University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2018 A New Brand of Men: Masculinity in French Republican Socialist Rhetoric Randolph A. Miller University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Miller, Randolph A., "A New Brand of Men: Masculinity in French Republican Socialist Rhetoric" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 2000. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2000 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A NEW BRAND OF MEN: MASCULINITY IN FRENCH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST RHETORIC by Randolph Miller A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee December 2018 ABSTRACT A NEW BRAND OF MEN: MASCULINITY IN FRENCH REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST RHETORIC by Randolph Miller The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2018 Under the Supervision of Professor Carolyn Eichner Social theorist and activist, August Blanqui, used his appearance before court in 1832 to lay out an argument that condemned the present political and economic system and demanded emancipation of the male worker. During his monologue, along with his devastating portrayal of worker misery and systemic corruption, Blanqui made comparisons between the male bourgeoisie and the male proletariat. Recounting the recent overthrow of Charles X for his audience, Blanqui described the “glorious workers” as six feet tall, towering over a groveling bourgeoisie who praised them for their “selflessness and courage.” According to Blanqui, the workers, unlike the aristocracy of wealth who oppressed them, were both physically dominant and selfless—two features that indicated a superior masculinity in the minds of radicals. Blanqui’s comparison between the bourgeoisie and proletariat reflected a rhetorical strategy found elsewhere amongst socialists. This tactic, following French political logic, demanded the usurpation of bourgeois masculinity as ideal and thus the symbolic representation of the French nation. In this context, appeals to justice could not suffice. Rather, one had to convince others that the proletariat possessed a greater or more authentic masculinity. This work uncovers a gendered rhetorical strategy used by socialists throughout the nineteenth century, one that claimed the superiority of proletarian masculinity over both the bourgeoisie and the religious male as a necessary feature of their activism on behalf of the workers. ii To My wife, Jana iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………….……..1 1 Development of Scholarship on French Masculinity………………………….……..88 Treatments of Masculinity and Socialism………………………....……………...…1919 Treatments of Socialism and Religion………………………………………………2020 Treatments of Catholic Masculinity…………………………...….…………………2323 Republican Socialism from 1830-1905……………………………….……………..2626 II. Sources of Class-Based Masculinity..….…………………………………….…………3535 The Male Bourgeoisie and the Burden of the Old Regime………………………….3535 Honor: From Ancient Nobility to Nineteenth-Century Bourgeoisie………………..3939 Emulation and Social Clubs: A Mechanism for Hegemonic Masculinity…………..4545 The Duel: A Dramatic Symptom of Honor-Derivative Masculinity………………..4949 The Working Class………………………………………………………….……….5353 Proto-Industrialization and the Beginnings of Working-Class Masculinity……...…5555 Towards a Class Consciousness………………….…………….…..……………..…5858 Working Class Masculinity: Oppression and Defiance of the Bourgeoisie………....6363 Conclusions…………….………….………….……………………………………..6565 III. The Language and Logics of Masculinity….….….………………………….....………6767 Eighteenth-Century Renegotiations of Masculinity………………………...………6868 Emerging Logics of a New Masculinity ……………………………..….……….…7373 Regeneration and Physicality…………………………...……….……………….....7979 Revolutionary Co-option of Language and a New Patriarchy……....…..….……….8585 Nineteenth-Century Perceptions of a Masculine Revolution..………...….…………9595 Summary and Conclusions…..……………….......…..……………………….……114114 IV. Masculinity in the Logic and Language of Socialist Politics 1830-1852…...……..…..118118 The Restoration…………………………………...….…………………………..…121121 Superior Masculinity in the Logic and Language of the Revolutionary Tradition....126126 Summary.………………………...………....………………..…………….……….152152 V. Masculinity in the Logic and Language of Socialist Politics 1869-1905….….……..…156156 The Second Empire and Commune……………...…….………...……….…...…….156156 Conservative Backlash to the Commune……………………...……..…......……….161161 Superior Masculinity in the Logic and Language of Biomedicine….…..….…..…..169169 Making Sense of the Proudhonian Influence…………………………..….……..…180180 Women Socialists and Hegemonic Masculinity……..…………......…..…………..189189 The Cult of Force and the Muting of Socialist Rhetoric………………..…………..194194 Consistency Around Gendered Rhetoric.………………....….….………..……..…198198 iv VI. Masculinity and Belief: French Catholicism vs. Socialism……………..…......………206206 A Political Piety………….…………...…………..…………………....…...……….209209 Sacred Heart and Counter-Modern Piety in Nineteenth-Century France.….….……215215 What Socialists Perceived: Conceptualization of Pre-Modern Piety.........................222222 What Many Socialists Believed: Reason and Religion……………………....…..…230230 Women, Children, and the Gendering of Epistemology……………………...….....233233 Religion as Weakness and Reason as Strength in the Language of Politics..............239239 Reason as Virility………………………………………………….…..….…...……245245 Reason and Action: Masculinity and Materialism between Socialisms.......….…….251251 Conclusions…………………………………………………..…....….….…………256256 Final Conclusions………………… …………………………………..……………………259259 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………..267 267 Curriculum Vitae…………………………………………………………………………...298298 v Chapter 1: Introduction In January of 1832, August Blanqui appeared before a French cour d'assises. Earlier in July, the police had arrested Blanqui and fourteen other members of the Friends of the People for publishing material in criticism of Louis Phillip and the newly established Monarchy. Emboldened by the insurrectionary tradition of the first Revolution, recently taught to him by Philip Buonarroti, Blanqui used the platform provided by the courtroom to lay out an argument that condemned the present political and economic system and demanded emancipation of the proletariat. During his monologue, along with his devastating portrayal of worker misery and systemic corruption, Blanqui made comparisons between the male bourgeoisie and the male proletariat. Recounting the recent overthrow of Charles X for his audience, Blanqui described the “glorious workers” as six feet tall, towering over a groveling bourgeoisie who praised them for their “selflessness and courage.”1 According to Blanqui, the workers, unlike the aristocracy of wealth who oppressed them, were both physically dominant and selfless—two features that, during the radical stage of the first Revolution, indicated a superior masculinity in the minds of radicals. These comments were not offhanded: Blanqui understood French political logic and thus the necessity of championing the masculinity of those for whom he advocated if his rhetoric was to be effective. This so-called “Trial of the Fifteen” launched Blanqui’s reputation as a fiery orator on behalf of the worker and resulted in the first of many incarcerations. This work argues that Blanqui’s speech reflected a widespread rhetorical strategy used by socialists throughout the nineteenth century. In line with French political logic and patriarchy, socialists claimed the superiority of proletarian masculinity over both the bourgeoisie and the religious male as a necessary feature of their activism on behalf of the workers. This thesis adds 1 Auguste Blanqui, Défense du citoyen Louis Auguste Blanqui devant la Cour d'assises : 1832 (A. Mie: Paris, 1832), 13, 14. 1 three important elements to the relevant scholarship. One is that it fills lacunae in the general treatment of French socialism and masculinity. While the study of masculinity has been well underway since the early 1990s, work on socialism has been a very small part of this with the bulk of it focused on Great Britain and some on Australia.2 In the case of France, masculinity studies have yet to go this particular route. While Joan Scott’s work, Gender and the Politics of History, does include helpful discussions of masculinity and the French worker, her concern here is more with masculinity within the dynamics of the working class, rather than exploring or articulating any kind of relationship between socialism and masculinity. And when class appears in French-language treatments of masculinity, it functions essentially to explain one of the mechanisms that helped shape manhood over the nineteenth century. As such, there is need for a broader treatment of masculinity and French socialism—especially one that may help establish a paradigm for further study. The second addition is a deeper understanding of French socialist rhetorical strategy. Scholarship on women has discovered patriarchy infused in the ideology and practice of French socialism. Excepting the Utopians in the first part of the century, male socialists in many ways re-enforced