Miranda’s experiences during the French Revolution are presented and analysed through his three important publications in Paris after Robespierre’s fall. He develops a lucid assessment of the constitutional flaws of the successive regimes—Girondin, Jacobin, and Thermidorian—which were unable to warrant freedom and justice due to the imbalances between the branches of power. The first document, written from jail, denounces the systemic tyranny and the xenophobic culture in France used by a small minority speaking unduly in the name of the people. The second document is a coherent argument written in jail for his liberation, pointing to the undemocratic republic established by the Thermidorian Convention, which turns the same tyrannical Jacobin method against this movement. The third one is a diagnosis of the causes of the Revolution’s failures, attributed to the Jacobin ideological principle of the infallibility of the people’s sovereignty, which was used to concentrate all powers. The exceptional lucidity on the excesses of the revolution, first by its left wing but also by feeding caudillo reactions, draws especially attention. In particular, he clearly warned against Bonapartism, which he saw as a real threat to European peace. This document is also the best synthesis of Miranda’s political thought, faithfully defending a republican revolution capable of triggering an emancipation process through the rule of law, thereby warranting human rights. However, Miranda’s text failed to effectively impact the third French constitution, which established an undemocratic bourgeois republic by falling into an imbalance between powers once again.

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Miranda’s Political Manifestos in Francia (1795)

  • Christian Ghymers

摘要

Miranda’s experiences during the French Revolution are presented and analysed through his three important publications in Paris after Robespierre’s fall. He develops a lucid assessment of the constitutional flaws of the successive regimes—Girondin, Jacobin, and Thermidorian—which were unable to warrant freedom and justice due to the imbalances between the branches of power. The first document, written from jail, denounces the systemic tyranny and the xenophobic culture in France used by a small minority speaking unduly in the name of the people. The second document is a coherent argument written in jail for his liberation, pointing to the undemocratic republic established by the Thermidorian Convention, which turns the same tyrannical Jacobin method against this movement. The third one is a diagnosis of the causes of the Revolution’s failures, attributed to the Jacobin ideological principle of the infallibility of the people’s sovereignty, which was used to concentrate all powers. The exceptional lucidity on the excesses of the revolution, first by its left wing but also by feeding caudillo reactions, draws especially attention. In particular, he clearly warned against Bonapartism, which he saw as a real threat to European peace. This document is also the best synthesis of Miranda’s political thought, faithfully defending a republican revolution capable of triggering an emancipation process through the rule of law, thereby warranting human rights. However, Miranda’s text failed to effectively impact the third French constitution, which established an undemocratic bourgeois republic by falling into an imbalance between powers once again.