Abstract

Jean Jaures was the celebrated French Socialist Party leader, assassinated in 1914 for trying to use diplomacy and industrial action to prevent the outbreak of war. Published just a few years before his death, his magisterial A Socialist History of the French Revolution has endured for over a century as one of the most influential accounts of the French Revolution ever to be published.

This translation and abridgement of Jaures' original 6-volumes brings his exceptional work to an Anglophone audience for the first time.

Written in the midst of his activities as leader of the Socialist Party and editor of its newspaper, L'Humanite, Jaures intended the book to serve as both a guide and an inspiration to political activity; even now it can serve to do just that. Abidor's accomplished translation and Jaures's verve, originality and willingness to criticise all players in this great drama make this a truly moving addition to the shelf of great books on the French Revolution.
'The death of a single human being can mean a great battle lost for all humanity: the murder of Jaurès was one such disaster'
Romain Rolland
'A classic of historical writing which laid the foundations for so many later accounts of the French Revolution. Jaurès vividly depicts the drama of the Revolution, the triumphs and the setbacks, the bloodshed and the hope, but always with an eye to the future, to how the Revolution opened the way to human emancipation'
Ian Birchall, historian and author of The Spectre of Babeuf
'Jaurès' brilliant analysis is as refreshing and controversial today as it was over a century ago. It resonates with the passion and eloquence of this great political leader while at the same time sustaining a rigourous Marxist analysis of the social and economic forces behind the Revolution. Its appearance in this edition is to be warmly welcomed'
Peter McPhee, Emeritus Professor, University of Melbourne
'We can say today that every revolutionary party, every oppressed people, every oppressed working class can claim Jaures, his memory, his example, and his person, for our own'
Leon Trotsky
'Tantalizing, rapid prose ... The lively sense of being 'inside' the Assembly or the meetings of the Paris City Council leaps from the page'
TLS