On this day in 1848, the French February Revolution began when thousands of Parisians took to the streets to protest political suppression, leading to the founding of the Second Republic and establishment of labor reforms. Among the reforms the Second Republic passed were universal male suffrage and a guaranteed "right to work", provided by National Workshops which gave the unemployed with a source of income.

The protests of February 22nd were triggered by the banning of political banquets, legal means of criticizing the government and fundraising for political organizing. Incidentally, communist journalist Friedrich Engels was in Paris at the time and witnessed these banquets. After the ban, thousands flooded out onto the streets to protest against the "Citizen King" Louis Philippe and his chief minister François Pierre Guillaume Guizot.

Shouting "Down with Guizot" and "Long Live the Reform", the crowds marched past Guizot's residence and erected barricades in the streets of Paris, where fighting broke out between the citizens and the Parisian municipal guards. French troops shot into the crowd, killing at least fifty-two people.

In the next few days, Guizot resigned and King Philippe fled the country. By February 26th, the Second Republic had been formed, with poet Alphonse de Lamartine acting as a de facto dictator over France for the next three months.

The Second Republic's governance would be tested in the "June Days" uprising, which Karl Marx identified as a conflict between petite bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The revolting workers were crushed by force (with over 4,000 insurgents being deported to Algeria) and the Second Republic continued until elected President Louis Napoléon Bonaparte dissolved the parliament in a coup in 1851.

The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850 :marx-guns-blazing:

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  • boog [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I always find this kind of advice funny. Not to knock it, of course - confidence is obviously a very attractive trait and being nice to yourself is important. But it kind of feels inaccurate when I see absolutely awful, miserable, insecure people in relationships basically all the time. I think it's really mostly just luck, at the end of the day. Luck and amount of time you spend around other people.

    • GorbinOutOverHere [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      absolutely awful, miserable, insecure people in relationships basically all the time.

      they might not have always been that way tho

      • boog [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        That's also true. I feel like I came across as too incel-y in my response there, so I just want to clarify that I know I could definitely be doing more to improve my chances.