England and the French Bourgeois Revolution of 1789

The French monarchy in 1789 crumbled down under the blows of the revolutionary movement of the French people.

The hatred against the corrupt regime found expression in the storming of the century old prison — the Bastille on July 14, 1789 which marked the beginning of the French bourgeois revolution of the eighteenth century.

All Europe was deeply affected by the revolutionary events in France. V. I. Lenin noted that the great French Revolution did so much for the bourgeoisie that the whole nineteenth century was marked by its influence.

The Tories and right Whigs in Britain were hostile to the revolution because they understood that the popular masses in England could take similar action against the privileged classes. Moreover, the ruling elite feared that revolutionary France could enhance its international position which was detrimental to British interests. This explains why William Pitt the Younger entered the first coalition against France in 1792 together with Austria, Prussia and Spain.

The left Whigs who represented the middle class were initially sympathetic to the revolutionary events in France and their leader Fox hailed the storming of the Bastille as 'the greatest event in the world'. However, with the spread of the revolutionary developments they became scared by their scope and confined their agitation to parliamentary reform as a means of preventing a revolution in England. The popular masses of England wholeheartedly sympathized with the French Revolution. The social upheaval in France galvanized groups of working men to organize political Corresponding Societies in London in 1792 and the main provincial towns. The London Society was headed by Thomas Hardy, a former cobbler and its radical programme was for full political reform: universal male suffrage, annual parliaments, secret ballot, as well as freedom of speech, unions, press, meetings and a single income tax. Some societies went as far as to proclaim England a republic. Frederick Engels observed that the programme of these societies undoubtedly influenced the future Chartist movement.

Most radical and influential were the Corresponding Societies. Politically-minded workers, artisans, journeymen and shopkeepers met in their Jacobin clubs, addressed each other as 'citizen' and debated the issues of the people versus the privileged. In 1793 the Congress of the Corresponding Societies hailed the Jacobin Convention. A spate of radical pamphlets poured out together with cheap editions of the works of Thomas Paine and other progressives. The government became alarmed with such developments and instituted a policy of repression. Radicals were put on trial. Hardy was arrested. Paine had to emigrate to France, where he became a French citizen and an active participant of the revolution. The members of the Societies were driven underground.

In 1795 in connection with the war against France and the difficulties in transporting products, there was a famine in England. In a number of places food riots broke out. William Pitt took harsh measures. England was divided into military areas headed by generals. Habeas Corpus Act was suspended. This gave the authorities a free hand to arrest and detain anyone they found necessary.

However, revolutionary events continued to spread. Most dangerous of all for the government and the ruling oligarchy was the mutiny in the fleet in 1797. The events in England at the end of the 18th century vividly show the degree of social tension in the country. The French Revolution galvanized the struggle of the popular masses in the country. However, no revolution took place. This can be accounted for three reasons. In the first place, a bourgeois revolution had already taken place in England in the 17th century, which on the whole removed the most serious obstacles on the way of capitalist development. Secondly, the ruling classes in England held the power firmly in their hands, because of the close alliance between the bourgeoisie and the gentry. Thirdly, the independent peasantry had been destroyed almost entirely as a result of the enclosures, and it could not be a fighting force in a revolution. The working class on the other hand was just emerging as a basic class of capitalist society. It was still weak and politically immature.

The National Liberation Movement in Ireland. The Act of Union (1801)

The end of the eighteenth century witnessed a new stage in the national liberation movement of the Irish people against British yoke. The successful American revolution, reinforced by the infiltration of radical ideas from France had encouraged the Irish to intensify their struggle for independence. Under the influence of the War of Independence Britain introduced some limited reforms in Ireland, but only the Protestant minority experienced their advantages. The acts of the Irish Parliament were subordinate to British approval, and the harsh religious and economic grievances directed against the Catholic majority still remained. A Belfast lawyer named Wolfe Tone took the lead in forming the society of United Irishmen (1791), an organization of bourgeois radicals which aimed at complete separation and independence for Ireland. Branches of United Irishmen soon sprang up in all Irish towns. On the French model Wolfe Tone called for a republic with universal suffrage and the abolition of feudal privileges of the landlords and the official Anglican church.

Another group, called the Defenders, sought to abolish grievances against the Catholics and to gain economic concessions. Despite the struggle of these organizations the main grievances remained unremedied.

Wolfe Tone went to France to seek for aid. The French responded positively, however, it was quite ineffective. The British government took harsh measures against the Irish. As a result of a wave of repressions United Irishmen had to go underground after 1794. Nevertheless, it continued with its clandestine activities preparing for a mass uprising in 1797. Unfortunately, the British authorities forestalled these attempts by arresting the leaders of the uprising on the eve of the rebellion. Thus, the whole movement was deprived of centralized leadership.

When in 1798 the Irish eventually rebelled Britain drowned the movement in blood. Wolfe Tone was captured and died in an English prison. Many active participants of this heroic movement were either sentenced to death or imprisoned and deported to the new overseas colonies.

British statesmen decided to end the Irish cause for independence by ;dis~ solving the Irish Parliament thus destroying the last remnants of limited independence. The British Parliament also passed the Act of Union, and it went into effect in 180 JL Ireland henceforth became a part "6f Great Britain losing its independence completely. True, for the sake of hypocrisy it was given the 'right to send more representatives to the British Parliament. But these members were to belong to the Protestant ascendancy who were in a privileged position as compared with the overwhelming Catholic majority deprived of all political and social rights.

Moreover, the British government abolished all Irish customs duties and introduced free trade, which meant that the goods of the Irish industry were no longer protected by tariffs. The newly-developing Irish industry could not withstand British competition and it was doomed. Political suppression was coupled with economic disaster. The collapse of the Irish industry meant new hardships for the Irish people. There was now only one remaining option — emigration and it developed on a mass scale. Ireland, as K. Marx observed, as a result of the Union of 1801 was reduced to an agricultural hinterland of England supplying it with agricultural produce and recruits.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1859