A Socialist History of the French Revolution

'Tantalizing prose' - TLS

Jean Jaurès was the celebrated French Socialist Party leader, assassinated in 1914 for trying to use diplomacy and industrial action to prevent the outbreak of war. Published just a few years before his death, his magisterial A Socialist History of the French Revolution has endured for over a century as one of the most influential accounts of the French Revolution ever to be published.

Written in the midst of his activities as leader of the Socialist Party and editor of its newspaper, L'Humanité, Jaurès intended the book to serve as both a guide and an inspiration to political activity; even now it can serve to do just that.

Jaurès's verve, originality and willingness to criticise all players in this epic drama make this a truly moving addition to the shelf of great books on the French Revolution. Now available for the first time in paperback, Mitchell Abidor's abridged translation of Jaurès's original six volumes makes this exceptional work truly accessible to an Anglophone audience.

Introduction by Henry Heller

Translator's Note

1. Introduction

2. The Causes of the Revolution

3. July 14, 1789

4. National Lands

5. The Revolutionary 'Journées'

6. The Flight to Varennes

7. The Insurrection of August 10, 1792

8. The September Massacres

9. The Battle of Valmy

10. The Trial of the King

11. The Enragés against the High Cost of Living

12. The Revolution of May 31 and June 2, 1793

13. Marat's Assassination

14. Dechristianization

15. The Dictatorship of Public Safety and the Fight against the Factions

16. The Terror and Fall of Robespierre

17. How Should We Judge the Revolutionaries?

Index