The Psychology of Revolution

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The Psychology of Revolution

Gustave le Bon

February, 1996 [Etext #448]

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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVOLUTION BY GUSTAVE LE BON

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION. THE REVISION OF HISTORY PART I

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS

BOOK I

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONS

CHAPTER I. SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS 1. Classification of Revolutions 2. Scientific Revolutions 3. Political Revolutions 4. The results of Political Revolutions

CHAPTER II. RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS 1. The importance of the study of Religious Revolutions in respect of the comprehension of the great Political Revolutions 2. The beginnings of the Reformation and its first disciples 3. Rational value of the doctrines of the Reformation 4. Propagation of the Reformation 5. Conflict between different religious beliefs. The impossibility of tolerance 6. The results of Religious Revolutions

CHAPTER III. THE ACTION OF GOVERNMENTS IN REVOLUTIONS 1. The feeble resistance of Governments in time of Revolution 2. How the resistance of Governments may overcome Revolution 3. Revolutions effected by Governments. Examples: China, Turkey, &c 4. Social elements which survive the changes of Government after Revolution

CHAPTER IV. THE PART PLAYED BY THE PEOPLE IN REVOLUTIONS 1. The stability and malleability Of the national mind 2. How the People regards Revolution 3. The supposed part of the People during Revolution 4. The popular entity and its constituent elements

BOOK II

THE FORMS OF MENTALITY PREVALENT DURING REVOLUTION

CHAPTER I. INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS OF CHARACTER IN TIME OF REVOLUTION 1. Transformations of Personality 2. Elements of character predominant in time of Revolution

CHAPTER II. THE MYSTIC MENTALITY AND THE JACOBIN MENTALITY 1. Classification of mentalities predominant in time of Revolution 2. The Mystic Mentality 3. The Jacobin Mentality

CHAPTER III. THE REVOLUTIONARY AND CRIMINAL MENTALITIES 1. The Revolutionary Mentality 2. The Criminal Mentality

CHAPTER IV. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS 1. General characteristics of the crowd 2. How the stability of the racial mind limits the oscillations of the mind of the crowd 3. The role of the leader in Revolutionary Movements

CHAPTER V. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ASSEMBLIES 1. Psychological characteristics of the great Revolutionary Assemblies 2. The Psychology of the Revolutionary Clubs 3. A suggested explanation of the progressive exaggeration of sentiments in assemblies

PART II

BOOK I

THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

CHAPTER 1. THE OPINIONS OF HISTORIANS CONCERNING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 1. The Historians of the Revolution 2. The theory of Fatalism in respect of the Revolution 3. The hesitation of recent Historians of the Revolution 4. Impartiality in History

CHAPTER II. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE ANCIEN REGIME 1. The Absolute Monarchy and the Basis of the Ancien Regime 2. The inconveniences of the Ancien Regime 3. Life under the Ancien Regime 4. Evolution of Monarchical feeling during the Revolution

CHAPTER III. MENTAL ANARCHY AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION AND THE INFLUENCE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PHILOSOPHERS 1. Origin and Propagation of Revolutionary Ideas 2. The supposed influence of the Philosophers of the eighteenth century upon the Genesis of the Revolution. Their dislike of Democracy 3. The philosophical ideas of the Bourgeoisie at the time of the Revolution

CHAPTER IV. PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS RESPECTING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 1. Illusions respecting Primitive Man, the return to the State of Nature, and the Psychology of the People 2. Illusions respecting the possibility of separating Man from his Past and the power of Transformation attributed to the Law 3. Illusions respecting the Theoretical Value of the great Revolutionary Principles

BOOK II

THE RATIONAL, AFFECTIVE, MYSTIC, AND COLLECTIVE INFLUENCES ACTIVE DURING THE REVOLUTION

CHAPTER I. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY 1. Psychological influences active during the French Revolution 2. Dissolution of the Ancien Regime. The assembling of the States General 3. The constituent Assembly

CHAPTER II. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 1. Political events during the life of the Legislative Assembly 2. Mental characteristics of the Legislative Assembly

CHAPTER III. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONVENTION 1. The Legend of the Convention 2. Results of the triumph of the Jacobin Religion 3. Mental characteristics of the Convention

CHAPTER IV. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CONVENTION 1. The activity of the Clubs and the Commune during the Convention 2. The Government of France during the Convention: the Terror 3. The End of the Convention. The Beginnings of the Directory

CHAPTER V. INSTANCES OF REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE 1. Psychological Causes of Revolutionary Violence 2. The Revolutionary Tribunals 3. The Terror in the Provinces

CHAPTER VI. THE ARMIES OF THE REVOLUTION 1. The Revolutionary Assemblies and the Armies 2. The Struggle of Europe against the Revolution 3. Psychological and Military Factors which determined the success of the Revolutionary Armies

CHAPTER VII. PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION

1. Mentality of the men of the Revolution. The respective influence of violent and feeble characters 2. Psychology of the Commissaries or Representatives ``on Mission'' 3. Danton and Robespierre 4. Fouquier-Tinville, Marat, Billaud-Varenne, &c. 5. The destiny of those Members of the Convention who survived the Revolution

BOOK III

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ANCESTRAL INFLUENCES AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES

CHAPTER I. THE LAST CONVULSIONS OF ANARCHY. THE DIRECTORY 1. Psychology of the Directory 2. Despotic Government of the Directory. Recrudescence of the Terror 3. The Advent of Bonaparte 4. Causes of the Duration of the Revolution

CHAPTER II. THE RESTORATION OF ORDER. THE CONSULAR REPUBLIC 1. How the work of the Revolution was confirmed by the Consulate 2. The re-organisation of France by the Consulate 3. Psychological elements which determined the success of the work of the Consulate

CHAPTER III. POLITICAL RESULTS OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TRADITIONS AND THE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES DURING THE LAST CENTURY 1. The psychological causes of the continued Revolutionary Movements to which France has been subject 2. Summary of a century's Revolutionary Movements in France

PART III

THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES

CHAPTER I. THE PROGRESS OF DEMOCRATIC BELIEFS SINCE THE REVOLUTION 1. Gradual propagation of Democratic Ideas after the Revolution 2. The unequal influence of the three fundamental principles of the Revolution 3. The Democracy of the ``Intellectuals'' and Popular Democracy 4. Natural Inequalities and Democratic Equalisation

CHAPTER II. THE RESULTS OF DEMOCRATIC EVOLUTION 1. The influence upon social evolution of theories of no rational value 2. The Jacobin Spirit and the Mentality created by Democratic Beliefs 3. Universal Suffrage and its representatives 4. The craving for Reforms 5. Social distinctions in Democracies and Democratic Ideas in various countries

CHAPTER III. THE NEW FORMS OF DEMOCRATIC BELIEF 1. The conflict between Capital and Labour 2. The evolution of the Working Classes and the Syndicalist Movement 3. Why certain modern Democratic Governments are gradually being transformed into Governments by Administrative Castes

CONCLUSIONS

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVOLUTION

INTRODUCTION

THE REVISION OF HISTORY

The present age is not merely an epoch of discovery; it is also a period of revision of the various elements of knowledge. Having recognised that there are no phenomena of which the first cause is still accessible, science has resumed the examination of her ancient certitudes, and has proved their fragility. To-day she sees her ancient principles vanishing one by one. Mechanics is losing its axioms, and matter, formerly the eternal substratum of the worlds, becomes a simple aggregate of ephemeral forces in transitory condensation.

Despite its conjectural side, by virtue of which it to some extent escapes the severest form of criticism, history has not been free from this universal revision. There is no longer a single one of its phases of which we can say that it is certainly known. What appeared to be definitely acquired is now once more put in question.

Among the events whose study seemed completed was the French Revolution. Analysed by several generations of writers, one might suppose it to be perfectly elucidated. What new thing can be said of it, except in modification of some of its details?

And yet its most positive defenders are beginning to hesitate in their judgments. Ancient evidence proves to be far from impeccable. The faith in dogmas once held sacred is shaken. The latest literature of the Revolution betrays these uncertainties. Having related, men are more and more chary of drawing conclusions.

Not only are the heroes of this great drama discussed without indulgence, but thinkers are asking whether the new dispensation which followed the ancien regime would not have established itself naturally, without violence, in the course of progressive civilisation. The results obtained no longer seem in correspondence either with their immediate cost or with the remoter consequences which the Revolution evoked from the possibilities of history.

Several causes have led to the revision of this tragic period. Time has calmed passions, numerous documents have gradually emerged from the archives, and the historian is learning to interpret them independently.

But it is perhaps modern psychology that has most effectually influenced our ideas, by enabling us more surely to read men and the motives of their conduct.

Among those of its discoveries which are henceforth applicable to history we must mention, above all, a more profound understanding of ancestral influences, the laws which rule the actions of the crowd, data relating to the disaggregation of personality, mental contagion, the unconscious formation of beliefs, and the distinction between the various forms of logic.

To tell the truth, these applications of science, which are utilised in this book, have not been so utilised hitherto. Historians have generally stopped short at the study of documents, and even that study is sufficient to excite the doubts of which I have spoken.

The great events which shape the destinies of peoples— revolutions, for example, and the outbreak of religious beliefs— are sometimes so difficult to explain that one must limit oneself to a mere statement.

From the time of my first historical researches I have been struck by the impenetrable aspect of certain essential phenomena, those relating to the genesis of beliefs especially; I felt convinced that something fundamental was lacking that was essential to their interpretation. Reason having said all it could say, nothing more could be expected of it, and other means must be sought of comprehending what had not been elucidated.

For a long time these important questions remained obscure to me. Extended travel, devoted to the study of the remnants of vanished civilisations, had not done much to throw light upon them.

Reflecting upon it continually, I was forced to recognise that the problem was composed of a series of other problems, which I should have to study separately. This I did for a period of twenty years, presenting the results of my researches in a succession of volumes.

One of the first was devoted to the study of the psychological laws of the evolution of peoples. Having shown that the historic races—that is, the races formed by the hazards of history—finally acquired psychological characteristics as stable as their anatomical characteristics, I attempted to explain how a people transforms its institutions, its languages, and its arts. I explained in the same work why it was that individual personalities, under the influence of sudden variations of environment, might be entirely disaggregated.

But besides the fixed collectivities formed by the peoples, there are mobile and transitory collectivities known as crowds. Now these crowds or mobs, by the aid of which the great movements of history are accomplished, have characteristics absolutely different from those of the individuals who compose them. What are these characteristics, and how are they evolved? This new problem was examined in The Psychology of the Crowd.

Only after these studies did I begin to perceive certain influences which had escaped me.

But this was not all. Among the most important factors of history one was preponderant—the factor of beliefs. How are these beliefs born, and are they really rational and voluntary, as was long taught? Are they not rather unconscious and independent of all reason? A difficult question, which I dealt with in my last book, Opinions and Beliefs.

So long as psychology regards beliefs as voluntary and rational they will remain inexplicable. Having proved that they are usually irrational and always involuntary, I was able to propound the solution of this important problem; how it was that beliefs which no reason could justify were admitted without difficulty by the most enlightened spirits of all ages.

The solution of the historical difficulties which had so long been sought was thenceforth obvious. I arrived at the conclusion that beside the rational logic which conditions thought, and was formerly regarded as our sole guide, there exist very different forms of logic: affective logic, collective logic, and mystic logic, which usually overrule the reason and engender the generative impulses of our conduct.

This fact well established, it seemed to me evident that if a great number of historical events are often uncomprehended, it is because we seek to interpret them in the light of a logic which in reality has very little influence upon their genesis.

All these researches, which are here summed up in a few lines, demanded long years for their accomplishment. Despairing of completing them, I abandoned them more than once to return to those labours of the laboratory in which one is always sure of skirting the truth and of acquiring fragments at least of certitude.

But while it is very interesting to explore the world of material phenomena, it is still more so to decipher men, for which reason I have always been led back to psychology.

Certain principles deduced from my researches appearing likely to prove fruitful, I resolved to apply them to the study of concrete instances, and was thus led to deal with the Psychology of Revolutions—notably that of the French Revolution.

Proceeding in the analysis of our great Revolution, the greater part of the opinions determined by the reading of books deserted me one by one, although I had considered them unshakable.

To explain this period we must consider it as a whole, as many historians have done. It is composed of phenomena simultaneous but independent of one another.

Each of its phases reveals