Originally published at: 劝君少骂雅各宾——论雅各宾派的历史地位 – 曙光
Editorial Department of the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Proletariat
In 1789, the glorious French Revolution broke out. It swept across Europe and shook the world, smashing France’s stubborn feudal system that had persisted for thousands of years. The French Revolution was the largest and most thoroughly purged bourgeois revolution in world history. It not only paved the way for the development of capitalism in France but also had a profound influence on bourgeois revolutions in other countries. The Jacobin faction, representing the interests of the petty bourgeoisie and small bourgeoisie, made significant contributions to consolidating the revolutionary regime for the bourgeoisie. With the support of the people, they overthrew the rule of feudal aristocrats, constitutionalists, and the Girondins, and carried out revolutionary terror against counterrevolutionary feudal forces and the large bourgeoisie; they organized a mighty revolutionary army, repelled domestic and foreign counterrevolutionary attacks, and defended the nascent revolutionary regime; they limited the speculative activities of the large bourgeoisie, maintaining the operation of the wartime French economy... The climax of the French Revolution—the Jacobin dictatorship—“did a lot for this class, for the class it served, and even the entire 19th century, the century of civilization and culture for all mankind, was marked by the French Revolution.”[1] The famous bourgeois slogan “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” was uttered by Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins. Under this slogan, the Jacobins fought fiercely to defend the newly established bourgeois regime. Without the Jacobin dictatorship, there would be no subsequent capitalism.
The Jacobins were loyal to the cause of capitalism and fought resolutely against feudal forces. Therefore, all feudal forces hated the Jacobins extremely, which is not surprising because they were enemies of capitalism. However, today’s attacks on the Jacobins come precisely from their bourgeois descendants—those who, on the one hand, brutally dictatorship over the people, and on the other, hypocritically call the Jacobin dictatorship “brutal,” which raises questions. Modern bourgeois historians falsely claim that the revolutionary dictatorship of the Jacobins against counterrevolutionaries was “indiscriminate killing,” betraying the “revolutionary comrades” of the past, and also say that the Jacobins’ restrictions on high prices “hindered free competition of capitalism.” According to them, it was precisely the “extreme” policies of the Jacobins that enraged all classes in France, ultimately leading to their overthrow by the “Just” Thermidorian Reaction. But falsehoods are false, and truth cannot be false. The slanders against the Jacobins are all unsubstantiated. The history of the rise and fall of the Jacobins proves: from fighting the Constitutionalist and Royalist parties to fighting the Girondins and the Amnesty faction, every victory of the Jacobins was in line with the demands of the people and the development of history. Every revolutionary policy they implemented was correct and necessary, and cannot be negated by the guillotine of the Jacobins. We should follow Mao Zedong’s principle of “Use the old for the new, the foreign for the Chinese,” to examine the history of the Jacobins, give a fair evaluation, and learn beneficial revolutionary experience from the two-line struggle in the French Revolution.
1. The Origin of the Jacobins and Their Struggle Against the Constitutionalists and the Royalists
On July 14, 1789, the revolutionary French people stormed the Bastille, overthrowing the thousands-year-old feudal monarchy in France. “Undoubtedly, the main issue of any revolution is the question of state power. Who holds the power determines everything.” After the feudal despotism of the French monarchy was overthrown, the central issue of the French Revolution became which class or political group would seize the leadership and establish a regime that served their interests. During this period, all classes and political factions in French society actively fought over the question of power. The Jacobins emerged as the most progressive bourgeois revolutionary faction in this context.
The Jacobins were a small to medium bourgeoisie faction born in the early stages of the French Revolution, mostly composed of lower bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie intellectuals[4]. Politically, they were guided by Rousseau’s democratic ideas of the petty bourgeoisie and advocated for more thorough bourgeois democracy through revolutionary means. Soon after the outbreak of the French Revolution, petty bourgeoisie across France gathered in the Jacobin monastery in Paris, secretly holding various meetings opposing feudal monarchy despotism. They propagated revolutionary ideas and established the Jacobin Club, led by Robespierre, Marat, and others[5], representing the petty bourgeoisie and participating actively in the revolution.
“New and correct things in history often do not get the recognition of the majority at the beginning, but develop through struggle in a tortuous way.”[6] From its inception, the Jacobins, with few members and weak strength, faced revolutionary tasks fighting against various counterrevolutionaries and compromise elements within the bourgeoisie. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the first to come to power was the Constitutionalists (also called the Fédéralists), who initially had strong support from the monarchy and represented the interests of the financial aristocracy and the new nobility. They had no revolutionary demands and maintained close ties with feudal forces. Once in power, they hurriedly declared the revolution over and sought to hinder its further development. In 1791, the Constitution-controlled National Assembly hastily promulgated the “Constitution of 1791,” establishing France as a constitutional monarchy, giving the king extensive powers, and restricting voting rights based on tax payments, rendering the broad masses of the French people “passive citizens” without voting rights. The promulgation of this constitution marked the betrayal of the revolution by the Constitutionalists, who colluded with feudal landlords and turned to counterrevolution.
In addition, the Jacobins fiercely criticized this reactionary constitution that deprived the broad masses of the people of any rights and even excluded the bourgeoisie of industry and commerce. Robespierre angrily pointed out: “If the king’s actions bring chaos and calamities to the country, if he leads armies of rebels and foreigners to trample on the country and bury the freedom and happiness of the world in ruins, will he be inviolable?”[7] Despite their relative naivety and compromise at this stage, the Jacobins did not intend to abolish monarchy immediately but only sought a constitutional monarchy more favorable to the petty bourgeoisie than the one proposed by the Constitutionalists. However, to oppose the Constitutionalists’ monopolization of power, the Jacobins formed an alliance with the Girondins, who still supported the revolution, and with the Parisian sans-culottes—those who wore no trousers—fighting politically and ideologically against the Constitutionalists.
Under the leniency of the Constitutionalists, the Royalist faction became more rampant. The feudal landlords, still dreaming of restoring monarchy, took Louis XVI, who still sat on the throne, as their representative and began seeking their agents within the revolutionary ranks, forming alliances with the Constitutionalists representing financial capital interests. Early in the revolution, Louis XVI secretly conspired with the Constitutionalist general Lafayette, claiming he “had absolute trust” in Lafayette. Lafayette reciprocated, often protecting the king in various settings, even handing over the power to appoint ministers to the king and granting him an annual royal allowance of 25 million livres, enjoying generous treatment.
However, the treacherous Louis XVI was not content to be a puppet controlled by the Third Estate. He attempted to flee abroad, seeking refuge with European feudal monarchs, using European reactionary armies to restore the Bourbon monarchy overthrown by the revolution. Although his escape ultimately failed, it greatly angered the French people, who gathered at the Marseilles square in Paris demanding the abolition of monarchy. At this moment, the Constitutionalists’ general Lafayette ordered the unarmed crowd to open fire, bloodying the peaceful demonstration and causing the infamous “Massacre on the Marseilles Square.” This showed that the Constitutionalists had long been in collusion with feudal landlords, both aiming to suppress the revolution, and were the “true traitors to the Great Revolution.”[8] At this stage, the Jacobins remained compromised; they initially advocated participation in petitions but withdrew halfway. However, this incident made the Jacobins realize that the Constitutionalists were the enemies of the revolution. To push the revolution forward and seize the state power held by the Constitutionalists, they had no choice but to fight to the end.
After the escape and the massacre, the Constitutionalists, under pressure from the people, signed the 1791 Constitution, declaring Louis XVI innocent of treason. Despite this, Louis XVI and the landlord class behind him would not give up. They continued plotting counterrevolutionary restoration, even more fiercely. Louis XVI used his veto power granted by the constitution to repeatedly block progressive laws beneficial to capitalism, and with malicious intent, proposed “export of revolution,” advocating for France to wage war against all European monarchies, aiming to overthrow the bourgeois regime and restore the Bourbon monarchy under the protection of monarchist armies. The Girondins also passed relevant laws to facilitate this, attempting to use European reactionary armies to slaughter revolutionary forces and overthrow the French bourgeois regime, aiming to regain power under the protection of monarchist bayonets. Meanwhile, Queen Marie Antoinette boasted in her letters: “A bunch of fools, they don’t see this is serving us,” eagerly awaiting the restoration of feudalism. Later, she became a super spy for European reactionary monarchs, shamefully betraying information to Austrian troops. The French royal family had become the biggest traitor within the revolutionary regime.
To expose the crimes of the French royal family and oppose exporting the revolution to all of Europe and the world, and to prevent the French Revolution from being buried by the “left” opportunism of the “sister republics” and “republican circles,” Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, repeatedly spoke out against the absurd remarks of the French royal family and the Girondins, advocating for national self-determination in foreign policy and using violence internally to suppress counterrevolutionaries. In the Jacobin Club, Robespierre delivered a speech titled “On the Court’s War Conspiracy,” condemning the French royal family’s evil plot to use war to invite foreign intervention to overthrow the French bourgeois regime. He pointed out that this war “is an enemy’s war against the French Revolution,” and that “war should not be declared now; first, weapons must be produced everywhere, and the National Guard must be armed... Some strict measures must be taken... ministers guilty of crimes must be punished, and priests inciting rebellion must be suppressed... War should begin with prosecuting rebels and seizing their property.”[9] Later, in “The True Conspirators in France,” Robespierre believed that France’s blind initiation of foreign wars would only lead to opposition from all nations, placing France in an isolated position against internal and external enemies, and opposed the idea of exporting revolution through war, emphasizing internal unity and revolutionary suppression.
Although Robespierre’s and the Jacobins’ correct policies were opposed by the bourgeoisie and the monarchy at the time and thus not adopted, this fully demonstrated the revolutionary character of the Jacobins as the progressive bourgeois faction. Subsequently, history proved their foresight. After declaring war on European monarchies, France suffered internal betrayal and continued reliance on the old decayed system, resulting in defeat on the battlefield, with anti-French European armies invading Paris. On May 25, 1792, the anti-French coalition’s commander, Duke of Brunswick, issued the “Brunswick Manifesto,” threatening to massacre Paris if the French people harmed the royal family. The reactionary forces clamored, and the newly formed bourgeois regime faced the serious danger of being overthrown by internal and external counterrevolutionaries.
At this critical moment, the Constitutionalists remained passive. Lafayette, the commander of the army, even abandoned the front lines, ignoring the war situation, and returned to Paris to deliver a venomous speech attacking the Jacobins, calling for the dissolution of the Jacobin Club, and threatening to use armed coups and counterrevolutionary violence to maintain reactionary rule. However, the people, full of revolutionary fury, crushed his conspiracy one after another: soldiers influenced by revolutionary ideas refused to obey his orders; royalists and monarchists, under popular pressure, refused to cooperate with him; his speech was fiercely opposed by all revolutionary classes and strata. Ultimately, Lafayette, cornered, fled in disgrace toward Austria, becoming a blatant traitor, ending up imprisoned in Prussia. The internal reactionary stance of the Constitutionalists—opposing revolution and capitulating externally—was fully exposed.
In contrast to the Constitutionalists, the Jacobins stood on the side of the bourgeois revolutionary camp, advocating to continue the revolution, pointing out that “only by striking Lafayette can France be saved,” demanding the abolition of the monarchy and the implementation of a republic. They withstood the strong pressure from the Constitutionalists, and on August 10, 1792, they launched an uprising with the Parisian populace mainly composed of sans-culottes, overthrowing the Constitutionalists’ rule, arresting Louis XVI and other royal family members and Constitutionalists, effectively abolishing the monarchy. On September 21, the First National Convention was convened, with the Girondins seizing revolutionary leadership and taking power, officially taking over the government previously controlled by the Constitutionalists. In January 1793, under the anger of the people, the Girondins-controlled Convention was forced to agree to the Jacobins’ proposal to execute Louis XVI for treason. From then on, the Constitutionalists and their political allies, the Royalist Party, collapsed, and the struggle between the Jacobins and the Constitutionalists and Royalists achieved a major victory. Relying on the support of the people, they expanded their power within the revolutionary government, becoming a significant political force.
However, today’s bourgeoisie, on one hand, fiercely attacks the justice of the Jacobins’ execution of Louis XVI, and on the other hand, romanticizes Louis XVI as a “people’s-hearted,” “gentle and kind” good king, which fully demonstrates their counterrevolutionary political essence. In this regard, Robespierre once said: “Louis must die because the motherland must live”[11]. To develop and consolidate the nascent bourgeois regime, there was no room for compromise between the Jacobins, the Royalist Party, and the Constitutionalists. The shift of the Jacobins from supporting constitutional monarchy to supporting the republic was an inevitable result of the wave of class struggle, which precisely shows that there has never been any supra-class, abstract “tyranny.” The revolutionary violence carried out by the Jacobins against the Constitutionalists and the Royalists was by no means the “tyranny” slandered by bourgeois historians, but merely a continuation of the revolution in line with the class struggle at that time. Such violence is necessary and just.
On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI, the landlord, traitor, double-dealer, traitor, and tyrant, was beheaded on the guillotine amid the anger of the French people, ending his sinful life.
2. The struggle of the Jacobins against the Girondins and the establishment of the Jacobin dictatorship
The Girondins replaced the Constitutionalists and came to power. The Girondins represented the large bourgeoisie of industry and commerce, a class with deep contradictions with the feudal system—feudal guilds, patent companies, numerous toll stations, and inconsistent weights and measures all seriously hindered their industrial and commercial activities. The bourgeoisie of industry and commerce had participated in the democratic republic movement, but due to the heavy burden of private property, they hesitated in the revolution, especially fearing that mass movements would threaten their private property. Therefore, they were often wavering and compromising in pushing the revolution forward. After the Girondins seized power, this wavering and compromising tendency further developed into counterrevolutionary tendencies. After the overthrow of the constitutional monarchy, the broad masses of the French people were not satisfied; they wanted revolution, aiming to thoroughly destroy the feudal shackles imposed on them for over a thousand years and to overthrow the feudal political system and its relations of production. To prevent the feudal system from being restored with the support of counterrevolutionary forces at home and abroad, and to more thoroughly eliminate obstacles to capitalist development, the petty bourgeoisie also demanded to push the revolution further. They were weak and unable to confront the feudal landlords and the large bourgeoisie alone, so they often sought support from the people in their struggles against these classes. However, for the large bourgeoisie of industry and commerce, with the abolition of monarchy and the clearing of obstacles on the path of capitalist development, it was time to “get off the train.” To end the revolution at this point, the Girondins even denied that the restoration of the old regime was the main danger at that time, colluded with the Royalist Party, and turned their guns against the revolutionary masses and the Jacobins, effectively becoming agents of feudal forces within the revolutionary ranks and surrendering factions. Thus, the Jacobins continued to ally with the people, while the Girondins colluded with the Royalists and other counterrevolutionary forces, and sharp conflicts erupted on various fronts over whether to continue the revolution or revert to reactionary restoration.
Regarding how to deal with the treacherous king, the Girondins, in order to prevent the revolution from becoming “too radical,” formed an alliance with feudal forces, insisted on protecting Louis XVI, and advocated “postponing his trial until after the war.” The revolutionary Jacobins and the masses demanded immediate trial and execution of the king to further suppress counterrevolutionary arrogance and consolidate the revolutionary achievements. The Girondins did everything possible to delay the investigation and trial of Louis XVI, even citing the decree on the “inviolability” of the person of the king in the 1791 Constitution to oppose his execution. Only later, when the treasonous correspondence found in the iron cabinet of the Tuileries Palace fully exposed Louis XVI’s treason—an irrefutable proof!—the Girondins, overwhelmed by the people's righteous anger, could no longer argue and had to comply with the demands of the Jacobins and the masses, sentencing Louis XVI to death.
The Girondins also tolerated the revival activities of the Royalist Party. Their economic and military policies were major causes of the Vendée Royalist uprising. In December 1792, the Girondins issued a decree abolishing grain price controls, after which prices soared. In February of the following year, assignats[12] depreciated by 50%. Wages of workers and the cost of living increased the gap, leading to continuous unrest across the country. Under the rising tide of popular movement, landlords turned to the Royalists, hoping to maintain land ownership through the monarchy. In 1793, the Girondins issued a decree conscripting 300,000 troops, which became the fuse for rebellion. Western farmers, suffering under feudal oppression, initially supported the revolution. But the Girondins, instead of satisfying their land demands, brought high prices; they did not abolish the division of “active” and “passive” citizens or grant political rights, but abolished the long-standing village assemblies. These farmers, already exploited by the Girondins under the pretext of war, were now forcibly conscripted. This caused their discontent with the revolution and made them susceptible to reactionary propaganda. In March, Royalist agents in Vendée and surrounding areas organized the “Catholic Royal Army,” inciting farmers to rebel under the slogan of anti-conscription, attacking and sacking towns, and running rampant. However, the Girondins paid no heed, dispatching only a few troops to suppress the rebellion. The commanders of these troops were often indifferent or unwilling to fight, leaving only two towns in Vendée under republican control. At that time, only the Jacobins insisted on harsh suppression of the rebellion. On March 19, the National Convention, following the Jacobins’ proposal, decreed that all traitors carrying weapons be executed. After the Jacobins came to power, the rebellion was finally suppressed through force.
Economically, the policies of the Girondins were limited to removing obstacles to capitalist industrial and commercial activities. They fiercely protected speculative interests and private property, indifferent to the plight of the masses, and delayed enacting the price control and land laws strongly demanded by urban poor and rural laborers. During years of internal and external wars, France’s industry and commerce were severely damaged, and the bourgeoisie seized the opportunity for speculation. The Girondins became protectors of speculators, unwilling to interfere with prices. To cover the huge military expenses caused by the war[13], they issued excessive paper currency, leading to inflation. As a result, paper money plummeted, farmers were unwilling to sell grain, and grain shortages occurred nationwide, creating favorable conditions for speculation. Under the reactionary policies of the Girondins, speculators hoarded goods, wealthy farmers hid grain, prices soared, industry declined, unemployment increased significantly, and urban poor suffered greatly. The mass movement intensified, with city residents hoarding goods and workers striking to demand price controls. During the anti-speculation movement, the most radical faction during the revolution—the Enragés—emerged, representing the interests of the poorest urban workers, demanding maximum price limits on commodities. Initially, the Jacobins did not agree with the Enragés’ demands, but to gain popular support in the struggle against the Girondins, they gradually approached them. On May 4, 1793, based on Robespierre’s proposal, the National Convention first passed the Grain Price Control Law. This law strengthened the bond between the Jacobins and the people.
Regarding land issues, the Girondins represented the interests of wealthy farmers, even to the extent of defending the landlords’ interests to safeguard private property, unwilling to distribute land to benefit the poor farmers. After the overthrow of the Constitutionalists, the Girondins pretended to sympathize with farmers to win their support in the new elections, and drafted a series of land laws. However, even these laws did not thoroughly eliminate feudal relations: only minor feudal taxes and burdens on the church were abolished, while major feudal obligations—such as rent and corvée—still required farmers to redeem. Laws confiscating the land of fleeing nobles and royals and dividing it into small plots for sale or lease to farmers were later canceled by the Girondins under the pretext of “insufficient investigation”; laws for distributing communal land were also not implemented. These two laws were only realized during the Jacobin dictatorship. Additionally, the Jacobins declared the abolition of all feudal obligations without compensation, ordered the burning of all feudal contracts, and banned private collection. Under the Jacobin land policy, hundreds of thousands of landless or land-poor farmers acquired land at low prices, becoming the backbone of the revolution and defenders of the homeland.
On foreign war issues, the Girondins always hoped to use war to seize markets and land for the bourgeoisie overseas. In August 1791, Prussia and Austria issued a joint declaration supporting Louis XVI, and the threat of foreign intervention grew closer. Louis XVI harbored treacherous schemes, secretly planning “letting the wolf into the house” and “killing with borrowed knives.” At this time, the Jacobins correctly pointed out that the main danger to France and the revolution came from domestic feudal forces, demanding the elimination of internal enemies first, “the real Coblenz[14] in France.”[15] Meanwhile, the Girondins not only failed to support the Jacobins’ stance but colluded with Louis XVI. On April 20, 1792, France declared war on Prussia and Austria, and the war broke out.
Once the war became a fact, the Jacobins sought to turn it into a war to defend the French revolution and support European revolutionary forces, while the Girondins viewed it as a means to divert or cover up the economic crisis and social contradictions caused by their reactionary economic policies. Girondin leader Brissot advocated expanding France’s borders to the Pyrenees and the Rhine. Another Girondin, Roland, admitted: “We must make our country’s armies march to the places within their reach. Otherwise, upon their return, they will bring death to us.” The Girondins initiated the war but suffered successive defeats. The liberated Netherlands fell into enemy hands, and the important southern port of Toulon was occupied by the British. At this critical moment, Girondin general Dumouriez defected, betrayed the republic, and attacked with foreign intervention forces—demonstrating the “great achievements” of the Girondins. Dumouriez, a ambitious man seeking dictatorship in the revolution, had already, as early as 1791, been eager in secret correspondence to advise Louis XVI on how to suppress the revolution. After Louis XVI’s execution, he turned to support the Duke of Orleans, secretly plotting to restore the constitutional monarchy with Austrian help. The Jacobins had long distrusted him; Robespierre openly called him a traitor, but the Girondins still praised and flattered him. In the army, Dumouriez protected military contractors, and his soldiers’ clothing and rations were poor. Many volunteers returned home, mostly untrained old soldiers. Their discipline was poor, often looting, and their combat effectiveness was evident. During the attack on the Netherlands, Dumouriez suffered a disastrous defeat due to dispersed forces. Consequently, the Committee of Public Safety, following Robespierre’s proposal, decided to dismiss him and sent a general and three commissioners to replace him. Unexpectedly, Dumouriez detained the four and even handed them over to the enemy. Later, in March 1793, he attempted to incite the army to turn their guns against Paris to restore the monarchy and free the queen. However, the soldiers still supported the revolution, and after this plot was thwarted, Dumouriez led his troops of over a thousand to flee to Austria, becoming a shameful traitor. Such a revolutionary traitor could hold command of the army for a long time, thanks to the support of the Girondins, who had long been his backing and backstage. Dumouriez’s treason had long been anticipated, but the Girondins stubbornly kept him in office, allowing his activities to become more open and rampant. When the Jacobins came to power, the anti-French coalition armies had already encircled and occupied large parts of France. Only the Jacobins’ land laws inspired the farmers’ patriotism and willingness to defend the homeland. They quickly assembled an army of 420,000, finally expelling all foreign intervention forces from France in July 1794.
Under the series of reactionary policies implemented by the Girondins, by early 1793, the Vendée Royalist uprising and the anti-French coalition had already encircled the revolutionary government from within and without, making the revolutionary situation extremely unfavorable. However, the Girondins not only failed to take effective revolutionary measures but also intensified their attacks on revolutionary forces. In April, they falsely accused Jacobin leader Robespierre, sending him to trial. During Robespierre’s trial, the Parisian people, revolutionary municipal government, and Jacobin clubs from other provinces demonstrated and supported him. Due to the mass struggle, Robespierre was ultimately acquitted. The Girondins, having failed to succeed, instead elevated the reputation of the Jacobins among the masses. On May 18, they organized the reactionary “Twelve Members Committee,” attempting to abolish the Paris Commune, the main stronghold of the Jacobins. On the 24th, the Girondins ordered the arrest of Jacobin leader and deputy prosecutor of the Paris municipal government, Ébel. It is clear that at this point, the Girondins had become fully enemies and obstacles of the revolution. Without overthrowing Girondin rule, the revolution faced the danger of being extinguished. The furious Parisians first took action, forming an armed force of 80,000, and launched an uprising from May 31 to June 2. During the uprising, the Jacobins united with the Enragés, playing a leading role. Twenty-nine Girondin reactionary deputies were arrested, and power shifted into the hands of the Jacobins, elevating the French bourgeois revolution to its highest stage.
However, the uprising did not completely eliminate the power of the Girondins, and many Girondin deputies fled. In the provinces, because the original municipal governments were retained, the Girondin influence was even stronger. They incited rebellions everywhere, attempting to make each province "independent," organizing against the Jacobin dictatorship's "federal government," and even colluding with the Royalist Party. By mid-June, rebellions had occurred in 60 out of France's 83 provinces. In Lyon, France's second-largest city, the Jacobin revolutionary regime was overthrown, and the Jacobin Club was destroyed, with over 800 members killed. Similar situations occurred in commercial cities like Marseille, Nantes, and Bordeaux, where the Girondins collaborated with the old nobility, seized control of municipal governments, expelled the representatives of the National Convention, and established counter-revolutionary courts to persecute the Jacobins. In July, to stop the Jacobin revolutionary terror, the Girondins resorted to despicable assassination methods, sending assassin Charlotte Corday to openly murder Marat in his home. The reactionary forces were temporarily at their peak. Confronted with this, the Jacobins, led by Robespierre, knew they had to unite the people. Under the impetus of the masses, the Jacobins took a series of revolutionary measures: promulgating land laws to solve the land issues of farmers; passing the most radical "1793 Constitution" during the revolution, abolishing distinctions between "active" and "passive" citizens, and establishing universal suffrage; implementing comprehensive price controls to curb inflation, establishing the "Revolutionary Army" for grain requisition; sending Jacobin members as military commissioners to ensure military leadership remained in the hands of the revolutionary government; strengthening revolutionary terror, severely cracking down on speculators and counter-revolutionaries. Revolutionary terror was the Jacobins' revolutionary dictatorship over counter-revolutionaries at that time, forced upon them under the strong pressure of the masses. Later, the landlord bourgeoisie attacked the revolution, slandering it as "tyranny," and launched fierce attacks on the "Revolutionary Terror," claiming such revolutionary dictatorship was useless and only brought "tragedy." But as Engels pointed out: **"At that time, in order for Robespierre to maintain power under the domestic conditions, it was necessary for the terror to reach a frenzy."**[16] Without this terror, there would have been no continued victory of the French Revolution, nor the subsequent more thorough sweeping away of feudalism in France. After implementing the Jacobin dictatorship, the counter-revolutionaries within the bourgeois regime were suppressed, temporarily unable to oppose the revolutionary government; the land ownership of French farmers was recognized, and they burst into revolutionary enthusiasm to defend their land; in the Jacobin dictatorship, French workers punished those heinous counter-revolutionaries, stabilized some prices, gained more political freedom, and received promises of the most democratic constitution within the bourgeoisie—the "1793 Constitution." They supported the revolution to defend and further fight for their rights, determined to crush all reactionary forces aiming to restore feudalism. The rebellions in Marseille, Lyon, and Vendee were finally suppressed between August and December, and foreign intervention armies within France were mostly expelled by the end of the Jacobin dictatorship. The French army even pursued victories into Belgium, establishing revolutionary rule there. The achievements of the revolution were preserved, and the revolution continued to advance.The fact is exactly like this. For the bourgeoisie, Robespierre and his Jacobin dictatorship were merely extraordinary measures they adopted when France was facing serious internal and external troubles, and the emerging bourgeois regime was at risk of being completely overthrown. When France resolved its domestic and foreign political crises and consolidated its regime, "even after the victory at the Battle of Fleurus, this terror was completely unnecessary... and at that time Robespierre also became superfluous, and he finally fell on July 27." [21] On July 26, 1794, the 8th of Thermidor, Robespierre publicly stated in a speech to the National Convention that conspiracy groups had already appeared within the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. However, at this time, the Jacobins had no practical means to identify and suppress counter-revolutionaries; some wavering members, such as Saint-Just, even advocated for strengthening "unity" and compromising with the big bourgeoisie. Therefore, this speech not only failed to intimidate the bourgeoisie but also prompted them to decide to quickly launch a coup, aiming to strike first and strike hard, trying to "completely crush" the so-called "tyrant" before the Jacobins could take any repression measures. On July 27, the day after Robespierre's final speech, counter-revolutionary forces launched a sudden attack in the National Convention, interrupted Saint-Just's speech, and in the chaos, arrested Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon, and other Jacobin leaders, initiating the Thermidor coup that allowed the bourgeoisie to seize power. That night, the Paris Commune and the Jacobin Club sent troops to rescue Robespierre and his comrades. However, the tide had turned; only 13 of Paris's 48 districts supported the Jacobins with troops, and the disparity of strength was enormous. Moreover, Robespierre himself had completely lost confidence, feeling that the class he represented lacked the strength to win the struggle against counter-revolutionary conspiracy, and due to his alienation from the people and his bourgeois nature hostile to the people, he could neither unite with the people nor use their strength to defeat the Thermidorists and recover power. Ultimately, he chose to surrender, abandon all resistance, and lament helplessly: "The robbers are victorious, the republic is finished!" On the 28th, the reactionary army arrested them again and executed them in the afternoon, ending the Jacobin dictatorship.
However, the fall of the Jacobins had its class and historical inevitability. The Jacobins, representing the petty bourgeoisie, were weak and needed the support of the working people to oppose feudal old forces and the big bourgeoisie; at the same time, as exploiters, they had fundamental conflicts of interest with the working people. Such class characteristics determined that they were unwilling to allow the reactionary forces’ hoped-for restoration of the old regime, yet they could not firmly oppose the big bourgeoisie with the working people, thus only exploiting the fierce struggles between the two to pave their way to power. However, as their goals gradually realized, their alliance with the people broke down; their regime thus became a hollow shell, unable to withstand the attack of the bourgeoisie, and they could only surrender.
But the bourgeois scholars blame the fall of the Jacobins on their “extreme” policies and the “massacre” of too many “innocent” people, ultimately overthrown by the Thermidorists who “represented the people’s interests,” which is not true. The policies of the Jacobins, though seemingly extreme, were actually revolutionary terror aimed at counter-revolutionaries. The great achievements of the French Revolution owe much to these “extreme” policies. The real reason for their failure was not the killing of too many people but the failure to fully implement revolutionary terror. On one hand, they were insufficiently resolute in suppressing counter-revolutionaries; on the other, they used terror against the people. Under their hands, terror shifted from a tool to defend the revolution to “a means of self-protection, becoming a ridiculous thing” [22]. Their incomplete suppression of counter-revolutionaries and their terror against the people turned their revolutionary rule into an empty shell, ultimately easily overthrown by the Thermidorists.
The bourgeois scholars’ claim that “killing too many” led to the fall of the Jacobins is merely a repetition of the old tune of amnesty advocates. The bourgeoisie, claiming to oppose violence, actually opposes revolutionary violence; they always approve of violence against counter-revolutionaries. They criticize the Jacobins for not practicing “benevolent governance” towards counter-revolutionaries but remain silent about the massacres of protesting masses by the constitutionalists and the repression of the Vendée uprising by the Thermidorists, glorifying them to the extreme. It is clear that the bourgeoisie’s opposition to violence is false; their opposition to revolution is genuine!
5. The Historical Status of the Jacobins and the Correct Evaluation of Their Contemporary Significance
From this, it is evident that the Girondins and the constitutionalists are enemies of the revolutionary regime, while the Gileadins and the amnesty faction, after gaining power, turned into insidious traitors within the revolutionary regime. The Jacobins’ dictatorship over them was undoubtedly supported enthusiastically by the people and in line with revolutionary interests. The Jacobins’ dictatorship over these counter-revolutionaries was not “tyranny” or “massacre” but a necessary revolutionary terror to defend the bourgeois revolutionary regime. Even as their regime gradually degenerated into an obstacle to the revolution, their contributions to the revolution are undeniable; they were the progressive faction that promoted revolutionary development and laid the foundation of the current capitalist system. Today’s bourgeoisie extols the bourgeois democratic system established by the Jacobins, which is the greatest irony for those “forgetting their roots.”
Although Robespierre is dead, his spirit remains. Just as the Qin Dynasty established China’s first unified feudal central authority, the Jacobins, although vanished, left a profound influence. After the Thermidor coup, remnants of Jacobinism shouted slogans like “Revenge for Robespierre” and attempted to rebuild the Jacobin dictatorship. During the dark period of restoration and the July Monarchy, bourgeois and petty bourgeois democrats once again raised the banner of Jacobinism to overthrow monarchy and establish a bourgeois republic. Even during the February and October Revolutions in Russia, Lenin praised the revolutionary dictatorship of the Jacobins multiple times, advocating that the proletariat, after seizing power, should emulate the Jacobins and resolutely strike against reactionary forces. Moreover, the revolutionary ideas of the Jacobins spread abroad, causing seismic shifts in Western thought and politics: in Haiti, the black bourgeoisie organized the “Black Jacobins” and established the first black bourgeois republic through a national liberation war; in Britain, Jacobinism was active during the period of the Jacobin dictatorship, conspiring to overthrow feudal monarchy, which once caused extreme panic among the British ruling class; Irish bourgeois nationalists used Jacobinism as a weapon to oppose British colonial oppression, shaking British rule in Ireland; the great communist pioneer Baboev, though fundamentally criticizing the reactionary aspects of Jacobin repression, also said during the anti-royalist Thermidor period: “Restoring Robespierre is restoring democracy,” treating Jacobinism as a banner of the French democratic revolution. In summary, from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, Jacobinism remained the sharpest ideological weapon of democrats, directly targeting feudal systems and greatly influencing the development of national democratic revolutionary movements worldwide.
Contrary to the revolutionary bourgeoisie, reactionaries are haunted by the revolutionary violence of the Jacobins and remain fearful. Soon after the Thermidor coup, the Thermidorists started rumors, rewriting the history of the Jacobin dictatorship as “tyranny” and “despotism,” fabricating shameless lies that Robespierre conspired with Louis XVI’s daughter to marry, aiming to restore monarchy and become a “tyrant”; during the Restoration and the July Monarchy, royalists wildly claimed that the Jacobin dictatorship was a “bloody example” of Jacobin crimes; even during the proletarian revolutions, the bourgeoisie, to oppose the proletariat, falsely accused the communists led by Lenin of being “Russian Robespierre,” attacking the proletarian dictatorship by attacking the Jacobins; in the 1989 French Revolution bicentennial film, the French bourgeoisie still did not abandon slandering the Jacobins, openly depicting them as “brutal” “butchers” to oppose revolutionary violence and promote class reconciliation propaganda; even today, the reactionary mouthpiece “Beijing Youth” newspaper viciously attacks the Jacobin dictatorship as “bloodthirsty tyranny,” “fanatical and merciless slaughter.”
All these fierce debates demonstrate that the evaluation of the Jacobins’ history is not a simple academic issue but a matter of whether to uphold revolutionary violence, whether to implement dictatorship against reactionary forces, and whether to oppose the restoration of the old regime. Marx said, “Class struggle must inevitably lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat” [25], and Lenin also said, “Only those who acknowledge class struggle and also acknowledge the dictatorship of the proletariat are Marxists.” [26]. Whether it is Kautsky or today’s revisionist traitors, they fiercely insult the Jacobins precisely because they want to smear and attack the dictatorship of the proletariat under the guise of Marxism.
The history of the Jacobins also has reference value for the proletarian revolution. The bourgeois dictatorship during the French Revolution was unprecedented in old bourgeois revolutions. The various revolutionary measures taken during the French Revolution can still provide valuable historical experience for establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat today. The revolutionary spirit of the Jacobins remains instructive. Today’s bourgeoisie, like all reactionaries of the past, waves the banner of anti-Jacobinism to oppose revolutionary violence. Criticizing their slander against the Jacobins and exposing their hypocritical falsehoods about advocating “benevolent governance” by the bourgeoisie is very helpful. Compared to all past exploiters, the proletariat today is greater and wiser; proletarian revolution is infinitely more significant than any bourgeois revolution. The current era is even more a great epoch where the old world crumbles and the new world emerges. The road is tortuous, but the future is bright. Let us forge ahead bravely amidst the storm of revolution!>
- Lenin: "On the Slogan of Liberty and Equality Deceiving the People," Selected Works of Lenin, Volume Three, Chinese Second Edition, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Mao Zedong: Quoted from "Great Victory of the Revolution of Peking Opera," Red Flag Magazine, 1967, Issue 6. ↑
- Lenin: "A Fundamental Question of the Revolution," Complete Works of Lenin, Volume 25, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1958. ↑
- From a family background perspective, Robespierre came from a declining lawyer family of petty bourgeoisie, Marat was from a family of teachers and a petty bourgeois doctor, Saint-Just was from a declining noble family and a law student, and most of them were in economic status of impoverished petty bourgeoisie, thus easily accepting Rousseau's petty bourgeois democratic ideas, representing the interests of the French petty bourgeoisie in politics. ↑
- The broad sense of Jacobin refers to all members who joined the Jacobin Club during the early stages of the revolution, so when the Constitutionalists had not yet shown their counter-revolutionary nature clearly, and the Girondins had not yet fully opposed the revolution, they also operated within the Jacobin Club and were called "Jacobins." The narrow sense of Jacobin refers specifically to the petty bourgeoisie members within the Jacobin Club led by Robespierre, called "Mountain" at the time, to distinguish from other political factions within the Jacobin Club. For ease of understanding, all instances of "Jacobins" in the text refer to the Mountain faction, while the Constitutionalists and Girondins are uniformly called "Constitutionalists" and "Girondins," respectively, and the later factions that split from the Jacobins, such as the Amnesty and Hébert factions, are treated similarly. ↑
- Mao Zedong: "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People," Selected Works of Mao Zedong (Type A), People's Publishing House, 1966. ↑
- Robespierre: Quoted from "Robespierre," Modern History (Modern and Contemporary Section), Youth Self-Study Series, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1975. ↑
- Lenin: "The Liberators and the New Marsists, the Royalists and the Girondins," Complete Works of Lenin, Volume 8, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1959. ↑
- Robespierre: "On the Conspiracy of the Court," Selected Works of Robespierre, Chinese Edition, East China Normal University Press, 1989. ↑
- Robespierre: "The True Koblenz in France," Selected Works of Robespierre, Chinese Edition, East China Normal University Press, 1989. ↑
- Robespierre: "Louis Must Die Because the Homeland Must Live," Selected Works of Robespierre, Chinese Edition, East China Normal University Press, 1989. ↑
- The assignats were paper currency issued by the government during the French Revolution. ↑
- In December 1792, the national treasury income was only 39 million livres, while the expenditure on war alone required 228 million livres. ↑
- Koblenz is a city on the German-French border, where French exiled nobles mostly fled to after escaping abroad, plotting conspiracies there, attempting to establish a restoration force, and using foreign intervention forces to restore feudal monarchy in France, re-establishing the ancien régime with the French monarchy as the despot. The term "Koblenz" at that time became synonymous with the reactionary stronghold of the landlord class. ↑
- Robespierre: "The True Koblenz in France," Selected Works of Robespierre, Chinese Edition, East China Normal University Press, 1989. ↑
- Engels: "Letter to Victor Adler (December 4, 1889)," Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 37, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1971. ↑
- Levasier: Quoted from Marx: " Memoirs," Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 40, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1982. ↑
- This refers to the Gironde department, as many Girondin deputies came from the Gironde department of France. ↑
- Mao Zedong: "On New Democracy," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 1, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑
- Lu: Quoted from Zhou Yiliang's "World History" (Modern Part) (Volume 1), Second Edition, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
- Engels: "Letter to Victor Adler (December 4, 1889)," Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 37, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1971. ↑
- Engels: "Letter to Karl Kautsky (February 20, 1889)," Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 37, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1971. ↑
- Shortly after the Thermidorian Reaction launched the Thermidor counter-revolutionary coup, they fabricated the so-called "Royal Conspiracy," claiming Robespierre had long secretly engaged to Marie Thérèse, the eldest daughter of Louis XVI, who was imprisoned, in order to inherit the throne through marriage with the French royal princess, aiming to restore the monarchy. With Napoleon's imperial title and the subsequent Bourbon restoration, such ridiculous charges naturally disappeared, and the false accusations against Robespierre shifted from conspiracy to oppose the restoration. Just as the so-called "Gang of Four" was falsely accused of "destroying the proletarian Cultural Revolution" after being arrested by the counterrevolutionary coup launched by the Zhongxiu traitor group, and then re-labeled as "supporting the proletarian Cultural Revolution," these false charges are undoubtedly the lies fabricated by reactionary conspiracy theorists out of guilt after launching counter-revolutionary coups, to deceive the masses. Once the fabricators intended to implement the charges they imposed on others, they would secretly change their own achievements into crimes and their crimes into achievements, and then impose the inverted charges again on others. ↑
- https://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2016-03/26/c_128835841.htm. ↑
- Marx: "Letter to Friedrich Weidemeyer (March 5, 1852)," Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 28, Chinese First Edition, People's Publishing House, 1973. ↑
- Lenin: "State and Revolution," Selected Works of Lenin, Volume 3, Chinese Second Edition, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑
