The Coming of the French Revolution Book

The Coming of the French Revolution undoubtedly remains one of the leading examples of the Marxist interpretation of the French Revolution, with Georges Lefebvre's approach seeing him attempt to explain the period "from below". Concerned with the events leading up to and including 1789 (finishing with the October Days), Lefebvre argues that the revolution was an explicitly class-based phenomenon, and one that unfolded over four distinct stages. First, the nobility, through the Assembly of Notables, challenged the authority of the king, before the "bourgeois" revolution of the Third Estate was followed by, and gave fuel to, uprisings by the "workers" and, finally, the "peasants", with each section of society having collective interests that drove their actions.

As mentioned in my review of François Furet's Interpreting the French Revolution, many facets of the Marxist, or "classical", interpretation of the revolution were challenged by the revisionists of the latter part of the twentieth century, but Lefebvre's arguments nonetheless remain compelling and fascinating in equal measure. Despite sounding slightly one-dimensional at times, he is right to put emphasis on the role economic hardships played in aggravating an already difficult situation, and, as such, The Coming of the French Revolution remains one of the most important and illuminating texts concerned with the revolutionary period.