The Making of Capitalism in France : Class Structures, Economic Development, the State and the Formation of the French Working Class, 1750-1914

Very few authors have addressed the origins of capitalism in France as the emergence of a distinct form of historical society, premised on a new configuration of social power, rather than as an extension of commercial activities liberated from feudal obstacles. Xavier Lafrance offers the first thorough historical analysis of the origins of capitalist social property relations in France from a 'political Marxist' or (Capital -centric Marxist) perspective. Putting emphasis on the role of the state, The Making of Capitalism in France shows how the capitalist system was first imported into this country in an industrial form, and considerably later than is usually assumed. This work demonstrates that the French Revolution was not capitalist, and in fact consolidated customary regulations that formed the bedrock of the formation of the working class ‎Contents 7 ‎Acknowledgements 9 ‎Introduction 11 ‎1. Problematising Capitalism 14 ‎2. Importing Capitalism to France 18 ‎Chapter 1. The Old Regime False Start: Attempts at Liberal Reforms and the Absence of a Transition to Capitalism in Absolutist France 21 ‎1. Absolutist France vs Capitalist England 22 ‎2. British Competition and French Liberal Reactions 36 ‎3. An Extensive Mode of Economic Development 49 ‎Chapter 2. Non-capitalist Industrialisation in Post-revolutionary France 55 ‎1. Nineteenth-Century French Economic Development: the Revisionist Account 56 ‎2. Contrasting French and English Nineteenth-Century Industrial Development 59 ‎3. The Non-competitive Nature of French Markets 71 ‎4. The Development of Cotton Production and Metallurgy 82 ‎5. Opportunity-Driven Growth in Non-competitive Markets 98 ‎Chapter 3. The French Revolution and the Customary Regulation of Labour 102 ‎1. Reassessing the French Revolution 103 ‎2. Guilds and Workers’ Struggles under the Old Regime 110 ‎3. The Persistence of Customary Regulations and Aspects of Labour Emancipation in Post-revolutionary France 119 ‎4. The Absence of Labour Subsumption by Capital in Post-revolutionary France 137 ‎Chapter 4. The Rise of the French Working Class: Republican and Socialist Struggles against Extra-Economic Exploitation 150 ‎1. The Composition and the Making of the French Working Class 152 ‎2. Notables, the State, and the Perpetuation of Non-capitalist Surplus Appropriation 164 ‎3. Pinning Down Social Ills, Naming the Antagonists 184 ‎4. The Revolution of 1830 and the Rise of a Republican-Socialist Working Class 202 ‎5. The Revolution of 1848 and the (Interrupted) Rise of the Democratic and Social Republic 214 ‎Chapter 5. The State-Led Capitalist Transformation of French Industry 225 ‎1. Geopolitical Competition and Capitalist Industrialisation 226 ‎2. Building Foundations: the Making of a Competitive Market 230 ‎3. The Erosion of Customary Regulations and the Subsumption of Labour 239 ‎4. The Emergence of Capitalist Patterns of Investment 250 ‎5. Changing Modes of Surplus Appropriation and (Partial) State Restructuring 259 ‎Chapter 6. Capitalism and the Re-making of the French Working Class 263 ‎1. The Re-composition of the Working Class 264 ‎2. The Labour Movement under the Second Empire and the Paris Commune 268 ‎3. The Rise of the Strike: Refusing the Depoliticisation of Production 275 ‎4. The Transformation of Class Relations and the Rise of an Autonomous Socialist Working-Class Movement 283 ‎Conclusion 293 ‎References 297 ‎Index 318 Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- The Old Regime False Start: Attempts at Liberal Reforms and the Absence of a Transition to Capitalism in Absolutist France -- Non-capitalist Industrialisation in Post-revolutionary France -- The French Revolution and the Customary Regulation of Labour -- The Rise of the French Working Class: Republican and Socialist Struggles against Extra-Economic Exploitation -- The State-Led Capitalist Transformation of French Industry -- Capitalism and the Re-making of the French Working Class -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- References -- Index