It is instructive to read Tocqueville and Marx discuss the 1848 revolution. It does not often happen to have two such heavyweights describe the same events as they happen (w/o a historical "recul").
Marx's "18th Brumaire" was written in 1852,
Marx's "18th Brumaire" was written in 1852,
journal articles (collected in "The Class struggles in France") as the revolution occurred; Tocqueville's "Souvenirs" in 1850.
Both agree in the sociological analysis of Louis Phillippe's rule. They disagree on June 1848 when workers' demonstrations were crushed.
Both agree in the sociological analysis of Louis Phillippe's rule. They disagree on June 1848 when workers' demonstrations were crushed.
T's book is memoirs; so it is more personal and is written from the point of view of a participant.
It is probably better written than Marx's, but is weaker in the overall social dimension, perhaps because it ends too early, before Louis Napoleon's coup.
It is probably better written than Marx's, but is weaker in the overall social dimension, perhaps because it ends too early, before Louis Napoleon's coup.
Two quotes:
Tocqueville on bourgeoisie:
"The particular spirit of the middle class became the general spirit of government; it dominated foreign policy as well as internal affairs: an active spirit, industrious, often dishonest, generally orderly, bold out of vanity and egoism,
Tocqueville on bourgeoisie:
"The particular spirit of the middle class became the general spirit of government; it dominated foreign policy as well as internal affairs: an active spirit, industrious, often dishonest, generally orderly, bold out of vanity and egoism,
timid by temperament, moderate in all things except in its taste for comfort, and mediocre; a spirit which, mingled with that of the people or of the aristocracy, can do wonders, but which alone, will never produce but a government without virtue and without grandeur."
Marx on farmer-owners:
"The allotment farmers are an immense mass, whose individual members live in identical conditions without however entering into manifold relations with one another. Their method of production isolates them from one another, instead of drawing...
"The allotment farmers are an immense mass, whose individual members live in identical conditions without however entering into manifold relations with one another. Their method of production isolates them from one another, instead of drawing...
...them into mutual intercourse. This isolation is promoted by the poor means of communication in France, together with the poverty of the farmers themselves. Their field of operation, the small allotment of land that each cultivates, allows no room for a division of labor,
and no opportunity for the application of science; In other words it shuts out manifoldness of development, diversity of talent, and the luxury of social relations."
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