Armies Of The Poor

In June 1848, two irregular armies of the urban poor fought a four-day battle in the streets of Paris that decided the fate of the French Second Republic. The Parisian National Workshops and the Parisian Mobile Guard-organizations newly created at the time of the February Revolution-provided the bulk of the June combatants associated with the insurrection and repression, respectively. According to Marx's simple and compelling hypothesis, a nascent French proletariat unsuccessfully attempted to assert its political and social rights against a coalition of the bourgeoisie and lumpenproletariat, represented by the Parisian Mobile Guard. Through a detailed study of archival sources, Mark Traugott challenges this interpretation of these events and proposes an organizational explanation.

Research has consistently shown that skilled artisans and not unskilled proletarians stood at the forefront of the revolutionary struggles of the nineteenth century. Traugott compares the social identities of the main participants on opposite sides of the conflict and sorts out the reasons for the political alignments observed. Drawing on work by Charles Tilly and Lynn Lees, Traugott demonstrates that the insurgents were not highly proletarianized workers, but rather members of the highly skilled trades predominant in the Parisian economy. Meanwhile, those who spearheaded the repression were little different in occupational status, though they tended to be significantly younger. Traugott's "organizational hypothesis" makes sense of the observed configuration of forces. He accounts for the age differential as a by-product of the recruitment criteria that Mobile Guard volunteers were required to meet. Finally, he explains why class position creates no more than a diffuse political predisposition that remains subject to the influence of situation-specific factors such as organizational affiliations.

Armies of the Poor helps clarify our understanding of the dynamic at work in the insurrectionary turmoil of 1848 in particular and in the great waves of early industrial revolutionism in general. It now is a standard interpretation for subsequent research on the French Revolution of 1848. Armies of the Poor will be of interest to historians seeking a re-interpretation of a major revolutionary episode and social scientists considering a re-examination of Marx and Engels' hypotheses of the roots of political mobilization and protest.

Karl Marx, in The Class Struggles in France, 1848-1850, wrote that the June 1848 insurrection was "the first great battle...fought between the two classes that split modern society." Traugott (history and sociology, U. of California at Santa Cruz) contends that a close examination of the insurrectionaries and their repressors in the Parisian Mobile Guards contradicts this thesis. He argues that, contrary to Marx's characterization of the insurrectionaries as proletarian and the repression as being made up of the "lumpenproletariat," both groups were largely made up of skilled artisans, while the nascent proletariat largely sat out the "June Days." This reprint includes a critical reappraisal by the author, in which he responds to objections raised after the original 1985 publication of the work. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mark Traugott was trained as a sociologist, and has specialized in social and political movements. His interest in the revolutionism of the early industrial era led him to focus on the study of nineteenth-century French history. He is professor of history and sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Mark Traugott was trained as a sociologist, and has specialized in social and political movements. His interest in the revolutionism of the early industrial era led him to focus on the study of nineteenth-century French history. He is professor of history and sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.