Module 2: The Bourgeois Revolutions
Through readings of C.L.R. James and Eric Hazan, we’ll get a glimpse of the role of the anonymous crowd in both the French and Haitian Revolutions. We’ll study how in both cases the desires of the masses exceeded the goals of the bourgeois revolutionary leadership, and how their unfulfilled attempts at social revolution inspired future revolutionaries. Finally, we’ll examine the relationship between leadership and the crowd in each revolutionary situation.
Required Readings
“XII: The Bourgeoisie Prepares to Restore Slavery” from The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James
“Excursus: The Enrages; Women in the Revolution” from A People’s History of the French Revolution by Eric Hazan