their rebellion against capitalist rule. The wide gulf between the embittered and youthful proletariat and the old fashioned capitalist aristocracy was a clear social issue and the weaknesses of the monarchy to provide the working class and peasantry with a voice both helped spark rebellion.
In conclusion, it is easy to say that, yes; the rise of new forms of collective identity plays a significant role in causing rebellions. However, the difficulty lies in determining what causes these collective identities to become popular and whether they are informed by impassioned idealists or dictated to by their economic and social environments. There is clearly a balance between the two. Inspiration from the philosophes during the Enlightenment is clear in the French Revolution and Marx’s communist ideals are more than evident in the Russian Revolution of October 1917. But in both cases, the ideas were adapted to suit the contemporary climates of both countries. These adaptations were made by the leaders of the revolts and this demonstrates one of the ways in which leadership is instrumental in causing rebellions. In both cases, the masses were not motivated to cause revolution from simply reading a book of theories; they were essentially rebelling to demand positive economic and social change in their respective countries.
Psychology 7th Edition Norton 2007 Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross Chapter 13
The French Revolution Alan Woods 1989 (www.marxist.com/History/french_revolution)
Psychology 7th Edition Norton 2007 Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross Chapter 13
Psychology 7th Edition Norton 2007 Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross Chapter 13
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 9 Enlightened Thought page 335
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 9 Enlightened Thought page 336
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 7 Age of Absolutism page 265
National Collective Identity Rodney Bruce Hall CU Press page 44
The French Revolution T C W Blanning Page 51
The Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels source
The Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels source
The French Revolution T C W Blanning Page 55
Lenin Robert Conquest Collins page 82
Origins of the Second World War AJP Taylor Penguin 2001 page 67
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 12
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 23 page 1018
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 23 page 1030
The Permanent Revolution Conor Cruise O’Brien essay Nationalism Fontana Press Page 19
A History of Modern Europe J Merriman Norton Chapter 12
The Russian Peasant Movement 1906 – 1917 L A Owen London page 16