The French Revolution and Historical Materialism

This text reasserts the Marxist view of the French Revolution as a bourgeois and capitalist revolution. Based mainly on articles published in the journal Historical Materialism it challenges the still dominant revisionist view of the French Revolution. It serves to restore the close tie between the history of the Old Regime and the Revolution. It demonstrates that the rise of a bourgeois capitalist class has a long history dating back to the sixteenth century. Moreover, it shows that the Revolution itself played a large role in strengthening the bourgeoisie politically and economically while bringing about the unification of financial and productive capital. Indeed, it shows that the rising of the masses during the Revolution, viewed by revisionism as economically regressive, in fact helped to bring about the consolidation of capitalism.

Henry Heller is Professor of History at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of The Bourgeois Revolution in France 1789-1815 (Berghahn Books, 2006) and The Capitalist University: The Transformation of Higher Education in the United States: 1945-2016 (Pluto Press, 2016).

"The French Revolution, a collection of articles and (review) essays previously published in Historical Materialism, is a must read. In it, Heller sets out to challenge the revisionist history associated with this historical event... [The book] gives credence to the usefulness of historical materialism, and in a significant way settles the score, to date, between liberal and radical interpretations. In this reviewer's opinion The French Revolution has set the standard for Marxist interpretations for years to come. For this reason alone, it should be read." - Jean-Pierre Reed, Southern Illinois University in: Marx & Philosophy Review of Books [Full review]