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Zola and the Crowd (II) Mass Politics and Leadership

Explore Emile Zola's perspective on crowd dynamics, leadership, and mass politics in his novel Germinal. Analyze the role of leaders like Rasseneur, Souvarine, and Etienne in the workers' movement. Examine Zola's critique of the Third Republic and the rise of mass politics.

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Zola and the Crowd (II) Mass Politics and Leadership

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  1. Zola and the Crowd (II)Mass Politics and Leadership Dr Jessica Wardhaugh

  2. ‘Il éprouvait le besoin de les mettredansunegloire. Il les montreraitcomme les seulsgrands, les seulsimpeccables, commel’unique noblesse et l’unique force oùl’humanitépût se retremper. Déjà, il se voyaità la tribune, triomphant avec le peuple, si le peuple ne le dévorait pas.’ (Germinal VII, 6).

  3. Lecture plan • I. Crowds and leaders in Germinal • II. Zola and the quest for l’homme fort • Leadership and the Third Republic • Zola as political critic • III. Mass politics and leadership • The meaning of mass politics • Boulangism and Barrès • Leagues of the fin-de-siècle

  4. I. Crowds and leaders in Germinal • The workers/crowd are the hero or anti-hero of the action, and yet also act under the influence of their leaders: • Rasseneur the ‘possibiliste’ • Souvarine the anarchist • Etienne the Marxist, preaching the ‘gospel’ of socialism

  5. Etienne and education Est-ceque les citoyensn’étaient pas égauxdepuis la Révolution? Puisqu’onvotait ensemble, est-cequel’ouvrierdevaitresteresclave du patron qui le payait? Les grandesCompagnies , avec leurs machines, écrasait tout, et l’onn’avaitmême plus contreelles les garanties de l’ancien temps, lorsque les gens du mêmemétier, réunis en corps, savaient se défendre. C’était pour ça, nom de Dieu! Et pour d’autreschoses, que tout péterait un jour, grâceàl’instruction. On n’avaitqu’àvoirdans le coronmême: les grands-pèresn’auraientpu signer leur nom, les pères le signaient déjà, et quant aux fils, ilslisaient et écrivaientcomme des professeurs. Ah! Çapoussait, çapoussait petit à petit, une rude moissond’hommes, qui mûrissait au soleil!

  6. Was Etienne correct? • Compulsory primary education was introduced in France in the 1880s, yet there were not necessarily sufficient and suitable jobs for a literate, educated workforce. • Would a literate workforce be more critically aware? Populist movements and the mass press could manipulate literate workers too.

  7. Etienne, saviour or outsider? • Education allows Etienne to think, read, and write for the workers • Yet it can also bring a condescending, even callous approach to their lives and sacrifices • When the strike begins to fail, Etienne is seen as an outsider • Etienne’s rhetoric appeals to the crowd; yet in their fury they are no longer controllable

  8. II. Zola and the quest forL’Homme Fort

  9. Sons of the Sun King? The French and their leaders • Alexis de Tocqueville argued that Bourbon centralization predisposed the French to seek and accept strong leadership, despite their periodic desire for revolt • Max Weber argued that increasing bureaucracy or ‘machine politics’ favoured the development of a Caesarist leader

  10. The Third Republic was created in reaction to Napoleon III, with a constitutionally weak executive • There were also a large number of deputies, and governments were notoriously unstable

  11. Zola on universal suffrage « Certes, le principe du suffrage universel me paraît inattaquable. C’est le seul outil de gouvernement d’une logique absolue… Du moment que les hommes interviennent avec leurs folies et leurs infirmités, la logique mathématique du suffrage universel est détruite. » (Une Campagne)

  12. Zola on l’homme fort « Seuls les hommes supérieurs devraient être appelés aux affaires,comme les plus dignes et les plus intelligents de la nation. » (UneCampagne)

  13. III. Mass politics • Le Petit Journal, the first mass circulating daily in France, was founded in 1863 • Between 1880 and 1914, the circulation of Parisian dailies increased by 150%

  14. L’Homme fort? General Boulanger • Minister of War in 1886 • Campaigned for Dissolution, Constituante, Révision • Appealed to both left and right: some saw him as a republicanizing figure; others hoped he would restore the monarchy

  15. Maurice Barrès • From Lorraine; strongly anti-German • Deeply affected by the Boulanger Affair • Important theorist of nationalism; closely involved with nationalist movements that sought mass support

  16. Leaders and populism: Nationalist leagues • The Ligue anti-sémitique was founded by EdouardDrumont, author of La France juive • Relaunched in 1897 by Jules Guérin as a populist movement • Action Française, a neo-monarchist league, was also strongly anti-Semitic

  17. Charles Maurras, La Contre-révolutionspontanée(1943) ‘Nos moyens de propagande allaient être multiples et divers, viser droit au grand public, ou donner un rendez-vous spécial à tous les esprits réfléchis : les pages de notre petite revue grise ou bleue firent alterner le traité et le pamphlet, et déjà, même sans que l’on eût encore ses galons de vieux journaliste, on allait gaiement sur le pré.’

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