How the French Revolution Conceived Populism: the People’s Monitoring of its Magistrates (1789-1793)

Right from the beginning of the revolutionary process, there was broad agreement on the choice of representation rather than the direct exercise of power by the people. Friends of Sieyès as well as epigones of Rousseau agreed on this point. But this representation was thought as compatible with the sovereignty of the people, as long as it was organized in the framework of the so-called representative democracy. The modalities of this democracy have been largely forgotten nowadays. This democratic regime was thought as requiring a close surveillance by the people, according to mechanisms of a kind of institutionalized populism. The deputies, judges and other magistrates had to be monitored by the public present in the tribunes of the assemblies, by the publications of journals etc. This surveillance could lead to a popular censorship – through various procedures. This article examines three key moments when the revolutionaries tried to define the forms of this populism: in 1789 when the National assembly was organized (the role of Bentham is underlined); in the debates regarding the royal veto, and in 1793 when the new constitution was discussed (here Condorcet’s projects are important). The article also deals with the risk of a distorted populism, should the popular voice be confiscated by a spokesman (Marat, for example).