Accumulation primitive et dictature du prolétariat. Étude sur la conception althussérienne de l’histoire et de la politique

Roman dictatorship in the French Revolution

“…By contrast, the alternative model of the senatus consultum ultimum did not support such allegations, allowing Robespierre to develop a concept of revolutionary legality that was based on the notion that in times of crisis the public safety justified acting contrary to the laws. 72 Saint-Just seems to have shared Robespierre's objections against the dictatorship as well as his preference for the alternative model of the senatus consultum ultimum. Like Robespierre, he frequently cited the example of Cicero to justify extralegal responses to counterrevolutionary conspiracies.…”

“…Hence, for Montesquieu, the dictatorship's aim was to prevent the people from taking away or reducing the Senate's authority and to restore the balance of powers, which guaranteed political liberty in the republic. 12 Montesquieu first discussed the Roman dictatorship in his Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (1734). He introduced it in a chapter on the social struggles between patricians and plebeians, which had 'always existed' in Rome.…”

“…45 While before the Revolution the word 'dictatorship' had mainly served as an erudite reference to the Roman magistracy, it now became central to debates about the future of the revolutionary state. 46 According to Nolte, 'the precondition for introducing the Roman paradigm in political practice was the fall of the monarchy, yet this fall was in turn the work of men, who had nourished themselves with the works of Roman history and rhetoric'. 47 In fact, the dictatorship had been introduced in the political debate as early as 1790, although it would come to play an increasingly important role after the monarchy was abolished in the fall of 1792.…”

“…52 More particularly, as Christian Bruschi suggests, he may have aspired to a dictatorship à la Montesquieu, which served to maintain the remnants of the aristocracy against the people. 53 However, from Mirabeau's perspective, Lafayette's dictatorship lacked the positive connotations of Montesquieu's: rather than restoring the balance of powers, it constituted a threat to the people's liberty.…”

“…82 After the insurrection of 10 August, Marat distributed a pamphlet to the citizens of Paris, in which he proposed to install a triumvirate consisting of Danton, Robespierre and himself. 83 As he now suggested, the titledictator, tribune or triumvirwas not important: what mattered was that one man, or a small group, would be temporarily invested with emergency power to eliminate, once and for all, the known traitors and conspirators that threatened the people's liberty. However, to avoid abuses of such extraordinary power, Marat recommended that its duration be limited to a few days, and that the citizen deemed worthy of exercising it, be fixed by his feet to a ball and chains, so that he will himself remain, at every instant, under the control of the people, in case he would come to forget his duties.…”