Ellis, Napolean; Jones, Ed., The French Revolution In Social And Political Perspecitive

Abstract

In the current historiography of the French Revolution, the king is dead, but the succession is being hotly disputed--or, to borrow from Aristophanes, perhaps whirl is now king. The classic interpretation of the Revolution, inspired by Marxism and definitively articulated by Georges Lefebvre, was of the struggle between the decaying, feudal aristocracy and the ascending, capitalist bourgeoisie. For the last thirty years or so revisionists have chipped away at this view, noting the social mix among the revolutionaries and the complexities of their aspirations.