The Revolutions of 1848

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(With this month's issue, Barry Sheppard begins a series on the revolutions of 1848.)

When Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote the "Communist Manifesto " for the group of communist-minded workers they had joined, the Communist League, revolution was in the air throughout Europe.

Hardly had the ink dried on the first printing of the "Manifesto" in February 1848, when revolution broke out in Paris against the monarchy of LouisPhillipe.

This marked the first of a series of revolutions that swept through the German states and Austria, the Czech lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungary itself, and the Kingdom of Lombardy and Venice, other Italian states, and Poland.

It is reported that when the Russian Czar heard of the revolution in France he immediately mobilized his officer staff with a cry of "To horse!," in anticipation of using the huge Russian army against the spread of revolution, which he correctly feared was on the agenda with the spark from Paris. It turned out that his troops were not needed much, except in Hungary, since the revolutions collapsed due to the treachery of the bourgeoisie.

I say "treachery" because these revolutions opened with bourgeois-democratic aims, including for democracy, national unity, against the rule of the landed aristocracy, and against national oppression. Such demands, some of which are still important today, were raised in the Great French Revolution of 1789 and in the First American Revolution.

What happened in the revolutions of 1848-49 was that the bourgeoisie turned against its "own" revolution, out of fear of the emergence of the industrial workers as a class in its own right, who began to raise their own demands.

In France, this conflict between the workers and the capitalists culminated in the course of the revolution in open civil war. In June 1848, the world witnessed the first proletarian revolution in four days of fierce fighting on the streets of Paris.

The June revolution was not the first open political clash between the workers and the capitalists. Earlier, in England, where capitalist industry was first developed and was the most extensive, a workers' political movement called the Chartists (referring to a document called the "Charter" which listed the workers' demands) developed.

This movement never went as far as revolution, however, and peaked in 1842. The revolutionary wave of 1848-49 bypassed England.

The background to the events of 1848 was a severe capitalist economic crisis that began in 1847 and affected not only England, but the other European countries in which capitalist industry was being developed.

There was widespread unemployment and misery among the French workers.

The monarchy did nothing but continue its policy of repression against any worker organizations. Unions were illegal. The bourgeois republican opposition was timid, even though support for the government had practically evaporated.

Writing in a Belgian newspaper, Marx commented in January: "What does the Ministry lof the monarchial government] do?-Nothing. What does the parliamentary, legal opposition do?-Nothing. What can France expect from the present Chambers?-Nothing. What does M. Guizot want?—To remain Minister. What do Messrs. Thiers, Mole and Company [opposition leaders] want? To become ministers again. What does France gain from this "get out of here so I can take your place?-Nothing.

"Ministry and opposition are thus condemned to do nothing. Who alone will accomplish the coming French revolution?-The proletariat. What will the bourgeoisie do for this?—Nothing."

And in fact, this is what happened the next month, on Feb. 23, 24 and 25, when the workers' uprising toppled the monarchy. In every square in Paris the workers proclaimed a republic.

The workers did not try to set up their own government, however. They still had illusions that their interests and those of the bourgeois republicans were complementary, and a Provisional Government was set up dominated by the latter.

These timid gentlemen did not want to proclaim a republic immediately, but the workers' action forced them to. The workers had also secured arms in the course of the insurrection, and felt themselves masters of the streets.

During the insurrection, bourgeois youth and students took part. The atmosphere was one of "fraternity" between the classes.

But the workers soon began to raise their own demands. On Feb. 25, a worker representing a large workers' delegation burst into a meeting of the Provisional Government with a gun in his hand, demanding that the ministers decree a "right to work" and a minimum wage. The government on that day issued a proclamation guaranteeing citizens the right to work. Soon it abolished the laws against workers forming unions.

On February 29, under the pressure of demonstrations of workers, the government also set up a government commission on the affairs of workers, presided over by a moderate socialist.

By Two days earlier it issued a decree setting up national workshops to help alleviate unemployment.

These compromises with the demands of the workers were forced on the bourgeois republicans. But they retained control over the civil and military administration, police, finances, and foreign policy. The armed people controlled the streets.

Workers began forming unions, a process that was to grow in the coming months, and naturally raised more demands to improve their lot.

The first counter-blow by the bourgeoisie came in a counterrevolutionary demonstration on March 16 by bourgeois units of the National Guard (there were both bourgeois and proletarian sections of the Guard). The workers answer came in a huge demonstration of 200,000 on March 17.

In mid-April, a workers' demonstration of 100,000 was organized, demanding a democratic republic, the "end of exploitation of man by man,' and expressed determination to continue to organize labor associations. This unarmed march was met by armed bourgeois units of the National Guard, who tried to break up the march and shouted abuse at the workers.

The workers still had faith that the Provisional Government would meet their demands and ended their demonstration with the slogans of "Long live the Republic!" and "Long live the Provisional Government!"

Elections to a Constituent Assembly at the end of April resulted in a more conservative government, reflecting a more backward populace outside of Paris. Ballots had also been tampered with, and even in areas where the workers were a vast majority, anti-worker candidates were elected.

This resulted in worker uprisings in the cities of Limoges and Rouen, which were put down by force by the Provisional Government.

Of the 880 newly-elected delegates, 500 were moderate Republicans, including many who were monarchists before February. The democratic camp was represented by less than 100 deputies, with a few socialists among them.

An Executive Committee replaced the Provisional Govemment. The socialist wing was cut off from the new government. The commission on workers affairs lost its power as a governmental institution.

The situation in the country was becoming more polarized. The bourgeoisie had utilized its position of power in the Provisional Government to organize the vote for the Constituent Assembly for a "moderate" victory supported by a reactionary wing of neo-monarchists.

The illusions of the workers in the Republic were wearing away.

(Next month:

The June Revolution)

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