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Robespierre: Portrait of a Revolutionary Democrat
Book by Rude, George
254 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1967
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About the author
George Rudé
25 books17 followersGeorge Rudé was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and "history from below," especially the importance of crowds in history.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 19, 2022
Maximilien-Franancois-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre, l'Incorruttibile. L'impersonificazione del grandioso e incompiuto tentativo dell'Uomo di inverare la societa' degli eguali che e' stata la Rivoluzione Francese. Albert Mathiez, gigante della storiografia, rende giustizia a questo grande personaggio tratteggiandone un ritratto avvincente, commosso e ammirato. La breve, coraggiosa e disinteressata parabola del cittadino Robespierre viene delineata in sintesi, ma non superficialmente. Sono spazzate via in un sol colpo le incrostazioni malevole, sia della storiografia reazionaria che di quella benpensante e codina. Il rigore scientifico del lavoro e' ai massimi livelli, cosi' come la capacita documentale, non intaccati dai sentimenti di vicinanza con il personaggio oggetto dello studio. Un grande, piccolo saggio!
October 6, 2020
Great compilation by Rudé of biography, several of Rob.'s speeches, contemporaneous accounts, and excerpts from contemporaneous, 19th, and 20th century historians; each representative of varying schools when it comes to M. Robespierre and the Revolution he died for-- some damning, some hagiographic, and every nuance between. The lack of Burke seemed to me at first to be very suspicious, but in the end I think his school of thought was represented quite well and succinctly despite the exclusion.
I had tbh never read any of Robert Pierre's [as some records of him in the early days of the Rev., when he was yet unknown, have him, along with several other misnomers] own words before this, and I must say I was delighted and inspired by his zeal, rhetorical power, and clarity of thought. My copy of this is crawling with annotations, and I will no doubt refer back to it in the future.
I had tbh never read any of Robert Pierre's [as some records of him in the early days of the Rev., when he was yet unknown, have him, along with several other misnomers] own words before this, and I must say I was delighted and inspired by his zeal, rhetorical power, and clarity of thought. My copy of this is crawling with annotations, and I will no doubt refer back to it in the future.
September 19, 2016
Robespierre is one of the most evil men in history. One of the first men to move towards mass executions as an agent for change. A hero to Lenin, Marx and others. This book is fascinating as it looks over how history viewed Robespierre over the course of time, ranging from the immediate period after his death up to 1848, then up to the Commune, then up to the fall of France to Hitler.
July 9, 2025
Uninterested by all things scurrilous, this text leaves no oxygen for the slander endured by Robespierre's legacy, opting instead for a sheer analysis of the radical democratic politics the man and the committee exuded, laid out in lucid sun, for all it's virtue and imperfection.
Throughout his time on the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre was voracious in his work, joining a now long history of revolutionary leaders who's sole struggle is fought for long after the wines of victorious insurrection have been imbibed.
His largest shortcomings emanated from the bourgeois nature he shared with almost all his colleagues, something that lingered over the entire French Revolution like a spell, casting convention members into frenzied protectors of private property and deterrers of organised labour.
However, these matters pale beside the social achievements that were monolithic for their time, and beyond the shackles of feudal impulse.
A fierce exponent of the Revolutions most virtuous document, the Constitution of 1793, Robespierre helped spearhead a profound vision of equality, promising economic radicalism, universal suffrage, citizenship for immigrants, workers rights and, most brilliantly, the right to insurrection, a sort of proto-permanent-revolution, ala Trotsky.
Rude expertly elects Robespierre as a single participant in a sprawling and glowing history of socialism, that on every continent, rises from the ashes in order to cast fatal blows to kings and capitalists alike, the gleaming sword of reason in hand.
Throughout his time on the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre was voracious in his work, joining a now long history of revolutionary leaders who's sole struggle is fought for long after the wines of victorious insurrection have been imbibed.
His largest shortcomings emanated from the bourgeois nature he shared with almost all his colleagues, something that lingered over the entire French Revolution like a spell, casting convention members into frenzied protectors of private property and deterrers of organised labour.
However, these matters pale beside the social achievements that were monolithic for their time, and beyond the shackles of feudal impulse.
A fierce exponent of the Revolutions most virtuous document, the Constitution of 1793, Robespierre helped spearhead a profound vision of equality, promising economic radicalism, universal suffrage, citizenship for immigrants, workers rights and, most brilliantly, the right to insurrection, a sort of proto-permanent-revolution, ala Trotsky.
Rude expertly elects Robespierre as a single participant in a sprawling and glowing history of socialism, that on every continent, rises from the ashes in order to cast fatal blows to kings and capitalists alike, the gleaming sword of reason in hand.
March 29, 2023
Has some of his writings & interpretations by others. Great bibliography.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews