III
[Notes to the People, No. 50, April 10, 1852]
We repeat: Louis Napoleon came to power because the open war carried on during the last four years between the different classes of French society had worn them out, had shattered their respective fighting armies, and because under such circumstances, for a time at least, the struggle of these classes can only be carried on in a peaceful and legal way, by competition, by trades' organisations, and by all the different means of pacific struggle by which the opposition of class against class has now been carried on in England for above a century. Under these circumstances it is in a manner of speaking in the interest of all contending classes that a so-called strong government should exist which might repress and keep down all those minor, local and scattered outbreaks of open hostility, which, without leading to any result, trouble the development of the struggle in its new shape by retarding the recovery of strength for a new pitched battle. This circumstance may in some way explain the undeniable general acquiescence of the French in the present government. How long it may be ere both the working and capitalist classes may have regained strength and self-reliance enough to come out and openly claim, each for themselves, the dictatorship of France, of course nobody can tell; but at the rate events are going now-a-days, either of these classes will most likely be brought into the field unexpectedly, and thus the fight of class against class in the streets may be renewed long before, from the relative or absolute strength of the parties, such an occurrence might seem probable. For, if the French revolutionary, that is the working-class party, has to wait till it is again in the same conditions of strength as in February 1848, it might resign itself to submissive passiveness of some ten years, which it certainly will not do; and at the same time, a government like that of Louis Napoleon is placed in the necessity, as we shall see by and by, to entangle itself and France into such difficulties as ultimately must be solved by a great revolutionary blow. We will not speak of the chances of war, nor of other occurrences which may, or may not come to pass; we will only mention one event which is as sure to come as the sun is sure to rise tomorrow morning, and that is a c S fcr
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TO THE PEOPLE.
BY ERNEST JONES,
OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW,
Author of the Wood Spirit, Lord Lindsay, My Life, History of the
Working Classes, Confessions of a King, Recollections of a Student,
The New World, Belddgon Church, Painter of Florence,
Canterbury versus Rome, fyc, fyc.
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Title-page of the journal Notes to the People, in which Engels' article "Real Causes Why the French Proletarians Remained Comparatively Inactive in December Last"
was published
general commercial and industrial revulsion. The bad trade and bad harvests of 1846 and 1847, made the revolution of 1848; and there are ten chances to one, that in 1853 trade, all over the world, will be far deeper uprooted and far more lastingly upset than ever it was before.[149] And who is there who thinks the ship, Louis Napoleon sails in, [is] sea-worthy enough to stand the gales that then must of necessity spring up?
But let us look at the position in which the bastard-eagle found himself on the evening of his victory. He had for supporters the army, the clergy, and the peasantry. He had been opposed in his attempt by the middle-class (comprising the large landed proprietors), and the Socialists or revolutionary working-men. Once at the head of the government, he had not only to retain those parties that brought him there, but also to gain over, or at least to conciliate to the new state of things, as many as possible of those that had opposed him hitherto. As to the army, the clergy, the government officials and the members of that conspiracy of place-hunters by which he had long since surrounded himself, direct bribes, ready money, open plunder of the public resources, was the only thing required; and we have seen how quick Louis Napoleon has been at coming down with the cash, or at finding out berths for his friends which gave them glorious opportunities for enriching themselves at once. Look at DeMorny, who went into office a beggar, crushed by a load of debts, and who, four weeks afterwards, walked out again with debts paid and what even in the neighbourhood of Belgrave Square [15]° would be called a handsome independence besides! But to deal with the peasantry, with the large landed proprietors, with the funds, monied, manufacturing, shipping, trading and shop-keeping interests, and lastly with that most formidable question of the century, the labour-question— that was quite another thing. For all the silencing measures of the government notwithstanding, the interests of these different classes remained as opposed as ever, although there was no longer a press, a parliament, a meeting-platform to proclaim this unpleasant fact; and thus, whatever the government might try to do for one class, was sure to hurt the interest of another. Whatever Louis Napoleon might attempt, he was to be met everywhere by the question, "who pays the piper?"—a question which has upset more governments than all other questions, Militia questions, Reform questions, &c, together. And although Louis Napoleon has already made his predecessor Louis Philippe contribute a good share to pay the piper,[151] yet the piper requires a good deal more.
We shall begin, in our next, to trace the position of the different classes of society in France, and to inquire how far there were any means at the disposal of the present government to improve that position. We shall at the same time review what that government has attempted and will most likely attempt later on for this purpose, and thus we shall collect materials from which to draw a correct conclusion as to the position and future chances of the man who is now doing his best to bring into disrepute the name of Napoleon.
Endnotes
[149] [Editorial note 149: text not recovered from the source scan.]
[15] [Editorial note 15: text not recovered from the source scan.]
[151] [Editorial note 151: text not recovered from the source scan.]