The Psychology of Revolution | Page 4

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