French Revolution: Societal Impact and the Press
The French Revolution: Causes and Key Events
During the reign of Louis XV, many political and economic failures reduced the popular prestige of the Crown. Despite his successes, Louis XVI was unable to solve the inherited problems, which he would have to face in the context of the revolution. To understand another determining factor of the revolution, we must look at the division of society into estates: nobility, clergy, and the Third Estate (which included everyone from the bourgeoisie to the peasantry, representing 95% of the total population). This Third Estate bore the tax burden while maintaining the luxurious life of the clergy and nobility. This situation caused a reaction from the enlightened thinkers (Voltaire, Montesquieu, etc.), a sector of the privileged class, and the bourgeoisie, i.e., part of the nobility, clergy, and merchants.
Timeline of Key Events
- May 5, 1789: Opening of the Estates-General. The French Parliament had not met in 150 years. Louis XVI prohibited censorship to give greater effectiveness to Parliament. Later, the Third Estate abandoned the Estates-General, organized a Constituent Assembly, and took up arms against the French Army.
- July 14, 1789: The storming of the Bastille and peasant uprisings in Paris and throughout France. The assault on the Bastille had a symbolic character since most of the convicts inside were political prisoners, and it was also effective, as it was a tinderbox and an arsenal of weapons.
- 1791: Adoption of the Constitution: a parliamentary monarchy forged in the first Constituent Assembly of 1789.
- 1792-1793: Girondin Convention, moderate-liberal. Establishment of the Republic and execution of Louis XVI as a symbol of the end of absolutism.
- 1793-1794: Jacobin Convention, radical-liberal, also called the period of terror. Its chief representative was Robespierre, who led the repression against anything not Jacobin. The country remained at war.
- 1795-1799: The Directory: Government of notables or aristocrats.
- 1799: Napoleon dissolved the Directory by a coup. France returned to a personalistic regime, an imperial regime.
The French Revolution is symbolic of the assault on power and the dismantling of the old state. The process of forming new social forces and awareness of the need for change led to revolution. There was a continuous ideological struggle by all possible means of communication to spread that awareness. In this awareness, print played an important role, although many intellectuals considered the press a lesser instrument. Hence Voltaire’s phrase about journalists lying for two coats per month. This idea that journalists trivialized the theories of the Enlightenment was common among intellectuals. However, the enlightened relied on the Encyclopedia, based on materialism, atheism, and technical progress. This liberal Encyclopedia was published in 17 volumes between 1751 and 1772. Neither the Encyclopedia nor the works of Montesquieu or Voltaire could compete with the pamphlet in quantitative social impact. Despite their hatred of periodicals, had it not been for these, their theories would not have been so widely disseminated.
The Role of the Press and Public Opinion
In the Encyclopedia, Diderot formulated a whole professional ethic on the duty of the reporter. For example, it is not enough that a journalist has knowledge; it is necessary to be fair, to have a solid and thorough judgment, good taste, and wisdom, and not to disguise or alter anything. The press created an enlightened public space and collaborated across existing sections, such as letters to the editor. The enlightened salons, including many French revolutionaries, asked for moderate reforms and freedom of expression. Centers of socialization, discussion, and reading were established, and cafes and clubs became revolutionary centers (in 1788, there were 1800 in Paris).
The Press During the Revolution
The French press played an extraordinary role in the critical awareness of the different layers of the bourgeoisie. Even in the era of absolutism of Louis XVI, legal publications provided information on the changes that were occurring. These publications followed the English model of moral release (indirect criticism). Public curiosity about the press led to the appearance of reading centers. Given the demand and interest in reading, the first French newspaper, Le Journal de Paris, appeared in 1777. Following this, subscribers appeared in the provinces (provinces that subscribed to the Paris daily), the economic announcement, and the proliferation of specialized press. By the late eighteenth century, individual reading tended to replace collective reading in clubs. There was a social interest in individual access to information and the singling out of the communication process between sender and receiver.
Rousseau’s Influence and Popular Literature
Liberal ideas reached the people thanks to Rousseau’s influence through the press and popular literature. Street vendors also played an important role in disseminating almanac information, culture, and songs (songs written with Rousseau’s thoughts). The almanacs were the thinking of the time for all social strata. They even circulated calendars of the type: “The most beautiful thoughts of Rousseau” (one for each day of the year). Since July 1789, the bourgeoisie strove to control and channel the spontaneous effort of the masses. Clubs (centers of communication networks such as the Jacobins) and the press were the instruments for the control and channeling of the revolution. With the revolutionary outbreak, newspapers blossomed, enjoying complete freedom of expression and acting as aggregators of the masses. Marat organized public readings of newspapers such as L’Ami du Peuple and Le Journal de la Révolution Française, and in 1788, he read The Social Contract to the people of Paris.
Revolutionary Leaders and Their Newspapers
- Le Patriote français, by Brissot, was the first major newspaper of the Revolution (biweekly, 1789).
- Le Défenseur de la Constitution was published by Robespierre.
Mass conduct was regulated by the media, posters, rallies, and assemblies. Given the need for change, there were regular innovations in revolutions: new symbolism (the tricolor flag, the Marseillaise, etc.) and language (we are all citizens) for a total historical change. There were changes in the calendar, street names, elements of costumes, and festivities (ecclesiastical celebrations were deleted). They even tried to create a new religion led by the Goddess of Reason, but it had little success.