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HISTORY(6.1.

5)

Subject : History
(For under graduate student)

Paper No. : Paper-VI


History of Modern Europe

Topic No. & Title : Topic-1(a)


The French Revolution

Lecture No. & Title : Lecture-5


Revolution and Gender,
Revolutionary Culture

Revolution and Gender, Revolutionary Culture

GLOSSARY

Rococo –Late Baroque style of art; the symmetry of the


eighteenth century was given up; art became
increasingly ornate floral and playful; found expression in
tapestry, mirrors and small sculptures.
Pierre Gaspard Chaumette (1763-1794) – French
politician of the revolutionary period
Marie Gouges (1748-1793) –Also known as Olympe de
Gouges; French political activist and feminist.

Painting of Liberty – Painted by Eugene Delacroix. Now at


the Louvre,Paris. It portrays a woman personifying liberty
leading the people forward over the bodies of the fallen,
holding the tricolour flag of the French Revolution in one
hand and brandishing a bayoneted musket in the other.
Lycee – Secondary school for students intermediate
between elementary school and college.

Modernism – Cultural movement of the late 19 th and


early 20th century; a reaction against the rigid, traditional
forms and institutions in society.

Tocsin - A sort of bell that is normally used to sound


warnings.

Neo-Classicism – A distinct movement in the decorative


and visual arts in the mid 18th century characterized by
the revival of Greco-Roman stylization.
Jean Denis Lanjuinais –Elected as a deputy to the
National Convention in 1792; a staunch supporter of the
French Republic.

Etta Palm d’Aelders (1743 –1799) – Dutch feminist


during the French Revolution.

OBJECTIVES

The students will be able to:


Understand the role played by women in demanding
equal rights at par with men.
Critique the change in the culture of France during that
time
Trace the development of de-Christianization in France

SUMMARY

Women played a significant role in the French Revolution.


The Declaration of the Rights of Man declared the rights
of man only excluding women from its purview. Curiously
enough, the men who supported the abolition of slavery
did not support the rights of women.

Some women like Etta Palm d’Aelders, Marie Gouze,


Pauline Leon and Claire Lacombe actively voiced their
demands and rights. Some even wanted to fight the
revolution. Some women clamoured for their rights. They
set up their own societies and clubs. They joined the
mixed sex clubs. They were on the streets. They joined
the revolutionary crowd and in this way were able to
create a discourse of their own. But in the revolutionary
fervour their demands were overlooked in favour of more
pressing political issues.

The French Revolution experienced a profound cultural


experience. The names of places were changed. The aim
of the revolution was to create a new man. The
revolution persecuted the church and clergy.
Predominant was the worship of Reason.
Education was also secularized. The content of education
was modernized by including mathematics, science,
languages, civic and republican virtues in the curriculum.
Art and architecture also sought to express the glory of
France.

FAQs

1. What was Chaumette’s reaction to women’s rights and


demands?

Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, who had supported the


abolition of slavery, did not support the rights of women.
He subscribed to the dominant idea of that time, that the
women’s position was in the household. Ironically he
could find a link between the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and the freedom of the slaves, but not between the
Declaration and the rights of women. He asserted that it
was dangerous, shameless and unnatural for women to
be in the political arena.
2. Name a man who supported the women’s demand for
their rights?

In 1790 Condorcet published an article in a newspaper on


women’s rights. He said either everyone has rights or no
one has rights, and that women should have as many
political rights and other kinds of rights as men.

3. Discuss the contribution of Marie Gouges in the fight


for women’s rights.

Marie Gouges (1748-1793), better known as Olympe de


Gouges was a champion of women’s rights and gender
equality. In Sept 1791 she published a Declaration of the
Rights of Women on the model of the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen. Article 1 said “Women are
born equal and remain equal in rights with men.” Article
6 said “The law should be an expression of the General
Will….and all citizenesses and citizens being equal in its
eyes should be equally admissible to all public dignities,
offices and employment.” She also said that the mothers,
sisters, daughters and all females desired to be
constituted into a new assembly.

4. Highlight the role played by women during the


revolution.

The women played a significant and useful role during the


war and the counter-revolution. They supported the
revolution, and joined the mass protests and the
processions for demanding rights. They contributed to
the war effort by organizing workshops, by weaving
blankets, by producing bandages and knitting socks for
the soldiers.

5. Mention some of the women who championed


women’s rights.

Olympe de Gouges, Etta Palm d’Aelders, Pauline Leon


and Claire Lacombe were some of the leading champions
of women’s rights.
6. Highlight the uniqueness of the Amazon Club.

Women who joined the Amazon Club wanted to fights as


soldiers and wanted uniforms, and did not demand equal
political rights.

7. How was de-Christianization prevalent in France?

Jacques Hebert propelled the radical de-Christianization


movement. The Paris Commune tried to stop all religious
ceremonies within and outside the Church. There was a
move to even close down the Church. Each church was
allowed to retain only one bell and the rest of the bells
were melted and converted into canons.

8. What was the new educational curriculum that was


suggested?
The contents of the new educational curriculum being
suggested included mathematics, science, languages,
civic and republican virtues in order to make education
modern.

9. Highlight the rights of the authors during the


revolution.

The author came to be considered not simply as a


producer of a book, but a man who was endowed with
rights. A law in 1793 gave the author the virtual
ownership over the sale proceeds of his book. He would
enjoy the fruits so long as he was alive, and his
successors would enjoy the fruits for ten years. Napoleon
later doubled this to twenty years.

10. What were the reforms in the architectural field?


In the architectural field there was a quest to find a new
space. The new space was to be in sync with the new
cultural order. ‘Etienne Boullee planned to create a new
space in Champs Elysees; Francois Verly’s project was for
a new City Centre in Lille, Pierre Rousseau’s design was
for redeveloping Ecole des Beaux Arts quartier. There
was a return to antiquity rather than innovative
creativity. There was a degree of ‘modernism’. But
ultimately the Doric column, the obelisk and the rotunda
won. This cultural shift from Rococo to the Neo-Classical
was in intellectual harmony with the rational, physical
universe of the Enlightenment.

QUIZ

1. Declaration of the Rights of Women was published by


A) Etta Palm d’Aelders
B) Olympe de Gouges C) Chaumette
2. That the ‘man’ in the Declaration of Rights of Man and
Citizens included women was explained by A) Pierre
Guyomar B) Condorcet C) Prudhomme

3. The de-Christianization movement was propelled by A)


Jacques Hebert B) Chaumette C) Robespierre

4. Notre Dam was converted into a A) Temple of Victory


B) Temple of Violence
C) Temple of Reason

5. Chenier and Gossec composed the Hymn to A) Reason


B) Equality C) Liberty

5. Educational reforms demanded that state control on


education replace the control of the A) Church B)
Nobility C) Bourgeoisie

6. The lycee was established by A) Voltaire B) Napoleon


C) Robespierre.
7. The ‘Tennis Court Oath’ was painted by A) Marat B)
Jacques LouisDavid C) Herbert

8. The demand to close down all the political clubs and


societies was made by A) Pierre Gaspard Chaumette B)
Louis Prudhomme C) Jean Baptiste Amar

9. The painting ‘Liberty’ leading the people was done by


A)Jacques L David B)Eugene Delacroix C) Momoro
10. Le Vieux Cordelier was written by A) Desmoulins B)
Herbert C) Marat

ASSIGNMENT

1. Describe the way women were depicted and iconized


during the French Revolution.

2. Highlight the role played by Etta Palm d’Aelders on


women’s issues in France.
3. Discuss the role played by women in order to be
considered equal in the French society.

4. How do the historians define the cultural efflorescence


during the revolution?

5. Elucidate the reforms that were witnessed in the field


of education and religion.

REFERENCES

1. Furet, Francois (1995). Revolutionary France, 1770-


1880. Blackwell Publishing.
François Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution
(1978/1981).

2. Georges Lefebvre, The French revolution (Two


Volumes).
Georges Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution
(1939/1947).
Georges Lefebvre, (1971). The French Revolution:
From Its Origins to 1793.
3. Albert Goodwin, The French Revolution. Harper & Row
(1962)

4. M. Bouloiseau, The Jacobin Republic, 17921794


(Cambridge University Press; Cambridge, 1983).

5. William Doyle (1990). The Oxford history of the French


Revolution (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
William Doyle (2001). The French Revolution: A very
short introduction. Oxford University Press.
William Doyle (2002). The Oxford history of the French
Revolution (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

History
Lesson – 6.1.5
Paper-6: History of Modern Europe, 1780-1945
Topic: Revolution and Gender, Revolutionary
Culture
Lecture: 5
Women played a significant role in the French Revolution.
One of the abiding portrayals we have is from Dickens’s
Tale of Two Cities – the picture of Madame Defarge
sitting beside the guillotine. In contemporary engravings
and paintings there are pictures of women in the
barricades, in the long bread queues and generally mixed
with the revolutionary crowd during almost each of the
revolutionary insurrections. Another clear imprint is that
of women leading a long procession to bring back the
‘baker, the baker’s wife and the baker’s boy’ from
Versailles to Paris that at a level crystallized the
revolution.

There is however a curious silence in the revolutionary


discourse about women. The Declaration of the Rights of
Man virtually declared the rights of men only, excluding
women. Women’s rights, or political rights particularly,
did not figure in the scheme of activities. They did not
have the right to vote under any of the constitutions that
the revolution had drafted. Some historians have even
detected an element of misogyny in the revolutionary
leadership. Curiously enough a personality like Pierre
Gaspard Chaumette (1763-1794) who had supported the
abolition of slavery did not support the rights of women.
He subscribed to the dominant idea of that time that the
women’s position was in the household. A link between
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the question of
the freedom of the slaves was established but not any
connection between the Declaration and the rights of
women.

Yet there were men who did support the women’s rights
like Condorcet (1743-1794). In 1790 Condorcet
published an article in a newspaper on the question of
women’s rights. He said, either everyone has rights or no
one has rights, that women should have as many political
rights and other kinds of rights as men. But Condorcet’s
voice was a rarity in France during the revolution.

There were women leaders, who created their own


societies. They also joined some of the mixed clubs and
tried to create a new discourse about the rights of
women. A small group of women met regularly and their
group came to be known as Cercle Social (Social Circle).
This group launched a campaign for women’s rights in
1790-91. The most prominent among this group was a
Dutch woman, Etta Palm d’Aelders (1743-1799). In
asserting women’s rights she denounced the prejudices
against women which, she argued, were responsible for
denying equal rights to women in education, inheritance
and marriage. She gave an address on 30th Dec 1790,
when she joined the Confederation of the Friends of Truth
and stated that, “Gentlemen you have admitted my sex
to this patriotic club. This is a first step towards justice.
Yet everywhere the laws favour men at the expense of
women.” The Confederation of the Friends of Truth had
been one of those mixed political clubs that came up
during the revolution. Here the women came not to
demand political rights but to raise certain specific issues
pertaining to women.
She was not alone, as there was Marie Gouges (1748-
1793), better known by her pseudonym of Olympe de
Gouges, who was a brilliant champion of women’s rights.
The daughter of a butcher from southern France, and self
educated, Olympe de Gouges demanded gender equality.
In Sept 1791 she published a Declaration of the Rights of
Women on the model of the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen. Article 1 said “Women are born equal
and remain equal in rights with men.” Article 6 declared
that ‘all citizenesses and citizens being equal in its eyes
should be equally admissible to all public dignities, offices
and employment.” She also said that the mothers,
sisters, daughters and all females wanted to be
constituted into a new and national assembly. And finally
in the post script she gave the clarion call,- “Women
wake up. The tocsin of reason sounds throughout the
universe. Recognize your rights.” Here was a clear
assertion that women must share all rights with men. It
did not immediately gain widespread support, but it
earned her sufficient notoriety. Like many other women
activists she was persecuted. But while others, including
Etta Palm d’Aelders, were only arrested, Olympe
perished on the guillotine. Chaumette denounced her as
a ‘shameless’ and ‘unnatural’ woman who ‘abandoned
the cares of her house-hold to involve herself in the
republic.’ Clearly, women’s activism had to pay a very
high price.
The assemblies refused to listen to the demand for
granting women’s rights. But it was obvious that the
women were playing very useful roles. During the war
and the counter-revolution, they had supported the
revolution. They contributed to the war effort by
organizing workshops, weaving blankets, producing
bandages, and knitting socks for the ill-equipped soldiers.
Apart from Olympe de Gouges and Etta Palm d’Aelders
there were other women who played a significant role in
the assertion of women’s rights like Pauline Leon and
Claire Lacombe, who established a new club called the
Society of Revolutionary Republican Women in May 1793.
At a time when the revolution was being radicalized
through popular pressure, women too were trying to
come to the fore to assert their rights. But even during
the Jacobin Period gender issues or women’s issues
remained neglected. Chaumette was not alone among
men who dismissed any notion or idea of granting any
right to women.
The newspapers also stuck to the old clichés of women’s
position being in the household. Louis Prudhomme in an
editorial asserted that women “ought to raise the family,
instil private virtues and stay out of public affairs.”

Yet there were some who were in favour of granting


them rights like Lanjuinais, or Pierre Guyomar. Guyomar
stated that the term ‘man’ in the Declaration of Rights of
Man and Citizens was a generic term, and that it included
women. It meant the granting of rights to everyone.
Claire Lacombe and Pauline Leon were two important
woman activists. There were also about sixty societies or
clubs that women had set up for themselves, spread all
over France, although they were concentrated in Paris.
The members of a club called the Amazon Club were
women who did not want rights but who wanted to fights
as soldiers. They wanted uniforms. There were naturally
a lot of misgivings about women demanding these rights.
A group of women came to the Convention and
complained that some revolutionary and militant women
were forcing them to wear the red cap of liberty. Several
members of the assembly took exception to this and very
soon the Convention decreed that there should be liberty
of dress. No one should be obliged or forced to wear a
particular dress.

Jean Baptiste Amar (1755-1816) in Oct 1793 demanded


that all the political clubs and societies must be closed
down. This was precisely what happened, and by the end
of October the Convention simply decreed that all
women’s clubs and societies remain closed.

The position of women during the revolution, was


therefore one in which they demanded rights but did not
quite get them. It would however be wrong to negate the
role played by women. The abiding icon of ‘Liberty’, for
example was portrayed as the figure of a woman. When
reason was being worshipped, the goddess of reason was
also conceived of as a woman. Eugene Delacroix had
immortalized woman in his painting ‘Liberty’ in which a
woman has been iconized as liberty. There existed a
curious dichotomy that belies explanation.
Women however did play a significant role during the
revolution, although their rights were not recognized
during the decade of the revolution, but were won much
later. Many of the basic questions related to women’s
rights movements later could be traced back to this
decade of the French Revolution.

The Culture Aspect of the Revolution

Recent historiography has moved away somewhat from


the mainstream narratives of political, economic and
social history to look at the cultural domain as well.
Historians have used disciplines such as sociology,
linguistics, and anthropology to try and delineate the
broader framework within which to locate the cultural
shift that one finds during the revolution. Emmet
Kennedy calls the French Revolution a profound cultural
experience. Culture no longer meant simply cataloguing
the paintings or the sculptures which were made during
the revolution. It had a wider connotation now.
The names of places for example were changed very
quickly. For example Rue des Vierges became Rue
Voltaire; Ile de Saint Louis became Ile de la Fraternite,
indicating a new ethos, and a new culture that was being
created in the process of the revolution. Revisionist
historians had drawn our attention to the significance of
the birth of a new political culture during the revolution.
Lynn Hunt says that the political class that led the
revolution was bourgeoisie but the broader cultural
framework of the bourgeoisie or the bourgeoisie as a
class must be understood in the cultural formation and
through language and imagery. Gwynne Lewis, a recent
historian has said, that the aim of the revolution was to
create ‘l’homme nouveau’ (‘the new man’).

The Religious aspect of the Revolution

The religious sensibility had been undergoing a process of


change in the course of the 18th century, in the context of
the enlightenment. It was apparent that belief was
probably on the decline even before the revolution had
started. The first official attack on religion during the
revolution took the form of the Civil Constitution of the
Clergy. It has been commented that the oath that the
clergy were required to take should be considered a
seminal event even within the revolutionary decade.
There was a wide regional disparity in the taking of the
oath. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy virtually split
the religious life of France down the middle. There were
many who did not take the oath and many who did.

Jacques Hebert and his de-Christianization movement


pointed to the extreme criticisms of religion. During the
Reign of Terror it became a very radical movement,
which through the Paris Commune even tried to stop all
religious ceremonies even within the Church. They had
earlier banned it outside the Church. De-Christianization
went to the extent of moving to close down the
Churches. Each church was allowed only one bell and the
rest of the bells were brought down, melted and
converted into cannons, which were needed for the war.
This indicated a serious and profound secularization of
religious practice and belief at a level.
The de-Christianization movement went further by
instituting the worship of Reason. Notre Dam was
converted into the Temple of Reason. A poet Chenier,
along with the composer Gossec composed the ‘Hymn to
Liberty’, which became the new anthem. A whole new
attitude was sought to be disseminated amongst the
people. The movement was short-lived but it had cultural
significance.

Robespierre, who was against de-Christianization, put


forth the theory of Supreme Being. He explained his idea
of Supreme Being by terming it as ‘the real priest of the
Supreme Being is Nature… His festivals, the joy of a
great people…. in order to draw close to the sweet bonds
of universal brotherhood.’ Gwynne Lewis comments that
one can almost hear Rousseau breathe ‘Amen’ beside
Robespierre. Secularization of ethics, festivals of Reason,
Liberty and numerous such festivals, formed part of the
cultural shift that one detects in the revolutionary
decade.

The Educational Reforms


According to Mona Ozouf all the revolutionaries invested
the educational issue with enormous symbolic
significance. Condorcet was the first to propose
educational reforms, but he was too idealistic. Lepletier
also suggested what would appear to many as
impractical, but what was being suggested was a close
surveillance by the state. State control would substitute
Church control over education thus initiating a process of
secularization of education to some extent
The content of education would be modern. Mathematics,
science, languages, civic and republican virtues, would
constitute the contents of the new curricula. New kind of
schools were also sought to be set up. There would be
new secondary schools – there were some like Grande
ecoles like the Ecole Polytechnique, which continues to be
one of the most elite institutions in France. There would
be Ecole centrales for secondary education. These were
the precursors of the Lycee that Napoleon introduced
later. The Lycee system remains a part of France’s
education system even today. The system envisaged a
two-tier structure- one for the elite, and one for the
masses.

The Print Culture

Even before the revolution there had been an explosion


of printed material, and the trend continued during the
revolutionary period. There were a number of pamphlets
which were being printed and published around the time
the revolution broke out. The abolition of the censorship
of the old regime opened up possibilities, although
somewhat dangerous, of the freedom to speak. The
revolutionary period saw a certain kind of systematisation
in the printing and publishing trade. It witnessed, as has
been suggested by some historians, the emergence of
the author. The law of 19 July, 1793 recognized this by
granting authors rights to their work during their lifetime
and to their heirs for another ten years after their death.
(Napoleon later doubled this to twenty years) A kind of
bourgeois ethos seemed to emerge in this sphere. Press
was also used for political and revolutionary purposes.
Hebert’s Pere Duchesne and Desmoulin’s Le Vieux
Cordelier were well known. Momoro was a printer-by-
appointment to the Cordelier Club. This was often
dangerous, and the government had to draw a line
between what was to be permitted and what was to be
censored. Hebert, Desmoulins, and Momoro - all perished
on the guillotine. Thus the freedom of the author and the
rights of a free press posed problems for the
governments and censorship was again talked about.
Following the transfer of authority from the Jacobins to
Napoleon, publications were censored.
Gregoire, a republican who carried out a survey of
publications on behalf of the Convention suggested that
grants or subsidies be given to the right kind of cultural
and political views.

Architecture
In the sphere of architecture the aim was to create a new
physical environment in sync with a new cultural order.
‘Etienne Boullee’s drawings were part of his plans for a
new public space on the Champs Elysees; Pierre
Rousseau’s designs for the redevelopment of the Ecole
des Beaux Arts quartier; …Francois Verly’s project for a
new city centre in Lille –all of them foreshadow the
architectural arrogance that the two Napoleons later
imposed on le vieux Paris’. (Lewis).
All these indicated that there was a shift even in the way
architecture or space was being planned in the cities. But
there was a return to antiquity rather than innovative
creativity. One historian suggests that there was a
degree of ‘modernism’. But ultimately the Doric column,
the obelisk and the rotunda won hands down’. This
cultural shift from Rococo to the Neo-Classical was in
intellectual harmony with the “rational”, physical universe
of the Enlightenment.’

Painting
Jacques David was an outstanding painter of the period,
bringing new and revolutionary sensibility to his creation.
For him the revolution was an opportunity for artistic
regeneration, as well as emancipation from the stultifying
influence of the royal Academie. In the process, he
contributed to the cultural formation of a nation. He
declared, ‘French Nation! It is your glory that I wish to
propagate’. He added that offer to the people of the
world, present and future as well. His paintings of the
Tennis-Court Oath, and the Assassination of Marat for
example have become immortal. David was also the
‘Pageant-Master of the republic’ and in this capacity
contributed greatly to the organization of the festivals
and revolutionary fetes which were perhaps the most
successful of the efforts to imprint the message of the
revolution on the minds of the people. As Mona Ozouf
puts it, ‘the festivals transferred the sacrality associated
with the religious culture of the ancien regime on to the
political and social plane’.

Hercules was portrayed twice – in the festival of Unities


and the Indivisibility of the Republic on 10 th August 1793
and that of the Supreme Being in 1794. Hercules in the
first one was a rugged and brutal figure and in the
second was composed and classical in his demeanor. This
indicated the political evolution of the revolution from the
popular phase in 1793 to a more conventional phasing in
the summer of 1794.

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