Long Live the Revolutions: Fighting for France's Political Future in the Long Wake of the Commune

449 Pages·2017·4.81 MB·English

University of Pennsylvania
ScholarlyCommons
Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations
1-1-2013
Long Live the Revolutions: Fighting for France's
Political Future in the Long Wake of the
Commune, 1871-1880
Heather Marlene Bennet
University of Pennsylvania,
Long Live the Revolutions: Fighting for France's Political Future in the
Long Wake of the Commune, 1871-1880
Abstract
Te traumatic legacies of the Paris Commune and its harsh suppression in 1871 had a signifcant impact on
the identities and voter outreach eforts of each of the chief political blocs of the 1870s. Te political and
cultural developments of this phenomenal decade, which is frequently mislabeled as calm and stable,
established the Republic's longevity and set its character. Yet the Commune's legacies have never been
comprehensively examined in a way that synthesizes their political and cultural efects. Tis dissertation ofers
a compelling perspective of the 1870s through qualitative and quantitative analyses of the infuence of these
legacies, using sources as diverse as parliamentary debates, visual media, and scribbled sedition on city walls,
to explicate the decade's most important political and cultural moments, their origins, and their impact.
Within the interplay of electoral messaging, national political culture, and factional schisms, republicans
wrested control of the state away from monarchists seeking to subvert the Republic, but they also sustained
biter internal divisions over the meaning of the Republic and its relationship to the Revolution's heritage. By
1880, the Moderate republicans had triumphed over the monarchists and their republican rivals but had to
vigorously defend their nascent power--much of which depended on their narrative projections of the Tird
Republic's foundation, the assimilation of French and republican national identities, and their claims to the
revolutionary heritage. Te passage of a near-general amnesty for Communards, the ofcial adoption of La
Marseillaise, the movement of government assemblies back to Paris, and the designation of Quatorze Juillet as
the Republic's national holiday were not simply natural consequences of the republican political victory.
Rather, the Moderates deliberately undertook each initiative to project the liberal Republic's triumph, to
merge the identities of France and the Republic, and to implicitly close the revolutionary era.
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
History
First Advisor
Tomas Childers
Keywords
Paris Commune, Tird Republic
Subject Categories
European History | History
Tis dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: htp://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/734
LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTIONS: FIGHTING FOR FRANCE’S POLITICAL FUTURE IN THE
LONG WAKE OF THE COMMUNE, 1871-1880
COPYRIGHT
2013
Heather Marlene Bennett

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
License

To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ny-sa/2.0/
iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Once I settled on a topic and commenced the research process, I quickly became
overwhelmed. Two competing thoughts came to my mind. The first was my revision of a
familiar cliché: dissertating is a journey not a destination; this kept me calm as the path to
this dissertation’s conclusion twisted and turned. The second was the thrill I had when
listening to the course lectures delivered by the late Susanna Barrows and the engrossing
conversations she and I had outside of the classroom long after I completed
undergraduate studies. She made history come to life. Her enthusiasm and depth were
inspiring and from this mentor I developed a deep fascination with late nineteenth-
century France. I am incredibly grateful for her support in my decision to pursue the
passion she ignited within me. I am equally indebted to many others who helped me
along. No dissertation is completed in a vacuum, no matter how lonely the process may
become; everyone is in debt to some circle of support I am no different.
I would first like to thank my advisors. During my time in Philadelphia, Tom
Childers never ceased to make me feel welcome and, most importantly, confident. I will
never forget his advice to “pull the trigger” upon hearing that I was nervous to put forth
my own ideas after having been trained so well to critique those of others. His warmth
and intellectual generosity were integral to my success, especially during times of great
personal difficulties. The same needs to be said for Kristen Stromberg-Childers who
served as an early advisor to this project and has generously stayed in contact with me
ever since. Early in this process, Lynn Hollen Lees graciously joined my committee and
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her detailed and thoughtful comments helped to shape a second year research paper into a
more fully developed dissertation. Her commitment to my work was much needed
reinforcement and I can never express enough gratitude for her close communication with
me as I wrote most of this in California. Barbara Day-Hickman, who joined my
committee in the final stretch, has also been incredibly generous with her time and
detailed advice, without her encouragement, interest, and incisive critique I shudder to
think what might have been included in the pages that follow. The research for this
dissertation was supported through the University of Pennsylvania Dissertation Research
Fellowship. The writing was supported through the William E. Lingelbach and, Lynde
and Harry Bradley Foundation Fellowships, and I particularly want to thank Walter
McDougall for his help in securing these.
My colleagues, friends, and family similarly deserve my gratitude. I will always
be grateful for meeting Dawn Dodds on my first day of researching in the Paris police
archives. Thank you for taking me to lunch, providing words of encouragement and
insiders’ advice, and thank you for proof-reading so many of my painfully written pages.
I hope you will be happy to see that one of our darlings made the cut. Special mention is
deserved for the staff and archivists at the Archives of the Prefecture of Police in Paris,
especially Olivier Accarie Pierson who was incredibly helpful, informative, and
enthusiastic about my topic. Thank you to Edward Berenson who provided insight during
an early presentation of my research that led me to expand the analytical focus and whose
generous guidance on secondary source literature was crucial during the early phase of
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my research. I also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Van Pelt-Dietrich library
staff especially Nick Okrent whose enthusiastic and frequent assistance made researching
from California less daunting. Marianne Golding also deserves special thanks for helping
me translate scribbled declamations written in late nineteenth-century French slang late
into the night. Thank you to my mother Sydney, whose perfect mix of tenacity and
warmth is both inspiring and sustaining; my father Michael, for shooing me off to Paris
for research despite his illness; Heather King, for helping to format with precision; my
cousin Lisa Byrne, for filling in as my copy editor; and my aunt Cate Larsen for helping
in the final stretch both financially and editorially even in the wee hours of the morning.
Two final and deeply felt acknowledgements are in order for my partner David A.
Rolleg and my sister Angel Anderson. I would never have been afforded the privilege to
write these words of thanks had it not been for your support. David, thank you for
manning the home front as I drifted off into dissertation oblivion, thank you for taking
over all parental responsibilities when I was on multiple research trips in France, and for
ceaselessly reminding Jude how much mommy loves him even when she is far away.
Angel, thank you for rescuing me in every dark hour, for reminding me to “lean in” all
the way, for never letting me give up, even when I pretended I wanted to, and for
spending countless hours combing through every page of this dissertation to help me kill
darlings and put semi-colons where they need to be; you above all, have been my
steadfast companion and most ardent champion. I thank you.
vi

ABSTRACT
LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTIONS: FIGHTING FOR FRANCE’S POLITICAL
FUTURE IN THE LONG WAKE OF THE COMMUNE, 1871-1880
Heather M. Bennett
Thomas Childers

The traumatic legacies of the Paris Commune and its harsh suppression in 1871
had a significant impact on the identities and voter outreach efforts of each of the chief
political blocs of the 1870s. The political and cultural developments of this phenomenal
decade, which is frequently mislabeled as calm and stable, established the Republic’s
longevity and set its character. Yet the Commune’s legacies have never been
comprehensively examined in a way that synthesizes their political and cultural effects.
This dissertation offers a compelling perspective of the 1870s through qualitative and
quantitative analyses of the influence of these legacies, using sources as diverse as
parliamentary debates, visual media, and scribbled sedition on city walls, to explicate the
decade’s most important political and cultural moments, their origins, and their impact.
Within the interplay of electoral messaging, national political culture, and factional
schisms, republicans wrested control of the state away from monarchists seeking to
subvert the Republic, but they also sustained bitter internal divisions over the meaning of
the Republic and its relationship to the Revolution’s heritage. By 1880, the Moderate
republicans had triumphed over the monarchists and their republican rivals but had to
vii

vigorously defend their nascent power—much of which depended on their narrative
projections of the Third Republic’s foundation, the assimilation of French and republican
national identities, and their claims to the revolutionary heritage. The passage of a near-
general amnesty for Communards, the official adoption of La Marseillaise, the
movement of government assemblies back to Paris, and the designation of quatorze
juillet as the Republic’s national holiday were not simply natural consequences of the
republican political victory. Rather, the Moderates deliberately undertook each initiative
to project the liberal Republic’s triumph, to merge the identities of France and the
Republic, and to implicitly close the revolutionary era.
viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... III
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. VI
PREFACE ..................................................................................................................................... IX
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 1: THE HAUNTING .............................................................................................. 22
CHAPTER 2: VISIONS OF THE PAST .................................................................................. 67
CHAPTER 3: THE EMERGENCE OF A MEDIACRACY .................................................. 129
CHAPTER 4: THE REPUBLICAN TRIUMPH .................................................................. 191
CHAPTER 5: REIGNITING THE REVOLUTIONARY FLAME ...................................... 266
CHAPTER 6: A REVOLUTION COMES TO PORT .......................................................... 339
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 391
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 401