University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Psychology of Revolution

  
[title page]
  
CONTENTS
 1. 
PART I THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS BOOK I GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONS
 2. 
BOOK II THE FORMS OF MENTALITY PREVALENT DURING REVOLUTION
 2. 
PART II BOOK I THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
 2. 
BOOK II THE RATIONAL, AFFECTIVE, MYSTIC, AND COLLECTIVE INFLUENCES ACTIVE DURING THE REVOLUTION
 3. 
BOOK III THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ANCESTRAL INFLUENCES AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES
 3. 
PART III THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES

  
The Psychology of Revolution INTRODUCTION THE REVISION OF HISTORY
collapse section1. 
PART I THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS
collapse section1. 
BOOK I
collapse section1. 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONS CHAPTER I SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. Classification of Revolutions.
 2. 
2. Scientific Revolutions.
 3. 
3. Political Revolutions.
 4. 
4. The Results of Political Revolutions.
collapse section2. 
CHAPTER II RELIGIOUS REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. The importance of the study of Religious Revolutions in respect of the comprehension of the great Political Revolutions.
 2. 
2. The beginnings of the Reformation and its first disciples.
 3. 
3. Rational value of the doctrines of the Reformation.
 4. 
4. Propagation of the Reformation.
 5. 
5. Conflict between different religious beliefs— Impossibility of Tolerance.
 6. 
6. The results of Religious Revolutions.
collapse section3. 
CHAPTER III THE ACTION OF GOVERNMENTS IN REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. The feeble resistance of Governments in time of Revolution.
 2. 
2. How the resistance of Governments may overcome Revolution.
 3. 
3. Revolutions effected by Governments.—Examples: China, Turkey, &c.
collapse section4. 
CHAPTER IV THE PART PLAYED BY THE PEOPLE IN REVOLUTIONS
 1. 
1. The stability and malleability of the national mind.
 1. 
2. How the people regards Revolution.
 3. 
The supposed Part of the People during Revolution.
 4. 
4. The Popular Entity and its Constituent Elements.
collapse section2. 
BOOK II THE FORMS OF MENTALITY PREVALENT DURING REVOLUTION
collapse section1. 
CHAPTER I INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS OF CHARACTER IN TIME OF REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. Transformations of Personality.
 2. 
2. Elements of Character Predominant in Time of Revolution.
collapse section2. 
CHAPTER II THE MYSTIC MENTALITY AND THE JACOBIN MENTALITY
 1. 
1. Classification of Mentalities predominant in Time of Revolution.
 2. 
2. The Mystic Mentality.
 3. 
3. The Jacobin Mentality.
collapse section 
CHAPTER III THE REVOLUTIONARY AND CRIMINAL MENTALITIES
 1. 
1. The Revolutionary Mentality.
 2. 
2. The Criminal Mentality.
collapse section4. 
CHAPTER IV THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVOLUTIONARY CROWDS
 1. 
1. General Characteristics of the Crowd.
 1. 
2. How the Stability of the Racial Mind limits the Oscillations of the Mind of the Crowd.
 4. 
4. The Rôle of the Leader in Revolutionary Movements.
collapse section5. 
CHAPTER V THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ASSEMBLIES
 1. 
1. Psychological Characteristics of the great Revolutionary Assemblies.
 3. 
3. A Suggested Explanation of the Progressive Exaggeration of Sentiments in Assemblies.
collapse section2. 
PART II THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
collapse section1. 
BOOK I THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
collapse section1. 
CHAPTER I THE OPINIONS OF HISTORIANS CONCERNING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. The Historians of the Revolution.
 2. 
2. The Theory of Fatalism in respect of the Revolution.
 3. 
3. The Hesitations of recent Historians of the Revolution.
 4. 
4. Impartiality in History.
collapse section2. 
CHAPTER II THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE ANCIEN RÉGIME
 1. 
1. The Absolute Monarchy and the Bases of the Ancien Régime.
 2. 
2. The Inconveniences of the Ancien Régime
 3. 
3. Life under the Ancien Régime.
 4. 
4. Evolution of Monarchical Feeling during the Revolution.
collapse section3. 
CHAPTER III MENTAL ANARCHY AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION AND THE INFLUENCE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PHILOSOPHERS
 1. 
1. Origin and Propagation of Revolutionary Ideas.
 2. 
2. The supposed Influence of the Philosophers of the Eighteenth Century upon the Genesis of the Revolution—Their dislike of Democracy.
 3. 
3. The Philosophical Ideas of the Bourgeoisie at the Time of the Revolution.
collapse section4. 
CHAPTER IV PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS RESPECTING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. Illusions respecting Primitive Man, the Return to a State of Nature, and the Psychology of the People.
 1. 
2. Illusions respecting the Possibility of separating Man from his Past and the Power of Transformation attributed to the Law.
 2. 
3. Illusions respecting the Theoretical Value of the great Revolutionary Principles.
collapse section2. 
BOOK II THE RATIONAL, AFFECTIVE, MYSTIC, AND COLLECTIVE INFLUENCES ACTIVE DURING THE REVOLUTION
collapse section2. 
CHAPTER I THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
 1. 
1. Psychological Influences active during the French Revolution.
 2. 
2. Dissolution of the Ancien Régime. The assembling of the States General.
 3. 
3. The Constituent Assembly.
collapse section2. 
CHAPTER II THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
 1. 
1. Political Events during the Life of the Legislative Assembly.
 2. 
2. Mental Characteristics of the Legislative Assembly.
collapse section3. 
CHAPTER III THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CONVENTION
 1. 
1. The Legend of the Convention.
 2. 
2. Results of the Triumph of the Jacobin Religion
 3. 
3. Mental Characteristics of the Convention.
collapse section4. 
CHAPTER IV THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CONVENTION
 1. 
1. The activity of the Clubs and the Commune during the Convention.
 2. 
2. The Government of France during the Convention—The Terror.
 3. 
3. The End of the Convention. The Beginnings of the Directory.
collapse section5. 
CHAPTER V INSTANCES OF REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
 1. 
1. Psychological Causes of Revolutionary Violence.
 2. 
2. The Revolutionary Tribunals.
 3. 
3. The Terror in the Provinces.
collapse section6. 
CHAPTER VI THE ARMIES OF THE REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. The Revolutionary Assemblies and the Armies.
 2. 
2. The Struggle of Europe against the Revolution.
 3. 
3. Psychological and Military Factors which determined the Success of the Revolutionary Armies.
collapse section7. 
CHAPTER VII PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION
 1. 
1. Mentality of the Men of the Revolution. The respective Influence of Violent and Feeble Characters.
 2. 
2. Psychology of the Commissaries or Representatives “on Mission.”
 3. 
3. Danton and Robespierre.
 4. 
4. Fouquier-Tinville, Marat, Billaud-Varenne, &c.
collapse section3. 
BOOK III THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ANCESTRAL INFLUENCES AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES
collapse section1. 
CHAPTER I THE LAST CONVULSIONS OF ANARCHY—THE DIRECTORY
 1. 
1. The Psychology of the Directory.
 2. 
2. Despotic Government of the Directory. Recrudescence of the Terror.
 3. 
3. The Advent of Bonaparte.
 4. 
4. Causes of the Duration of the Revolution.
collapse section2. 
CHAPTER II THE RESTORATION OF ORDER. THE CONSULAR REPUBLIC
 1. 
1. How the Work of the Revolution was Confirmed by the Consulate.
 2. 
2. The Reorganisation of France by the Consulate.
 3. 
3. Psychological Elements which determined the Success of the Work of the Consulate
collapse section3. 
CHAPTER III POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TRADITIONS AND REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES DURING THE LAST CENTURY
 1. 
1. The Psychological Causes of the continued Revolutionary Movements to which France has been subject.
 2. 
2. Summary of a Century's Revolutionary Movement in France.
 3. 
PART III THE RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES

  
[note]
  
INDEX (Names of Historians, etc., cited in italics.)
  
“The Most Brilliant Historical Work of Years” By Guglielmo Ferrero The Greatness and Decline of Rome
  
Characters and Events of Roman History From Cæsar to Nero (60 B.C.-70 A.D.) Authorized Translation by Frances Lance Ferreo 8vo. With Portrait. $2.50 net
  
THE DEVELOPMENT of THE EUROPEAN NATIONS 1870-1900 By JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, Litt.D. Reader in Modern History to the University of Cambridge, Author of “The Personality of Napoleon” 8vo. 2 vols., with maps. Net, $5.00 Carriage 50 cents
  
THE EVOLUTION OF STATES AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH POLITICS By J. M. ROBERTSON Author of “Patriotism and Empire,” “Trade and Tariffs,” etc. 80. $2.50 net. By mail, $2.75
  
Symbol and Satire in the French Revolution By Ernest F. Henderson Ph.D. (Berlin), L.H.D. (Trinity) 80. With 171 Illustrations Reproduced from Contemporary Prints. $4.00 net. By mail, $4.25 Contents: Introductory—Liberty—Equality —Fraternity—Flight—Probation—Downfall— Massacre—War—Proscription— Terror—Idolatry—Reaction—Index.
collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous sectionCHAPTER II THE MYSTIC MENTALITY AND THE JACOBIN MENTALITY The Psychology of Revolution
next section

1. Classification of Mentalities predominant in Time of Revolution.

THE classifications without which the study of the sciences is impossible must necessarily establish the discontinuous in the continuous, and for that reason are to a certain extent artificial. But they are necessary, since the continuous is only accessible in the form of the discontinuous.

To create broad distinctions between the various mentalities observable in time of revolution, as we are about to do, is obviously to separate elements which encroach upon one another, which are fused or superimposed. We must resign ourselves to losing a little in exactitude in order to gain in lucidity. The fundamental types enumerated at the end of the preceding chapter, and which we are about to describe, synthetise groups which would escape analysis were we to attempt to study them in all their complexity.

We have shown that man is influenced by different logics, which under normal conditions exist in juxtaposition, without mutually influencing one another. Under the action of various events they enter into mutual conflict, and the irreducible differences

87

which divide them are visibly manifested, involving considerable individual and social upheavals.

Mystic logic, which we shall presently consider as it appears in the Jacobin mind, plays a very important part. But it is not alone in its action. The other forms of logic—affective logic, collective logic, and rational logic—may predominate according to circumstances.

previous sectionCHAPTER II THE MYSTIC MENTALITY AND THE JACOBIN MENTALITY The Psychology of Revolution
next section