Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

“ The force of the resistance will be due to the intensity of the movement: again, in the event that the fight is prolonged, the revolution, rather than itself develop, into the Government, following the direction of its primitive impulse, it will go through a series of positions diametrically opposite to that which, according to the will of the people, it should have followed. In kind as more men of the movement seek to hold power, more of those of the resistance will decline it. ”

“ According to popular beliefs, power was everything, and we saw it undertake nothing. The most ardent on the side of the people complained that the provisional government had done nothing for the Revolution; the most cowardly among the bourgeois accused it, on the contrary, of doing too much. The decrees on working hours and marchandages, much more than the famous circulars of Ledru-Rollin, were of such a nature as would profoundly alarm the bourgeois class. ”

“ This revolution, which condemns capital, was inaugurated by the same and carried labor into government. Now, according to generally propagated prejudices, labor, having become government, must proceed through government channels; in other words, it is to the government to do henceforth that which has always been done without it and against it, to take the initiative and to develop the revolution. For, says prejudice, the revolution must come from above, since it is above wherein are located intelligence and force. ”

“ It can be seen, without my need to make the remark, that the arguments of Louis Blanc for taking up the dictatorship are exactly the same as those which honest and moderate Republicans have used since to legitimize twice consecutively the state of siege, give the dictatorship to General Cavaignac, bring to the presidency Louis Bonaparte, declare the socialists enemies of society, and create, under the Republic, a despotism such, that one might be tempted to regard as a liberator the first pretender to take the crown. ”

“ In this situation, a certain number of citizens, carried away by common prejudice, and yielding to a legitimate impatience, want to compel the government to march, that is to say to commence the revolution and organize labor: very just pretension, according to prejudice, but unsustainable, according to philosophy and history. ”

“ For its part, government, sensing its incapacity and supported by another party of citizens, refuses to act, or rather it reacts against the solicitors: legitimate reaction, from the standpoint of genuine democratic and social law, but supremely unjust according to prejudice, to which the encroachments of power constantly lend new strength. ”

“ Once come to power all men are alike. It's always the same zeal for authority, the same distrust of the people, the same fanaticism for order. Is it not pleasant to see that, on 17 March, the preoccupations that agitated Louis Blanc, secret fomenter of the demonstration, were precisely the same as those which, three weeks earlier, had agitated Mr. Guizot?
“The people were to focus en masse on the Hotel de Ville to obtain the postponement of the elections. ”

“ So how does one prevent the announced demonstration? It is Louis Blanc who poses in this way the question. — And if it were true that unknown agitators would have wanted to make some storm come out of the foundation of the multitude set in motion, how does one foil their plans? It is still Louis Blanc who addresses the situation. Agitators! cried he. Mr. Guizot said: factions!
The means proposed by Louis Blanc is cited: it merited being proposed to Mr. Guizot. The Revolution was hijacked on 22 February, as the alleged dictatorship of Blanqui was on 17 March. ”

“ The sole means to cause the parties to agree would be to demonstrate to them the natural incompetence of government, in any function other than the police. Without notice to itself occurring, the fight is inevitable. ”

“ On 16 March, several hundred national guardsmen presented themselves at the Hotel de Ville in protest against the ordinance which suppressed the elite companies, and defended in consequence the wearing of busbies. ”