Bourgeois revolution

Bourgeois revolution is a term used in Marxist theory to refer to a social revolution that aims to destroy a feudal system or its vestiges, establish the rule of the bourgeoisie, and create a capitalist state.^[1]^[2] In colonised or subjugated countries, bourgeois revolutions often take the form of a war of national independence. The Dutch, English, American, and French revolutions are considered the archetypal bourgeois revolutions,^[3]^[4] in that they attempted to clear away the remnants of the medieval feudal system, so as to pave the way for the rise of capitalism.^[1] The term is usually used in contrast to "proletarian revolution", and is also sometimes called a "bourgeois-democratic revolution".^[5]^[6]

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Theories of bourgeois revolution

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Perspective

According to one version of the two-stage theory, bourgeois revolution was asserted to be a necessary step in the move toward socialism, as codified by Georgi Plekhanov.^[7]^[8] In this view, countries like the Russian Empire that had preserved their feudal structure would have to establish capitalism via a bourgeois revolution before being able to wage a proletarian revolution.^[9]^[10] At the time of the Russian Revolution, the Mensheviks asserted this theory, arguing that a revolution led by the bourgeoisie was necessary to modernise society, establish basic freedoms, and overcome feudalism, which would establish the conditions necessary for socialism.^[9] This view is prominent in Marxist–Leninist analysis.^[11]^[12]

Political sociologist Barrington Moore Jr. identified the bourgeois revolution as one of three routes from pre-industrial society to the modern world, in which a capitalist mode of production is combined with liberal democracy. Moore identified the English, French, and American revolutions as examples of this route.^[13]

Historian Neil Davidson believes that neither the establishment of democracy or the end of feudal relations are defining characteristics of bourgeois revolutions but instead supports Alex Callinicos' definition of bourgeois revolution as being those that establish "an independent center of capital accumulation".^[6]^[14]^[15] Charles Post labels this analysis as consequentialism, where there is no requirement of the prior development of capitalism or bourgeois class agency for bourgeois revolutions, and that they are only defined by the effects of the revolutions to promote the development of capital accumulation.^[16]

Other theories describe the evolution of the bourgeoisie as not needing a revolution.^[17] The German bourgeoisie during the 1848 revolution did not strive to take command of the political effort and instead sided with the crown.^[18]^[19] Davidson attributes their behaviour to the late development of capitalist relations and uses this as the model for the evolution of the bourgeoisie.^[20]

Left communists often view the revolutions leading to Communist states in the 20th century as "bourgeois revolutions".^[21]^[22]

Goals of the bourgeois revolution

According to the Marxist view, the tasks of the bourgeois revolution include:

The creation of the nation state, which can be constituted differently in different peoples.^[23]^[24]
The constitution of the state on the basis of popular sovereignty; the rule of law is based on a constitution,^[25] which is adopted by the people.
Bourgeois rule,^[26] if possible in the form of a democratic republic,^[27]^[28] which already found its complement in tyranny in antiquity.^[29]
The abolition of serfdom and the formation of free wage workers instead.^[30]^[31]
The separation of producers from the means of production in primitive accumulation.^[32]
The abolition of the guilds and freedom of investment.^[30]
The free development of the productive forces until they are ripe for social revolution.

Bourgeois revolutions in history

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Perspective

Bourgeois revolutions in the Middle Ages

Although with much less diffusion, some social movements of the European Late Middle Ages received the name of bourgeois revolution, in which the bourgeoisie begins to define itself in the nascent cities as a social class. Examples include the Ciompi Revolt in the Republic of Florence, Jacquerie revolts during the Hundred Years' War in France,^[33] and Bourgeois revolts of Sahagún [es] in Spain.^[34]^[35]

Bourgeois revolutions in the early modern period

The first wave of bourgeois revolutions are those that occurred within the early modern period and were typically marked by being driven from below by the petty bourgeoisie against absolutist governments.^[6]

German Peasants' War (1524–1525); also labelled by later historians as an early attempt at a bourgeois revolution^[36]
Eighty Years' War (1566–1648); also known as the Dutch revolution^[3]^[37]
English Revolution (1640–1660)^[3]^[4]^[6]
American Revolution (1765–1783)^[3]^[6]
French Revolution (1789–1799)^[38]^[3]
Irish Rebellion of 1798^[39]

Bourgeois revolutions in the late modern period

The second wave of bourgeois revolutions are those that occurred within the late modern period and were typically marked by being led from above by the haute bourgeoisie.^[6]