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The Mountain (french: La Montagne), with its members collectively called Democratic Socialists (french: Démocrate-socialistes), was a
political group A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...
of the
French Second Republic The French Second Republic (french: Deuxième République Française or ), officially the French Republic (), was the republican government of France that existed between 1848 and 1852. It was established in February 1848, with the February Rev ...
. The group drew its name from
The Mountain The Mountain (french: La Montagne) was a political group during the French Revolution. Its members, called the Montagnards (), sat on the highest benches in the National Convention. They were the most radical group and opposed the Girondins. Th ...
, a group active in the early period of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...
. Standing on a republican platform, its main opposition was the
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
Party of Order The Rue de Poitiers Committee (), best known as Party of Order (), was a political group formed by monarchists and conservatives in the French Parliament during the French Second Republic. It included monarchist members from both the Orléanist an ...
. The Mountain achieved 25% of the vote, compared to 53% for the Party of Order. It was led by
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848. Youth The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known a ...
, one of the members of the Second Republic's early provisional government.


History

After 1849, the
Odilon Barrot Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Barrot (; 19 July 1791 – 6 August 1873) was a French politician who was briefly head of the council of ministers under President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1848–49. Early life Barrot was born at Villefort, Lozè ...
's
Party of Order The Rue de Poitiers Committee (), best known as Party of Order (), was a political group formed by monarchists and conservatives in the French Parliament during the French Second Republic. It included monarchist members from both the Orléanist an ...
-backed government sought to repress protests against alcohol excises and the 45 centime land tax as well as demand for cheap credit and other grievances. The Democratic Socialists clandestinely organized this dissent in the face of press censorship, restrictions on political meetings and harassment. The Mountain's broader strategy was to prepare for the 1852 legislative and presidential elections by continuing to espouse its 'utopian'
Christian socialist Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...
message alongside attempts to politicize the three million voters who had been disenfranchised in 1850 despite the Republic's constitution proclaiming
universal manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slog ...
.
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
again found cause for criticism, accusing The Mountain of impotently "prophesying future victories". On the 1849 legislative election, there were more votes cast for The Mountain candidates than for
Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848. Youth The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known a ...
(Democratic Socialist) and Raspail (Socialist) combined in the 1848 presidential election. The causes behind The Mountain's success amongst particular demographics are disputed. Ted Margadant, Peter McPhee and
John M. Merriman John Mustard Merriman (June 15, 1946 – May 22, 2022) was an American historian specializing in modern French history. He was a Charles Seymour Professor of History at Yale University. Early life and education Merriman was born on June 15, 19 ...
have argued that the peasant vote signalled an acceptance of modernization whilst
Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas prof ...
, Peter M. Jones and
Alain Corbin Alain Corbin (born January 12, 1936 in Lonlay-l'Abbaye) is a French historian. He is a specialist of the 19th century in France and in microhistory. Trained in the Annales School, Corbin's work has moved away from the large-scale collective stru ...
have argued that
peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...
support was typical, even if the provincial rivalries and support for negative demands such as low taxation present were cloaked in urban political lexicon.
Robert Tombs Robert Paul Tombs (born 8 May 1949) is a British historian of France. He is professor emeritus of French history at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Prior to this, he was a reader in the subject until 20 ...
has pointed out that the demands of voters were expressed in a number of different ways and that support was fleeting (wine growers were also prepared to back Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte or the
Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish ...
to get excise duties cut) and that peasants in the south-west and Massif Central who backed The Mountain also accepted Bonaparte after his coup d'état of 1851 and the end of the Second Republic. For the remainder of the Second Empire, Bonaparte found the core of his support lay in the peasantry. Resistance to the coup d'état was most strongly present in the normally republican regions, again suggesting continuity. When in the most widespread popular uprising of the 19th century they organized protests against the coup d'état that numbered 100,000 strong, it was in mainly
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...
areas that The Mountain derived its most cohesive support.


Ideology

The Mountain stood on a platform of low taxation, which made it popular with peasants, especially in industries that were suffering, such as agriculture and forestry. France sustained steady economic growth during the latter part of the
Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology * ...
and the
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 ...
, although the late 1840s witnessed a downturn, which was one of the factors behind the
1848 Revolution The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
. The
National Workshops National Workshops (french: Ateliers Nationaux) refer to areas of work provided for the unemployed by the French Second Republic after the Revolution of 1848. The political crisis which resulted in the abdication of Louis Philippe caused an indust ...
proved unpopular with the peasantry and despite being formed by urban
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...
politicians The Mountain was particularly successful in rural areas such as central France and the western and central '' départments'' in and around the
Massif Central The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,00 ...
. The Mountain promised to end the land tax of 45 centimes used to finance the National Workshops, reform military service and develop education. Traditionally pro-revolutionary, left-wing and Protestant areas of the south, affected by a slump in the wine trade, also backed The Mountain in 1849.
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
''
proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
to distrust engendered by
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848. Youth The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known a ...
's involvement in and refusal to condemn the suppression of the
June Days uprising The June Days uprising (french: les journées de Juin) was an uprising staged by French civilians from 22 to 26 June 1848. It was in response to plans to close the National Workshops, created by the Second Republic in order to provide work a ...
. Later in ''
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon ''The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon'' (german: italic=yes, Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon) is an essay written by Karl Marx between December 1851 and March 1852, and originally published in 1852 in ''Die Revolution'', a German mo ...
'', Marx cited The Mountain's formation in the Second Republic as one of the many instances in this regime of history repeating itself "as farce". Source: " anslated by Saul K. Padover from the German edition of 1869".


Notable members

*
Émile de Girardin Émile de Girardin (22 June 180227 April 1881) was a French journalist, publisher and politician. He was the most successful and flamboyant French journalist of the era, presenting himself as a promoter of mass education through mass journalism. ...
*
Louis Blanc Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (; ; 29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882) was a French politician and historian. A Socialism, socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to job guarantee, guarantee employment ...
*
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848. Youth The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known a ...
* Jonas Ennery *
Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros (23 May 1812 – 12 May 1876) was a French writer born in Paris. He usually wrote with the name Alphonse Esquiros. After some minor publications he produced ''L'évangile du peuple'' (1840), an exposition on the ...
*
Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism. Biography Early life, political activity and first imprisonment (1805–1848) Bla ...
*
Alexandre Martin Alexandre Martin (27 April 1815 – 28 May 1895), nicknamed Albert l'Ouvrier ("Albert the Worker"), was a French socialist statesman of the French Second Republic. He was the first member of the industrial working class to be in French gover ...
*
Ferdinand Flocon Ferdinand Flocon (1 November 1800 – 15 March 1866) was a French journalist and politician who was one of the founding members of the Provisional Government at the start of the French Second Republic in 1848. He was Minister of Agriculture and Co ...
*
Armand Marrast Armand Marrast (June 5, 1801, Saint-Gaudens–April 12, 1852, Paris) was a French politician and mayor of Paris. See also * List of presidents of the National Assembly of France * List of mayors of Paris The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de ...
* Victor Schoelcher


Electoral results


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mountain Defunct political parties in France French Second Republic Political parties established in 1848 Radical parties in France Socialist parties in France 1848 establishments in France 1852 disestablishments in France