FROM THE RADICAL REPUBLIC TO THE SOCIAL REPUBLIC: ON THE ORIGINS AND NATURE OF SOCIALISM IN RURAL FRANCE, 1871-1914 (TEXTILES, WORKERS, PEASANTS)

The intervention of a conservative rural population regularly thwarted the efforts of an urban socialist movement in 19th century France. In 1848 and 1871, the indifference or opposition of the peasantry to the efforts of Paris on behalf of socialism and social reform decidedly narrowed the range of political choices open to urban France. After the fall of the Paris Commune it was clear that the cause of socialism would not prevail until at least one of two conditions were met: either the ideology of orthodox socialism would have to be adapted to the reality of French social conditions (political opportunism), or socialism in France would have patiently to await the further development of French society (industrialization).; In order to examine these issues in greater detail, the author studied a single department in rural France (the Isere) between 1871 and 1914. Just before the Great War, voters in the Isere elected Socialist deputies in 5 out of 8 electoral districts. The author attributes the success of socialism in rural France to two phenomena: the spread of the textile industry, and the adaptation of the Socialist program to rural social conditions. This latter point rests on the observation that the Socialists made significant programmatic concessions to peasant proprietors--concessions which can only be described as opportunistic.; The role of rural textile manufacture in the spread of socialist politics was more complex. Its most obvious effect was to create a working class, socialism's "natural constituency," in the heart of a rural department. Other effects were more subtle. In many marginal peasant households, wages from labor in the textile mills supplemented the inadequate resources of a faltering small peasantry. When the French silk industry fell on hard times before 1910, the precarious position of these peasant-worker households was suddenly revealed; the presence of rural textiles had merely postponed rural depopulation for two generations (from mid-century to the beginning of the our century) transporting the crisis of the small peasantry from the era of 2nd Empire (when popular politics were regularly repressed) to the era of the 3rd Republic (when they were not). In the interval these individuals had come to act and think like workers: most notably, they accepted Socialist patronage by joining the Socialist textile union, and by relying on Socialist resources during strikes.