The Revolution of 1848

The Banquet Campaign

*Francois Guizot*

Revolution in Paris started almost by accident and as a direct result of a banquet campaign that was launched in the latter part of 1847. This was a series of reform banquets arranged in several French cities by oppositional political groups, including reform-friendly parliamentary deputies, which aimed at a more flexible political system and an expansion of the suffrage. The particular target of the campaign was Francois Guizot, the man who had controlled the ministry for the last eight years and the man generally blamed for the conservative and corrupt nature of the regime.32 The banquets were also supported by more radical groups, but not even these radicals saw the campaign as a revolutionary platform.

Revolution

The King and the government undoubtedly saw the banquet campaign as a real threat to their position and they decided to ban a banquet scheduled for Paris on February 22nd. The organizing committee gave in and cancelled the banquet, but workers and students did not give up and arranged large demonstrations in the streets of Paris. The demonstrations continued on the next day and , completely unnerved by the size and anger of the crowds, Louis Philippe gave in to their demands and fired Guizot.

The King’s decision was a victory for the camaigning reformers and resulted in spontaneous celebration by the demonstrating crowds. More and more people flocked to the streets on February 23rd and finally, in the evening, a group of demonstrators clashed with a detachment of troops in the Boulevard des Capucines. The troops panicked and fired into the crowd, killing or wounding between forty or fifty people.33 Rumour of the incident spread and caused the large crowd to revolt and during the night, a large number of barricades were erected in the streets of Paris.

Paris, February 1848

Louis Philippe’s failure to form a new, more liberal, ministry and his lacking ability to use the army or the National guard to repress the rebellion, shows how unpopular his regime had become. Faced with a large rebellious crowd and left with no defenders, the King abdicated on the 24th and left for an exile in England shortly before the crowds attacked the royal palace.

The Provisional Government

After the Chamber of Deputies had been dissolved, radical deputies and leading republicans proclaimed the Second Republic. In the evening of February 24th, a provisional government for the Republic was set up, consisting of former deputies, republicans and also a few socialists. This government was to exist until a Legislative Assembly could be elected and a constitution could be drafted.

Disturbances and rioting died down relatively quickly after the establishment of the provisional government, but the government soon faced other problems. The revolution caused a financial crisis with increased unemployed and a rising number of bancruptcies. The worsening social conditions brought on by the economic crises led to demands for social reforms from the lower classes in the cities.

*The Provisional Government*
Blanc		Flocon		Crémieux		Marrast		Albert		Garnier-Pagès
	Arago		Ledru-Rollin		l'Eure				Marie		Lamartine

The government responded to the demands for social reform by establishing a Commission of Labour, known as the Luxembourg Commission. This commission was to gather information on worker’s condition throughout France and settle social conflicts through arbitration. To deal with the increasing unemployment, the government set up a number of national workshops throughout Paris. The workshops were to provide work for the unemployed and if no work was found unemployed people should be payed a mimimum wage. The workshops relieved some of the worst suffering among the unemployed, but it did not satisfy the people’s demand for further social reform.34 Radical clubs and newspapers continued to direct criticism at the government for not going far enough in their reforms.35

The April Elections

On April 23rd elections to the Constituent Assembly were held throughout France. The government’s introduction of universal manhood suffrage meant that the vote was extended to the entire male population of the country. The elections showed that the new voters, particularly in the countryside, tended to vote for traditional leader types with recognizable names and positions. This traditionalism led to the election of an Assembly far more conservative than the provisional government had been, and the meeting of the new Constituent Assembly on May 4th marked the end of the revolutionary period of the revolution.