ABSTRACT
The Jacobins were never qui te a pa r ty i n the modern sense. T h e y were f rom the start much more than a v o l u n t a ry organization for influencing public opin ion and lob by ing for part icular measures. They were too numerous to be po l i t i ca l conspirators. The i r clubs, as corporate bodies, never qui te became ident ical w i t h the government of France. Y e t i n pa r t a l l these statements are t rue : the Jacobins were partisans, electioneers, propagandists, lobbyists, conspirators, rulers of France. W e must , i n this chapter, t r y to disentangle these activities, to measure them, to dist inguish jus t w h a t pa r t the clubs, as organized bodies, played i n revolut ionary poli t ics. Our ma in theme, then, w i l l be Jacobinism as a fo rm of p o l i t i ca l tactics. Fi rs t , however, i t m a y be w e l l to review very briefly the legislation officially governing the clubs be tween 1789 and 1795. 1
I
Po l i t i ca l societies, l ike newspapers, sprang u p i n France i n 1789 w i t h o u t express author iza t ion: and though the first two assemblies a t tempted a m i l d and decent measure of control over bo th press and clubs, they never suc ceeded i n imposing any serious restraint . The Conven t ion , w i t h the Terror to a id i t , was more successful.
