Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-268) and index.

Front Matter -- Introduction: French Revolution and Historical Materialism -- Jaurès -- Review of Guy Lemarchand, Paysans et seigneurs en Europe -- The Longue Durée of the French Bourgeoisie -- Response to Henry Heller’s ‘The Longue Durée of the French Bourgeoisie’ / William Beik -- Henry Heller and the ‘Longue Durée of the French Bourgeoisie’ / David Parker -- Response to William Beik and David Parker -- French Absolutism and Agricultural Capitalism: A Comment on Henry Heller’s Essays / Stephen Miller -- Stephen Miller on Capitalism in the Old Regime: A Response -- Marx, the French Revolution, and the Spectre of the Bourgeoisie -- Review of Jeff Horn, The Path Not Taken: French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution, 1750–1830 -- Bankers, Finance Capital and the French Revolutionary Terror, 1791–4 -- Bibliography -- Index.

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This text reasserts the Marxist view of the French Revolution as a bourgeois and capitalist revolution. Based mainly on articles published in the journal Historical Materialism it challenges the still dominant revisionist view of the French Revolution. It serves to restore the close tie between the history of the Old Regime and the Revolution. It demonstrates that the rise of a bourgeois capitalist class has a long history dating back to the sixteenth century. Moreover, it shows that the Revolution itself played a large role in strengthening the bourgeoisie politically and economically while bringing about the unification of financial and productive capital. Indeed, it shows that the rising of the masses during the Revolution, viewed by revisionism as economically regressive, in fact helped to bring about the consolidation of capitalism.