The Third Revolution: Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era, Volume 1

The Third Revolution #1

by Murray Bookchin

This text gives a detailed account of the great revolutions that have swept over Europe and America during the last three centuries. The author starts with a look at the peasant wars that preceded the modern era, then gives accounts of the English Revolution of the mid-17th century, the American Revolution of the 1770s-1780s, and the French Revolution. The work emphasizes the popular movements that propelled the great revolutions to radical peaks, the little-known leaders who spoke for the people, and the liberatory social forms to which the revolutions gave rise.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

405 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Murray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics, philosophy, history, and urban affairs as well as ecology. In the late 1990s he became disenchanted with the strategy of political Anarchism and founded his own libertarian socialist ideology called Communalism.

Bookchin was an anti-capitalist and vocal advocate of the decentralisation of society along ecological and democratic lines. His writings on libertarian municipalism, a theory of face-to-face, assembly democracy, had an influence on the Green movement and anti-capitalist direct action groups such as Reclaim the Streets.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of past revolutions. In this book, Murray Bookchin tries to rekindle a revolutionary tradition that is almost completely forgotten in this day and age. It's part of a four book series, and it treats the various medieval peasant revolutions in Western Europe up until, and including the French Revolution of 1789-1795.

By no means is this book exhaustive in treating these events, it specifically aims to discuss highly libertarian tendencies within these various events. By doing this, Murray Bookchin has shamed almost all modern protests, and struggles for their lack of vision. The social programs advocated by peasants during the 1380 English peasant revolt are more ambitious than anything happening right now in Europe.

By far the most fascinating aspect of this book is that one can clearly trace the evolution of ideas, and the author puts in the effort to properly trace the consistently libertarian narrative from within these movements.

[Nikos Tsentemeidis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Μια πολύ καλή εισαγωγή στις επαναστάσεις. Από τις αγροτικές εξεγέρσεις του Μεσαίωνα, μέχρι και τη Γαλλική επανάσταση.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most important part of this book is Bookchin's discussion of the rebel activists in the Paris sections during the French revolution...the general assemblies that played a crucial part as centers of mobilizing ordinary people to rise up in various rebellions. His discussion of Jean Varlet is particularly interesting...a militant who had developed a theory and program for governance through the direct democracy of assemblies.

Unfortunately, tho, Bookchin's account of the American revolution leaves a lot to be desired. I hate to say it, but it's almost racist. He doesn't discuss the fact that speculation in stolen lands of the native people's was a big motivating factor for the revolution, among the elite. In 1763 the UK had granted the Indians west of the Alleghenies their lands and prohibited settlement beyond that line. This undermined land speculation schemes that Washington, Jefferson and many other revolutionary leaders had invested in. Bookchin also never discusses the ways that African-Americans participated in the struggle, for example, by fleeing plantations to join the British after they offered freedom to black and European slaves if they'd fight for the British.

Bookchin mistakenly claims that most of the confiscated lands of the loyalist elite went to poor farmers. This is implausible because the lands were sold and the well to do had the money to buy them, not poor farmers. Also, there was a lot of bribery and corruption in these land transfers. Moreover the evidence is that concentration of wealth continued in the early 1800s as it had in the late 1700s.

[Nevra Arslanturk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bookchin’in devrim tarihini kendi analizi ile toparladığı harika bir derleme olmuş. Başta okumakta zorlandım ama şu anda bitirdiğimde-önsözü yeniden okumam üzerine de inanılmaz kafa açıcı olduğunu düşünüyorum. Altı çizili bir dünya yer olduğu için yine alıntılayamayacağım- bazı kitaplar alıntının ötesinde bir yerde-bütün kitap diyebiliyorsunuz:)

Bookchin enternasyonel ruhu ve devrimci niteliğe sahip Avrupa devrimlerini ele alıyor. Ulus niteliği barındıran 3. Dünya devrimlerini bu kategoriye almamış. Avrupa devrimlerinin her birinin, ideoloji olarak, kendilerinden önce gelen devrimlerin tarihsel hafızaları üzerine kurulduğunu söylüyor. Amerikalılar, 1600lerde gerçekleşen İngiliz devriminin bilincindeydi, Fransızlar Amerikan Devriminden etkilendiler; daha sonraki devrimler de Fransız devriminin etkisi altında kaldı. Tüm bu gelişim süreçlerini Bookchin analizi ile okumak gerçekten çok etkileyici, emeğe değen harika bir kitap!🌿

[einderlicht · Rating 5 out of 5]

İnanılmaz bir eser.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait to read the other three volumes. This is absolutely amazing book for radicals to read real history. Someone should make movies out of this, so entertaining and real, and the implications for times of foment are very relevant.