La commune émancipée : démocratie directe et municipalisme sous la Deuxième République française

Abstract

This article contributes to the exploration of socialist and anti-centralism protests during the Second French Republic. By analyzing foundations of a babouvist critique formulated by the deputy Joseph Benoît, this article highlights a discreet tradition of direct democracy. Benoît’s bill, “Proposal on cantonal organization. Popular constitution of canton” (“Proposition sur l’organisation cantonale. Constitution populaire du canton”), was discussed in 1850 at the Legislative Assembly. It defends the existence of an administrative and legislative centralism combined with a decentralization of executive power at the cantonal level. It also promotes methods of representative appointments by proposing mixed criteria. While in many ways, the bill has similarities with the Constitution of the Year III (1795) and Babouvist doctrine of Buonarroti, Benoît stands out from robespierrism by rejecting the principle of individual private property and does not adhere to the buonarroti’s communism of distribution. The neo-Babouvism claimed by Benoît thus intends to promote a « unitary volontarism » from below, regulated by a renewal rousseauist contractualism.

Keywords

• municipalism
• direct democracy
• neo-Babouvism
• Second French Republic
• history of ideas