J.L. Talmon (1916–1980)

J. L. Talmon's "The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy" is a serious work of academic history/political science that seeks to describe and understand the theory and praxis of radical left-wing politics that took over the French Revolution, peaked with the drafting of the Constitution of 1793, the theoretical justification of the terror and the plot to overthrow the post-Thermidor government of the Directory and to reinstall the rule of Jacobinism.

This study focuses on the usual suspects such as Robespierre, Marat and St. Just, but also discusses in detail historical actors who are pretty much footnotes in textbook accounts of the revolution and are only remembered in in depth histories of the period. These figures would include Etienne Gabriel-Morelly, who Talmon declares the first consistent Communist among 18th century thinkers, Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Francois-Noel Babeuf aka Camille aka Gracchus Babeuf, the name by which he is known to history. Also, one Phillipe Buonarroti, a descendant of Michelangelo, and leader along with Babeuf in the conspiracy to overthrow the Directory.

Talmon's text is not an easy read. If you have no French or your French is too rusty you will be at a disadvantage when encountering the numerous untranslated quotes from the major characters. Talmon's text veers back and forth from a discussion of the political theory of the revolutionaries and a narrative of the events of the revolution.

The spirit and thought of Rousseau is present throughout as these men work out a political theory and program which is designed to achieve the goals of freedom and virtue by constricting the ability of men to think and act as individuals, ultimately making them servants of the "general will" as instantiated by the revolutionary state. This contradiction is at the heart of the theory of totalitarian democracy. It persists in our day and is the animating spirit at work in much of the fashionable leftism at work in hollowing out the liberal democratic systems of the West.… (meer)