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The Sans-Culottes

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The French Revolution (1789-1799) was the defining moment of the modern history of the western world, indeed all humanity, its impact has been felt across every corner of the globe since that time. To some, it is associated not only with the start of the modern era in which we reside, but also with the rights of man, modern democracy, secularism & rationalism, for others, the followers of Edmund Burke and his reactionary ilk, it is the very abomination that has led to the masses questioning & rising against their "social superiors" and against the "natural" organic structure of society.
The French Revolution itself was high drama of epic proportions, as the Revolution went through various stages with increasing tensions and ferocity as the monarchies of Europe, initially pleased at the weakening of the Bourbons, became alarmed at the implications for their own survival and eventually ranged against the Revolution determined to defeat it and its incarnations, a conflict that would not end until the defeat of Revolutionary France in 1815 with the restoration of the Bourbons.
While the names of the galaxy of prominent revolutionary leaders, Mirabeau, Sieyès (the famous author of "What is the Third Estate?"), Brissot, Vergniaud, Pétion, Marat, Danton, Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon, Lepelletier Saint-Fargeau, François-Noël Gracchus Babeuf & Philippe Lebas are well-known, for a long time it was difficult to discern the thoughts and objectives of the "masses." Were the leaders truly in accord with them or did the concerns of the revolutionary masses diverge from their middle-class leadership in the Revolution, if it was indeed the "leadership" they accepted? In his ground-breaking work the sublime and simply brilliant historian Albert Soboul (incidentally, Soboul was the disciple of Georges Lefebvre) answers this question about a fascinating force in history, making their mark, at the most critical juncture of the French Revolution during Year II [of the Revolutionary Calendar] when Revolutionary France was on the brink of being overwhelmed by the counter-revolution. The San-Culottes were already on the verge of making their presence known when they were dealt a blow by the royalist reactionary Lafayette at the Champ de Mars Massacre. They were to return with a vengeance, as the war situation deteriorated, on the great journée of 10 August when the monarchy was finally overthrown. From that moment until 9 Thermidor of the Year II, no government in Paris could function without the support of the San-Culottes and considering the fact that it was that government, the National Convention in harmony with the Committee of Public Safety which remained unchanged from July 1793 to July 1794, which defended the Revolution at its most vulnerable the significance of the San-Culottes as a force in history gains immense currency. So who were the San-Culottes? They were certainly not an "embryonic" working-class, pre-figuring the industrial working classes, as some Marxist scholars tried to claim. Far from it, indeed the San-Culottes were not against property, they were property holders themselves. Their professions ranged from that of the ordinary journeyman, to shopkeepers, cabinet-makers and carpenters, to name but a few. And their professional designations could be misleading, the "carpenter" Maurice Duplay, who hosted the extremely popular Jacobin revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (the "Incorruptible") in Paris, actually employed a number of journeymen himself and was quite well-off. The San-Culottes were certainly conscious, of what they wanted from the revolutionary regimes and were not beyond seizing what they demanded as just or overthrowing regimes that threatened to stray from the ideals and goals of the Revolution. They were for instance pivotal in the journées of May 31 - June 2, 1793 which overthrew the Gironde. The most visible manifestation of the San-Culottes was of course their clothing (hence the term "Sans-Culotte"), the almost obligatory Red Cap of Liberty & and their abhorrence of all things associated with the Ancien Regime and aristocracy. It was the San-Culottes who manned the dreaded Committees of the Sections of Paris. It was their support and demand for his elevation that ultimately propelled Robespierre (the politician they trusted & admired the most amongst the radical Jacobin revolutionaries of the middle-classes) to the Committee of Public Safety in July 1793 (along with politicians directly associated with the San-Culottes, such as Collot d' Herbois and Billaud-Varenne) and it was their co-operation which allowed the Revolutionary Government to conduct the defense of the Republic & carry out the Terror against enemies of the Revolution. At the height of their power & influence the San-Culottes had their own army for both anti-counter-revolutionary activities and ensuring vital supplies for Paris. Their influence began to wane with the purge of the Hébertists, which crucially weakened the independence of the Paris Commune and the National Guard. The confusion which ensued eventuallly led to a breech between the San-Culottes and the Revolutionary Government with Robespierre at its head. Thus on 9 Thermidor of the Year II the San-Culottes were almost indifferent when Robespierre was overthrown. They did regroup with the remaining Jacobins, once they realized their error, to attempt to take on the Thermidorians, but tragically, as with so many historical moments which hinge on critical timing, by then the revolutionary moment had passed and the San-Culottes were swept away in the days of Prairial of Year III ( May 1795). The San-Culottes had always had a very clear list of demands which they expected the revolutionary regime and its leaders to fulfill diligently and as expeditiously as possible. Direct democracy, the right to education for their children, economic controls, the right to recall representatives, to name but a few ideas, had been some of their fixed egalitarian demands from the revolutionary governments they supported. Very few revolutionary leaders of the middle-classes would have been willing (except for the truly radical Montagnards like Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Saint-Just, Jean-Paul Marat and François-Noël Gracchus Babeuf, in this regard it must of course be remembered that it was Saint-Just who was the author of the Laws of Ventôse), or able, to deliver on those demands, and thus a break in the relationship which was forged during the crisis of Year II was almost inevitable. A most fascinating historical work, about an amazing revolutionary force in history, standing on its own almost without comparison. This is essential for both scholars of the French Revolution & those wishing for a better understanding of the events that defined that revolutionary age.