Workers in French Society in the 19th and 20th Centuries

This book provides a conspectus on the history of the French working class in the 19th and 20th centuries. Based on the full range of advances in social history over the last 20 years, the author shows that the French Revolution did not hasten the triumph of capitalism - on the contrary, it strengthened those sectors which were hostile to industrialization. Until the end of the 19th century the working-class world therefore continued to be torn between the two traditional opposing poles of the urban artisan and the worker-peasants of rural industry and was thus unable to achieve any long-term group organization.