"From Revolutionaries to Citizens" is the first comprehensive
account of the most important antiwar campaign prior to World War
I: the antimilitarism of the French Left. Covering the views and
actions of socialists, trade unionists, and anarchists from the
time of France's defeat by Prussia in 1870 to the outbreak of
hostilities with Germany in 1914, Paul B. Miller tackles a
fundamental question of prewar historiography: how did the most
antimilitarist culture and society in Europe come to accept and
even support war in 1914?
Although more general accounts of the Left's "failure" to halt
international war in August 1914 focus on its lack of unity or the
decline of trade unionism, Miller contends that these explanations
barely scratch the surface when it comes to interpreting the Left's
overwhelming acceptance of the war. By embedding his cultural
analysis of antimilitarist propaganda into the larger political and
diplomatic history of prewar Europe, he reveals the Left's
seemingly sudden transformation "from revolutionaries to citizens"
as less a failure of resolve than a confession of commonality with
the broader ideals of republican France. Examining sources ranging
from police files and court records to German and British foreign
office memos, Miller emphasizes the success of antimilitarism as a
rallying cry against social and political inequities on behalf of
ordinary citizens. Despite their keen awareness of the bloodletting
that awaited Europe, he claims, antimilitarists ultimately accepted
the war with Germany for the same reason they had pursued their own
struggle within France: to address injustices and defend the rights
of citizens in a democratic society.
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