ABSTRACT
The myth of a coming proletarian revolution proved less strong than the appeals of national solidarity and self-defence. The Revolution became a subject of both myth and history. "Myth", be it said, is not merely erroneous or infantile history. A persistent lesser myth held that the French Revolution was somehow "un-French". There was an element of myth also, or at least of gross exaggeration, in the memory of the Revolution as having been most especially an attack on Christianity and on all religion. On the whole, the myth of continuity, or insistence on deep-seated and long-run causes, rests upon strong evidence and weighty arguments. Yet the memory or myth of the French Revolution contributed to the form taken by the revolution in Russia. The 1830s saw an explosive mixture of genuine social distress with rediscovery of the great events of 1789 and 1793.
