The French Revolution and Historical Materialism: Selected Essays

Book info: The French Revolution and Historical Materialism: Selected Essays (Paperback, 268 pages) – Haymarket Books, 2018. Language: English.

In this stirring and persuasive defense of the classical Marxist view of the French Revolution as a bourgeois and capitalist revolution, Henry Heller lays to rest the stylish revisionism on the subject that still dominates in academic circles. Based mainly on articles published in the journal Historical Materialism, Heller that the rise of a bourgeois capitalist class in France stretches back to the sixteenth century, and that the Revolution itself played a large role in strengthening this nascent class politically and economically.

“The French Revolution has set the standard for Marxist interpretations for years to come. For this reason alone, it should be read.”
―Jean-Pierre Reed, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

“[A] Marxist historiography on the revolution and of capitalism is desperately needed in the current historical moment. For that reason alone, although it is certainly not the only one, Heller’s volume is well worth reading.”
―Kirk S. Lawrence, Socialism and Democracy

Henry Heller is Professor of History at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of The Bourgeois Revolution in France 1789-1815 (Berghahn Books, 2006) and The Capitalist University: The Transformation of Higher Education in the United States: 1945-2016 (Pluto Press, 2016).