AislingWong2016951303

ProfessorWonTaeJoon
May30th,2016
HOEW315MidtermEssay

TheFrenchRevolutionMarkedFrancesTransitionfromFeudalismtoCapitalism.Discuss.

 Frances feudalistic society in the

ancien rgime
had beenrifewithtension,fromtherisingbourgeois
class threatening the near monopoly of traditional noble authority to lack of thetrust in government finance.
While capitalism emerged throughefforts to improve situations of poverty, it emerged as a contingency, with
the obstacles of slow bureaucraticprocessandsimplelackofexperiencedraggingtheprocessoffullcapitalistic
industrialization. Nonetheless, thispaperserves toargue that theRevolutionservedastheturningpointfromthe
antiquated feudal system to lay the basis for capitalistic and industrial development. Through analysis of the
shifts insocialpower,developmentofprivateindustry,andchangesingovernmentpolicies,itisevidentthatthe
conditions brought forth duringthe Revolution provided optimumconditions forcapitalism todigits rootsinto
Frenchsociety.
During the Revolution and onward, France saw a shift from feudalism with its hierarchical,
landlending society, to capitalism and the privatization of the means of production. However, pinpointingthe
pointof changeandlevelofinfluencetheRevolution hadontheshiftin economicstructureprovesdifficult.The
changes as a result had globalinfluences revolutions inneighbouringcountriesincludingGermanyandAustria
were in part incited through the example of the French. Furthermore, the concluding Congress of Vienna
between 1814 and 1815, bydividing territoriesanddevisingstrictregulationsto maintainthebalanceofpower,
helpedcreatesafereconomicconditionstofosterEuropeanindustrializationandimperialization.
Effects of the French Revolution can be seen not only in France, but also the rest of Europe, and
changes did not impact only economic structure, but also religion, society, and thegovernment.The issue of
transition from feudalism to capitalism does not containonly thescope of Frances economy, but rather all of
European society. It asks whether theRevolutionhelpedguidethepathtofollowforeconomic growth,whether
itshapedanddevelopednewopportunities,andhowpeoplewereaffectedandremainaffectedtoday.
The Revolution was partially instigated due to the full reveal of the depth of the monarchys budget
incompetence. The populace felt distrust and rage at the mannerin whichtheir taxesweremanagedor,more
accurately, mismanaged. While theFrenchnational economy was likely productive enough to supportitsdebt,
the taxing systemin place to cement the system of absolute monarchyhinderedfulltaxationandwasgenerally
inefficient. To make matters worse, public distrust meant lack of investment and funding through the central
bank. Indeed, as Kaiser and Van Kley argue, nowhere did Europe feature a fiscal system more in need of
reform yet nowhere, in the eyes of the vested interests involved, was there a system that seemed less
reformable."1
Under the Revolutionary economic system, public confidence in the economy grew and encouraged
investment. After theCongressofVienna,therelativestabilitythatfollowedencouragedindustrializationwhich
was headed by the rising bourgeoisie. The lasting effect of Napoleon Bonapartes meritbased promotions
system meant industrial advancement was fueled by thosetalented, ambitious workers previously chained by
social hierarchy. Inthisway,Franceexperiencedaredistributionofownershipaslandspreviouslyownedbythe
First and Second Estate were acquired by the Third. The wealth and influence of the Catholic Church was

ThomasE.KaiserandDaleK.VanKley,
FromDeficittoDeluge:TheOriginsoftheFrenchRevolution
(StanfordUniversityPress,2010),pp.253254.
1

reduced through this system by the acquisition of its lands. Nobles were also stripped of their titles in the
abolishmentoffeudalism,creatingequalgroundsforthepursuitofpersonalwealth.
However, it is also argued that the economic reforms did not entirely change Frances system to
capitalism. After the Revolution, France was still unable to become theleadingindustrialpower.Vital areasof
the economy, especially the mining and metallurgical industries, maintained technologically undercapitalized
despite Frances economic development prior to the outbreak of war.2 Furthermore, even prior to the
Revolution, someThird Estate memberswereable togaininfluencethroughthecapitalisticventuresofgaining
lands, rent collecting, and money lending, to the level where they were siphonedthroughennoblementintothe
Second Estate. As such,it is contended that capitalism was notthe primaryreason fortherevivaloftheFrench
economy,andthatthetransitiontocapitalismwasnotfullyingrainedduringtheperiodoftheRevolution.
Despite the lack of complete, ingrained development, the new conditions for peasant classes to
participate inthe capitalist market meant more peasants ownedlands andbecameindependentproprietors.The
bourgeoisie were able to participate further in business through meritbased rewards. The Revolutionary
government also participated in the formation of a single commercial code and anticombination laws to
standardizeproduction.Thesenewpoliciesstreamlinedbusinesstomakeproprietorshipmoreaccessible.
The formation of an egalitarian, representative government and increase in power ofassemblies also
meant the increase in the influence of the working class to obtain means of production. The abolishment of
guilds and feudalism,along with the establishmentofequalityunderthelaw andcivilcode,meantreductionof
the concentration of power that acted as barriers to economic growth.Inparticular,ananalysisof theeffectsof
French occupation in Europe and their implementation of economic policy was conducted by Acemoglu,
Cantoni, Johnson, and Robinson. The study showed rapid growthof about 22 per cent in occupied areas after
1850, demonstrating the effectiveness of Frances reformed capitalist system and institutions in removing
barrierstoeconomicgrowth.3
Revolutionary changes to the economy centered around capitalism were also criticized for the
economic failures in the 1790s, with blame pinned on policies made by the Jacobins.With the failure of the
monarchy toefficiently collecttaxesonthewealthbeinggeneratedinthe nation,it appearedeconomicissuesof
preRevolution France were solely administrative, and that the later implemented revolutionary policies were
not responsible for the revival of the French economy. Revisionist historians including Simon Schama argue
thateconomicprospectswerebeginningtoimprovejustpriortotheRevolution.
Further examination of agricultural and manufacturing industries show an overall increase in
agricultural production of some grains including wheat and rye by about 60percent between the 1730s and
1790s, industries including wool and silk experiencedsignificantly smallergrowthat1percentperannum,and
by the1780s, France was facinganetdeficitbyimportingmorecolonial goodsthanexportingitsmanufactured
goods.4 The agricultural sector alsoexperienced periodicslumps it is arguedthisisduetothefocusinsteadon

P.M.Jones,
ReformationandRevolutioninFrance:ThePoliticsofTransition,17741791
(Cambridge
UniversityPress,1995),p.99.
3
DaronAcemoglu,DavideCantoni,SimonJohnson,andJamesA.Robinson,
TheConsequencesofRadical
Reform:TheFrenchRevolution
(Cambridge,MA:NationalBureauofEconomicResearch,2009),p.23.
4
GwynneLewis,
TheFrenchRevolution:RethinkingtheDebate(
London:Routledge,1993),pp.5859.
2

the ailingindustry sector. These factors made investment in both agricultureand industryperilous prior to the
Revolution.
General public sentiment posed lackofconfidence in the soundnessofLouis XVIs fiscal policy, the
strength of the French currency, and the stability of industrial investment. Therefore, Revolutionary policy
makers found it necessary to implement more and more drastic changes to revive the economy against its
traditional systems of privilege. New laws and institutions developedby revolutionaries neededto encourage
investment and entrepreneurship to revive the economy and stimulate growth. Therefore, the privatization of
state affairs and negotiating of contracts with bankers and army contractors, from its militarization of the
politicaleconomy,succeededinrevivingtheeconomy.
Although theimplementation of free trade policies originallybroughtseveralcomplications,including
eventual reluctant intervention to instill priceroofs andregulate foodstuffs inacontrolledeconomy,thesewere
eventually reformed to more capitalist ventures.Revisions tothe policies controlling the economy, as well as
collaborations with bankersand manufacturers, meant the government tookon a less interventionistroleinthe
economy.5 This stands in sharp contrastto the system of absolute monarchy, in whichtheeconomy,especially
during timesofcrisis,washeavilyregulated.Thenewlyopenedfreemarketallowedfornew marketsforFrench
goods to trade with other areas of Europe and the colonies, encouraging the growth of French exports andthe
generationofwealth.
However, the Revolutionwas not without its negative impacts onthe economy. In particular,despite
Bonapartes war tactics to take resources from conquered lands and demand payment, the losses at war
ultimately manifested in shortageofworkingagemenandfood,alongwithhyperinflationofcurrency.Areasof
the textile industry, including wool and silk, had dropped to all time lows silk, in particular, dropped in
production by 50 per cent.6 It is also arguedthatthe saleof lands acquired fromthe Church encouragedreal
estate investment over trade or industry, hindering thegrowth of industrial development.Thesefactorsmakeit
difficulttoseetheriseofcapitalisminpostRevolutionFrance.
Despite this, a strong working mentality was established among peasants, who now worked both the
agricultural andtextiles industries depending ontheseason.Otherindustriesbenefittedfromthewar,including
cotton and metallurgy which experienced radical innovations in technology and surges in demand. The free
tradereforms and changes ingovernment policy enabled the development of those industriesdemandedbythe
marketandtheircapitalisticventures.
Institutions and governmental reforms, despite facilitating economic growth and reducing classism,
have been criticized in terms of social acceptance. In particular, Fehr argues that manyFrenchpeasants were
suspicious ofthenewlaws andwereinsteadmoreconcerned withprivatesurvivaloverpublicprosperity.Inthis
perspective, thereexisted social barriers to capitalismwheretheidealsofbourgeoisindividualismdidnotapply
to some groups, and people did not freely engage in capitalistic pursuit of profit. Moreover, despite equality
under the law, there was the social construct of transforming peasants into Frenchmen, a perspective

GwynneLewis,citedinibid.,p.66.
GwynneLewis,citedinibid.,p.69.

stemming from commodity fetishism and depicting the remnants of prejudicewithin classes.7 It is argued that
this social and procedural conservatism prevented capitalism from fulling taking form during the French
Revolution.
On the other hand, policieswere thereafter implementedto encourageeconomicgrowth.Tocounteract
these social stigmas, institutions brought forth the recognition of syndicalism, the peasant cooperative
movement, andinclusionofwomenineducation. Thesemeasurestoencourageeconomicdevelopmentmarkthe
Revolution as anaidin generatingaworkingclassconsciousness.Fromthere,peasantswereencouragedtotake
advantage of the market which was now relatively freer from legal constraints and traditional customs. The
establishment of equal opportunity under revolutionary policies took multitudinous reforms, but ultimately
providedthebasistoencouragecapitalisticdevelopment.
The rewarding of capitalistic venturers began with Bonapartes democratization of the military,
providing meritbased rewards to deserving soldiers. Assuch, the pursuit of personal gain ledtotheriseofthe
bourgeoisie, consisting largely of landowners, professionals, politicians, bureaucrats, and soldiers.8 Careers
becameopento all with economic instead ofclassbased distinctions in society.Bonapartealsoimplementeda
system of equal taxation withreasonably equitable assessments. Thisreformed system broughtmoreresources
to develop technological institutions and produce the intellectual capital necessary to develop industry. These
changes encouraged shifts to an entrepreneurial society in a centralized, bureaucratic state unhindered by
traditionalistvaluesofbirthright.
In addition to changes in economic policy, the culmination of revisions in legaland judiciarysystems
during the French Revolution brought massivechangesto movethe countryto a capitalisteconomy.Although
not to thescale orspeedofEnglandsIndustrialRevolution, Franceseconomicreformswere largelylimitedby
uncertainty in a period of revolutionary social upheaval andconstant war. In the wareconomy, demands were
made to fit the needsof the battlefield, andthus, the capitalistfreemarketreflectedtheneeds ofitsconsumers,
andpolicieswerewrittenanddiscardedsimilarly.
From the success of the Revolution in restructuring and revitalizing the economy,bringingwithitthe
glory and fallofthe French RepublicunderBonaparte,it isnotasurprise Revolutionbecameameansforpublic
change, encouraging participation and public sovereignty. In the same way thepopulace took control of their
politicalstructure,they alsoseizedinfluenceovereconomicdecisions.AsE.J.Hobsbawmsaidin
Echoesof the
Marseillaise
, The French Revolution demonstrated the power of the common people in a manner that no
subsequentgovernmenthaseveralloweditselftoforget.

FerencFehr,TheFrenchRevolutionandtheBirthofModernity
(Berkeley:TheUniversityofCalifornia
Press,1990),p.90.
8
BaileyStone,
ReinterpretingtheFrenchRevolution:AGlobalHistoricalPerspective
(CambridgeUniversity
Press,2002),p.262.
7