Ep. 88: Jeremy Popkin on the French Revolution and the Long Road to Emancipation

<p><em>“No legislative assembly ever debated constitutional issues more thoroughly and more loudly and more angrily than the French National Assembly of 1789 to 1791. Imagine a group of 1,200 people meeting in a hall with no amplification equipment, shouting at each other and trying to work out the details of the Constitution.”</em></p><p>Luke talks with Professor Jeremy Popkin, author of several books on the French Revolution, including <em>A Short History of the French Revolution</em>, <em>A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution</em>, and <em>The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France</em>. They discuss constitutional debates during the Revolution; state intervention in the economy and Babeuf’s communism; Thomas Paine’s insistence on the importance of equal suffrage in the face of the Thermidorian Reaction; the continuities between 1793, 1848, and 1871; the Revolution’s international repercussions, including its impact on slavery in the French colonies; and Herbert Marcuse’s course on “Social Philosophy.”</p><p><em>It takes a lot of work to plan, record, and edit each episode. If you enjoy these conversations with guests like Professor Popkin, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Your support is the motivation we need to keep going.</em></p>