#from The Age of Revolution 1789-1848 by Eric Hobsbawm

[hierarchyproblem]

Only unrealistic dreamers can suggest that Louis XVI might have accepted defeat and immediately turned himself into a constitutional monarch, even if he had been a less negligible and stupid man than he was, married to a less chicken-brained and irresponsible woman, and prepared to listen to less disastrous advisers.

Why don't you tell us what you really think!

[empirearchives]

In all seriousness, the whole “you think Napoleon looks cool because he paid people to make him look cool” has always been a very silly argument. All leaders paid people to make them look cool. Literally all of them. This argument also doesn’t take into account that Napoleon has been the target of wayyyy more negative propaganda than any of the other rulers. The historian Eric Hobsbawm said that the rise of the “Napoleonic legend” really has nothing to do with any propaganda effort on the part of Napoleon. According to Hobsbawm, Napoleon’s popularity “can be adequately explained neither by Napoleonic victories nor by Napoleonic propaganda, nor even by Napoleon’s own undoubted genius.” Saying it was entirely due to propaganda is just a way to dismiss any serious attempt to understand public support for Napoleon in the late 18th and early 19th century.

Hobsbawm quote from: The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848

[howieabel]

“As a means of alleviating poverty, Christian charity was worse than useless, as could be seen in the Papal states, which abounded in it. But it was popular not only among the traditionalist rich, who cherished it as a safeguard against the evil of equal rights... but also among the traditionalist poor, who were profoundly convinced that they had a right to crumbs from the rich man's table.”― Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848

[autolenaphilia]

@clove-pinks tagged me to “list ten books I’m planning to read in 2020 “ Thanks

1. Rights of Man, common sense and other political writings by Thomas Paine. @formicarum-rex, who is a major paineite convinced me to read this, and I read things about Paine and liked the cut of his jib, but haven’t read what he wrote himself, so i bought this oxford world classics collection, here we go.

2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Another book Ollie convinced me to read, and it is a classic and Heller is part of the post-war american postmodern literary wave i’m interested in because of Thomas Pynchon ( the greatest living author)

3. Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy. Because I loved War and Peace, and this is where Tolstoy goes into the christian anarchist and pacifist philosophy he developed late in life. The critical reaction is kinda mixed, but Brian Aldiss has said “The greatest of all novels is Leo Tolstoy's final novel, Resurrection.“, so there is that.

4. Jerusalem by Selma Lagerlöf. Major Swedish novelist, first woman to win the nobel prize. It is about a religious movement who convinces it’s followers,  swedish peasants from the province of Dalarna to emigrate to the “holy land” and Jerusalem and live there. I think it doesn’t go so well. It’s a classic and regarded as her best, but i haven’t read it. I doubt this book is as fun as Gösta Berlings saga, but it is probably pretty good.

5. Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe by Michael Moorcock. I liked moorcock’s writing in the few elric books i read. He writes fast-paced action/adventure well, but also have some intellectual and emotional depth, so i want to explore more of him.

6. Long John Silver by Björn Larsson. Pirates! This is a novel about the pirate from Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It’s written from his perspective, and is a revisionist, historically informed take on piracy. A more understanding view than Stecvenson’s condemnation of them as villains. That got me interested, and I know Larsson is a good writer from his other books..

7. The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates. Another of her gothic novels, I liked the first one “Bellefleur”. So I really want to read this.

8. The “age of” books by Eric Hobsbawm. History books, that take a overview of the historical developement of world history i guess, although it’s fairly euro-centric. It is four books and covers the years 1789-1991.  I read the first one “age of revolutions”, which covered the period up to 1848. And it was really good,  it didn’t focus so much on people and specific events, more on the general historical development in Europe.

The First book is about “the two revolutions”, the French revolution and the industrial one, what lead to them and their effects on the world, but mainly Europe. It’s maybe not the thing if you like novel-like narrative history about people and specific events, but it is absolutely fascinating. So I really want to read the three follow-ups.

9. Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock. Very acclaimed fantasy novel about an eldritch forest. Now i like those kinds of forests. and this novel is regarded as a classic, won the world fantasy award and everything. My copy is literally part of a series called “fantasy masterworks” so I hope this might at least be good.

10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Because it is a classic i haven’t read. I’m only familiar with Roy from the many political articles and essays by her, but judging by the prose in those she is a great author.

as for tags, maybe @mutalieju might be interested and haven’t been tagged yet? Feel free to ignore, and anyone else who sees this can do this if they want to, of course.

[alejandroroche]

A world in which all were happy, and every individual fully and freely realized his or her potentialities, in which freedom reigned and government that was coercion had disappeared, was the ultimate aim of both liberals and socialists. What distinguishes the various members of the ideological family descended from humanism and the Enlightenment, liberal, socialist, communist or anarchist, is not the gentle anarchy which is the utopia of all of them, but the methods of achieving it.

Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848

[isabeldrakeblog]

WEEK 2

Last week was more recreational, this week was more focussed on work and it was great to get really stuck into things. We had a virtual band meeting on Sunday which was actually really useful. Good to catch up with Harry and Matt and to hear that they’ve been doing a few bits to the tunes. We have realised we now have quite a few songs nearly there, compositionally, which is exciting as it means we can start to think about getting an hour’s set together and playing live. We thought we might add a cover to our set as we probably won’t have enough material to fill a whole hour. We have played so many covers over the years but Harry came up with an interesting suggestion of ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ and this would go well with our tunes. However it will be challenge for us all to learn. See below for a live version...

I’m quite excited about learning this as its a real challenge for me which means I could learn a lot from learning this! Tom has also finalised the structure of another tune which is really exciting as it’s been one that has been in the pipeline for quite sometime and it sounds brilliant! It really is so satisfying to the songs come together and improve week after week. 

I’ve also had more time and space to make waves with the art for the band. I think I might have come up with a logo idea and an album cover which is exciting and a real relief. I have learnt a lot through this process of patience, leaning into discomfort and keeping going even when it feels like I can’t create anything that looks good and the imposter syndrome creeps in. I had a great chat with my dear friend Anna this week about feeling the fear and doing it anyway as a way of expanding and growing and that if you don’t do this at least sometimes this will never happen. We also talked a lot about the general heaviness that is surrounding us all at the moment with the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd and the rage surrounding it from both sides of the political spectrum. Anna said to me that it feels like the world is going through a breakthrough which is always presented as this beautiful, spiritual experience but that often its messy and heavy and scary and hard but they are growing pains. It seems we must go through the dark to reach the light. 

Talking of BLM, Tom and I attended a protest in Brighton to support the cause and it was glorious, powerful and overall, incredibly peaceful. 

I’ve been reading a lot recently. I’ve just finished a book by Eric Hobsbawm on the dual revolution between 1789 and 1848. I really don’t know much about this period but I became intrigued by it after watching Poldark and reading Romatic Outlaws as it seems a time where a lot of the ideologies and ideas were very similar to the issues that are being brought to light today. It was also the very beginning of Capitalism and I wanted to find out more about how Capitalism arose in the world. I did find these things out although it did make me realise how little I know about the world as well! One thing that really struck me was that the Industrial Revolution was more or less founded on the Slave Trade. A very interesting thing to learn just as BLM issues are blowing up around the world and many people are calling for a complete overthrow of the system. Knowing what I now know, I can see why. Another thing I found interesting is how complicated politics were even back then with several different groups advocating slightly different ideas about how society should be run and also how many people wanted to revert back to the traditional feudalist regimes. It struck me how few people actually benefitted from the Industrial Revolution and how much the poor were forced into the city by regulation change, new acts brought in and taxation. I also found out a bit more about the emergence of classical and romantic ideologies which is a topic I am very interested. 

After finishing this book I read around the subject, looking up things that were mentioned online and re-reading chapters from various books. It has given me a really good context of how modern society began and I have a few conclusions to make at this point, not to say these are entirely correct but from my reading and curiosity this is what I now believe. That I believe we may be entering the age of maturity where there is a balance between romantic and classical ideologies and being guided by emotions and being guided by reason. I think I believe this is the best way to live your life, somewhere in the centre. Society suffers when women and other minority groups’ rights are taken away. Take the French Revolution for example, this began on a good note and women were given many rights that would have been unheard of anywhere else, however, it soon turned violent and tyrannical and women’s rights were entirely taken away. To make good art you must also live life by taking a few risks along the way. Your ideas may be unpopular and seem ridiculous but it does not always mean you are wrong.

On Wednesday, I went on a wonderfully wet walk. These walks can be some of my favourite as it feels like you have the whole place to yourself more than usual and it’s much easier to park! I also saw a number of gorgeous wild flowers. 

[izabelagorskacas]

Creativity 14.07-28.07

During my summer holiday, I am engaging myself intellectually by spending most of my time reading. Right now I am reading the first part of Eric Hobsbawm’s marxist historical trilogy about the long 19th century :The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848. It allows me to develop my interest in history and helps me view the events of the 19th century from a different perspective. 

[howieabel]

“What distinguishes the various members of the ideological family descended from humanism and the Enlightenment, liberal, socialist, communist, or anarchist, is not the gentle anarchy which is the utopia of all of them, but the methods of achieving it.”― Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848

[howieabel]

“In June 1793 sixty of the eighty departments of France were in revolt against Paris; the armies of the German princes were invading France from the north and east; the British attacked from the south and west; the country was helpless and bankrupt. Fourteen months later all France was under firm control, the invaders had been expelled, the French armies in turn occupied Belgium and were about to enter on twenty years of almost unbroken and effortless military triumph.”― Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848

[howieabel]

“This return to militant, literal, old-fashioned religion had three aspects. For the masses it was, in the main, a method of coping with the increasingly bleak and inhuman oppressive society of middle-class liberalism: in Marx's phrase (but he was not the only one to use such words) it was the "heart of a heartless world, as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions...the opium of the people". More than this: it attempted to create social and sometimes educational and political institutions in an environment which provided none, and among politically undeveloped people it gave primitive expression to their discontents and aspirations. It's literalism, emotionalism, and superstition protested both against the entire society in which rational calculation dominated and against the upper classes who deformed religion in their own image.

For the middle classes rising out of such masses, religion could be a powerful moral prop, a justification of their social existence against the united contempt and hatred of traditional society, and an engine of their expansion. It liberated them from the fetters of that society, if they were sectarians. It gave their profits a moral title great than that of mere rational self-interest; it legitimized their harshness toward the oppressed; it united with trade to bring civilization to the heathen and sales to the business.” ― Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848

[howieabel]

“If a single misleading sentence is to sum up the relations of artist and society in this era, we might say that the French Revolution inspired him by its example, the Industrial Revolution by its horror, and the bourgeois society, which emerged from both, transformed his very existence and modes of creation.”― Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848

[howieabel]

As a means of alleviating poverty, Christian charity was worse than useless, as could be seen in the Papal states, which abounded in it. But it was popular not only among the traditionalist rich, who cherished it as a safeguard against the evil of equal rights... but also among the traditionalist poor, who were profoundly convinced that they had a right to crumbs from the rich man's table.

Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848