The Constitution of the French Republic, adopted on 4 November 1848

Karl Marx

The Constitution of the French Republic,

adopted on 4 November 1848

From the English.

["Notes to the People" No. 7 of 14 June 1851]

The constitution is introduced by a rhetorical preamble, in which the following passages deserve attention:

1. France declares itself a republic. 2. The French Republic is democratic, one and indivisible. 3. Its principles are liberty, equality, fraternity, and its foundations are the family, labour, property and public order. 5. It respects the independence of other nations, even as it expects its own independence to be respected. It will wage no war of aggression and will never employ its armed forces against the liberty of another people.

(Rome!)

Before the June insurrection the National Assembly had worked out a constitution which, among many other recognitions of the rights and obligations of man, contained the following articles:

Art. 6. The right to education is the right of all citizens to the possibility of the full development of their physical, moral and intellectual capacities by means of free instruction provided by the state.

Art. 7. The right to labour is the right of every member of society to be able to live by labour. Society therefore has the obligation to provide labour for all able-bodied persons who cannot obtain it otherwise.

Art. 9. The right to support is the right of orphans, of those unfit for labour and of the aged, to receive their means of existence from the state.

After the victories of June 1848 had emboldened the bourgeoisie, it expunged these three articles from the

CONSTITUTION,

which now reads as follows:

CHAP. I. [ON SOVEREIGNTY]

"[§ 1.] Sovereignty resides in the totality of French citizens. It is inalienable and imprescriptible. No individual, no fraction of the people can arrogate to itself the exercise of this sovereignty."

CHAP. II. RIGHTS GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION

"[§ 2.] No one may be arrested or detained except as provided by the laws."

"§ 3. The dwelling of every person residing on French territory is inviolable; it is not permitted to enter it except in the forms prescribed by law.

One should note here and throughout the entire text that the French constitution guarantees liberty, but always with the proviso of the exceptions that the law makes, or may yet make! – and all the exceptions made by Emperor Napoleon, by the Restoration and by Louis-Philippe have not only been preserved, but have been multiplied enormously since the June revolution. For instance, the law of 9 August 1849, relating to the state of siege, which the National Assembly, and during its recesses the President, can declare, and which gives the military authorities the right to bring all persons guilty of political offences before a court-martial. It also gives them the power to enter and search any house by day or night, confiscate all arms, and expel all persons who are not domiciled in the place placed under the state of siege.

As regards foreigners, the only 'right' they enjoy on French soil is to be locked up and expelled as often as the police authorities think fit.

As regards Frenchmen, any French citizen can be arrested upon the order of a single official!

"§ 4. Every person shall be tried exclusively by his natural judges. No special courts may be established, under whatever name or pretext."

We have already seen that under the 'state of siege' the court-martial suspends all other courts. Besides, in 1848 the National Assembly set up a 'special court' under the name 'Haute Cour' for some of the persons guilty of political offences; and after the June insurrection it deported 15,000 insurgents without any legal proceedings whatsoever!

"§ 5. The death penalty for political offences is abolished."

But they are deported to fever-stricken regions, where they are merely executed somewhat more slowly and far more torturously.

"§ 8. Citizens have the right to associate, to assemble peaceably and unarmed, to present petitions and to express their opinions through the press or in any other way. The exercise of these rights is limited only by the equal rights of others and by public safety."

That the limitation by 'public safety' abolishes the exercise of the right altogether is clearly proved by the following facts:

1. Freedom of the press. By the laws of 11 August 1848 and 27 July 1849, not only were sureties again demanded for newspapers, but all the restrictions that had been decreed by Emperor Napoleon and since then were renewed and tightened.

The law of 16 July 1850 <In “Notes to the People”: 23 July 1850> increases the sureties and extends them to all weekly papers, magazines, periodicals etc. In addition, it requires that every article be signed with the author's name, and reintroduces the stamp for newspapers. As if that were not enough, it even demands a stamp for the serial novel and the purely literary pamphlet, and enforces all this by the threat of enormous fines! After the passing of this last-mentioned law, the revolutionary press disappeared entirely. It had long fought against persecution: week after week, newspaper after newspaper and pamphlet after pamphlet were indicted, fined, suppressed. The bourgeoisie sat on the jury and destroyed the workers' press.

The culmination of this system was reached with the law of 30 July 1850, which re-established censorship over the drama. Thus freedom of opinion was driven out of its last literary refuge.

2. The right of association and public assembly. By the decrees of 28 July to 2 August 1848, the clubs are subjected to a large number of police regulations, which deprive them of almost all freedom. Thus they may, for instance, adopt no resolutions in legislative form, etc. All non-political circles and private associations are, by this law, completely delivered over to the supervision and the whims of the police.

By the law of 19-22 June 1849, the government is empowered to prohibit, for the space of one year, all clubs and meetings which are not to its liking. By the law of 6-12 June 1850, this power is granted to the government for a further year, and practically extended to those assemblies and gatherings connected with the election of the people's representatives which might displease the government! The result is that, in principle, since July 1848 all clubs and public meetings, with the exception of the cercles <clubs> of the Royalists and Bonapartists, have been abolished.

By the law of 29 November 1849, all workers who should combine to obtain an increase of their wages are punished with up to 3 months' imprisonment and a fine of up to 3,000 francs. And by the same law these workers, after serving their sentence, are placed under police supervision for five years (which means beggary, ruin and persecution).

So much for the right of association and public assembly.

—————

"§ 9. Instruction is free. The freedom of instruction is exercised under the conditions fixed by law and under the supervision of the state."

Here the old joke is repeated. "Instruction is free", but "under the conditions fixed by law", and those are precisely the conditions that abolish freedom entirely.

By the law of 15 March 1850, the education system is placed entirely under the supervision of the clergy.

At the head of this government department stands a conseil supérieur de l'instruction publique <Supreme Council of Public Instruction>, presided over by four French archbishops. It subjects all the schoolmasters of the provinces, even though they have been elected by the municipal councils or church councils, to the authority of the recteurs or parish priests. The teachers are placed in a position equivalent to military subordination and discipline under the parish priests, mayors and clergy, and the freedom of instruction, according to the aforementioned law, consists in the fact that no one has the right to teach without the authorisation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities.

"§ 11. Property is inviolable."

"§ 14. The state debt is guaranteed."

"§ 15. Taxes are levied only for the general benefit. Each citizen contributes according to his means and his fortune."

CHAP. III. OF THE STATE POWERS

This chapter asserts:

1. "All state powers emanate from the people and cannot be transmitted hereditarily."

2. "The separation of powers is the first condition of a free government."

Here we have the old constitutional nonsense. The prerequisite for a "free government" is not the separation, but the unity of powers. The machinery of government cannot be simple enough. It is always the art of rogues to make it complicated and mysterious.

CHAP. IV. OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER

The legislative power is entrusted to a single assembly of 750 representatives, including the representatives of Algeria and the colonies. Any assembly convoked for the revision of the constitution must consist of 900 persons. The electoral system is based upon population.

Now follow four sections which must be reproduced in full:

"§ 24. The franchise is direct and universal, the ballot is secret."

"§ 25. Electors are all Frenchmen who are 21 years of age and in the enjoyment of their political and civil rights, without regard to any electoral census."

"§ 26. All electors who have attained the age of 25 years may be elected as representatives, without restriction by domicile."

"§ 27. The electoral law will determine the grounds on which a French citizen may be deprived of the right to elect and to be elected."

The above articles are drafted in exactly the same spirit as the whole of the rest of the constitution. "All Frenchmen in the enjoyment of their political rights are entitled to vote" – yet "the electoral law" is to decide which Frenchman shall not possess political rights!

The electoral law of 15 March 1849 includes in this category all criminal offenders, but not persons guilty of political offences. The electoral law of 31 May 1850 not only added these persons – all those condemned for "offences against time-honoured views" and against the press laws – but practically introduced residence restrictions whereby two-thirds of the French people were deprived of the franchise!

That is what in France is understood by "direct and universal franchise".

"§ 28. The holding of any salaried public office is incompatible with the mandate of a people's representative. No people's representative may, during the duration of the session, hold salaried public offices dependent on the executive power."

These two provisions were restricted by subsequent decisions and are essentially almost annulled.

"§ 30. The election takes place by departments, in the chief town of the arrondissement, and with ballot paper."

§ 31. The National Assembly is elected for three years; after that a new election must take place.

§ 32. It is permanent, but may adjourn and must then appoint a commission to represent it, which consists of 25 deputies and the members of the Bureau of the Assembly. This commission is empowered to convene the Assembly in an emergency.

§§ 33-38. The representatives are re-eligible. They are not bound by any specific instructions, they are inviolable and may not be prosecuted or condemned for opinions they express within the National Assembly. They receive an allowance, which they may not renounce.

As regards the “inviolability of the representative” and his “right of free expression of opinion”, after 13 June the majority adopted a new règlement which empowers the president of the National Assembly to impose censorship on a deputy, to fine him, to withdraw his allowance and to suspend him temporarily –

whereby “freedom of opinion” is completely abolished. In 1850 the Assembly passed a law by which representatives may be arrested for debt even during the sitting of the House and, if they do not pay within a specified period, lose their mandates as representatives.

Thus in France there is neither the right of free expression of opinion nor the inviolability of the representative – only the inviolability of the creditor.

§§ 39-42. The sittings of the Assembly are public. Nevertheless, the Assembly may constitute itself into a secret committee at the request of the requisite number of representatives. For a law to be validly enacted, it must be adopted by a majority of one vote over half of all representatives. Except in urgent cases, a law may be passed only after three readings at intervals of five days each.

This procedure, borrowed from the English “constitution”, is never observed in France on important occasions – precisely those on which it would be most necessary. For example, the electoral law of 31 May was passed after a single reading.

CHAPTER V. ON THE EXECUTIVE POWER

§§ 43-44. The executive power is conferred on a President. The President must be a born Frenchman, at least 30 years of age, and must never have forfeited his French civil rights.

The first President of the French Republic, L. N. Bonaparte, had not only forfeited his French civil rights, had been not only an English special constable, but also a naturalised Swiss.

§§ 45-70. The President of the Republic is elected for four years and is re-eligible only after an interval of four years after the expiration of his term of office. The same restrictions apply to his relatives up to the sixth degree inclusive. The election shall take place on the second Sunday in the month of May. If the President is elected at any other time, his powers expire on the second Sunday in the month of May in the fourth year after his election. He is elected by secret ballot and by an absolute majority. If no candidate obtains more than half the votes cast, but at least two million, the National Assembly elects the President from among the five candidates who have received the most votes.

The President must swear allegiance to the constitution; he has the right to present bills to the National Assembly through his ministers; he may dispose of the armed force, but not command it in person; he may not cede any part of French territory, nor dissolve or adjourn the National Assembly, nor suspend the constitution. He concludes and ratifies all treaties, which, however, are binding only after they have been approved by the National Assembly. He may not undertake any war without the consent of the National Assembly; he may exercise the right of pardon, but may not grant an amnesty. Anyone condemned by the Haute Cour <High Court> may be pardoned only by the National Assembly. The President may postpone the promulgation of a law and demand that the Assembly deliberate on it once more.

Such deliberation, however, then decides finally. He appoints ambassadors and ministers and has the right to suspend for three months the mayors, departmental councillors, National Guards, etc. elected by the citizens. All his decrees must be countersigned by the ministers, with the exception of the dismissal of the ministers themselves. The President, the ministers and the officials are, each in his own sphere, responsible for all the acts of the government. Any act by which the President influences, delays or prevents the orderly exercise of the National Assembly’s activity is an act of high treason. By such an act the President is forthwith deposed from his office; it becomes the duty of every citizen to refuse obedience to his orders; his executive authority immediately passes to the National Assembly; the judges of the Haute Cour de Justice meet without delay and summon the court to a place fixed by them to try the President and his accomplices.

The President has an official residence and an annual salary of 600,000 francs or £24,000. (He now receives 2,160,000 francs or £86,400.) The ministers have ex officio a seat in the National Assembly and may speak as often as they wish. The National Assembly elects a Vice-President of the Republic from among three candidates whom the President nominates within one month after his own election. The Vice-President takes the same oath as the President; he may not be a relative of the President; he takes the place of the President when the latter is prevented, and acts as President of the Council of State. If the office of President falls vacant through death or for other reasons, a new election must take place within a month.

CHAPTER VI. ON THE COUNCIL OF STATE

§§ 71-75. The Council of State is a merely advisory body for the examination of the government’s bills and those referred to it by the Assembly.

CHAPTER VII. ON INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION

This section deals with the officials <in “Notes to the People” evidently a misprint: clergy (clergy) instead of clerks (officials)>, the higher officials, the communal and cantonal councils. The only article of importance, and the one that is used to the greatest possible extent, is the following:

“§ 80. The general councils, the cantonal councils and the communal councils may be dissolved by the President with the consent of the Council of State.”

CHAPTER VIII. ON THE JUDICIAL POWER

In essence this section merely repeats the decrees of the Emperor Napoleon. The following additions, however, are noteworthy:

“§ 81. Justice is administered gratuitously in the name of the French people.”

This is so untrue that one does not even get beheaded for nothing!

§§ 91-100 deal with the Haute Cour de Justice, which alone is empowered to try the President, before which the ministers and all persons whom the National Assembly sees fit to bring before this tribunal for political offences may be indicted.

This “High Court” consists of five judges elected by the Court of Cassation (the highest tribunal in France) from among its members, and of thirty-six jurors drawn from the members of the general councils of the departments, a wholly aristocratic body. The only persons so far condemned by this court are the accused of 15 May 1848 (here the names Barbès, Blanqui and others stand out in the verdict!) and the deputies who had compromised themselves on 13 June 1849.

By the law of 7 August 1848, all those who cannot read and write are struck off the jury list, thus disqualifying two-thirds of the adult population!

CHAPTER IX. ON THE ARMED FORCE

The old military law remains entirely in force. For offences by soldiers the civil courts are not competent. The following paragraph characterises the spirit of this constitution.

“§ 102. Every Frenchman is obliged to serve in the army and in the National Guard, with the exception of the cases determined by law.”

Everyone who has money can buy himself free of the duty to serve.

By the law now under deliberation, which has already passed its second reading, the working classes are being entirely excluded from the

ranks
of the National Guard! Moreover, the President has the right to suspend the National Guards of any commune for a year – and, indeed, in half of France the National Guard has been dissolved!

CHAPTER X. SPECIAL PROVISIONS

“§ 110. The National Assembly entrusts the constitution to the vigilance and patriotism of the whole people”

– and entrusts the “vigilant” and “patriotic” to the mercy of the Haute Cour! – 13 June!

CHAPTER XI. ON THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION

“§ 111. Should the National Assembly, at the end of its session, express the desire for a total or partial amendment of the constitution, the revision shall be carried out in the following manner: The desire expressed by the National Assembly can acquire the force of law only after three successive debates, which must take place at intervals of one month, and by a majority of three-quarters of the votes cast, the number of voters being not less than 500. The Assembly specially convoked for the revision shall be elected for only three months and, aside from very urgent cases, shall concern itself with no other questions.”

—————

Such is the “Constitution of the French Republic”, and such is the manner in which it has been used. The reader will immediately see that it is from beginning to end a mass of fine words hiding a most fraudulent intention. Its very wording makes its violation impossible, for each of its provisions contains its own antithesis – completely cancels itself out. For example: “The franchise is direct and universal” – “except the cases which the law determines”.

Hence it cannot be said that the law of 31 May 1850 (which deprives two-thirds of the population of the franchise) violates the constitution at all.

The constitution repeats again and again the formula that the regulation and limitation of the people’s rights and liberties (e.g., the right of association, the franchise, freedom of the press, instruction, etc.) shall be laid down by a subsequent organic law – and these “organic laws” “determine” the promised freedom by destroying it. This trick, of promising full freedom, of laying down the finest principles, and leaving their application, the

details
, to the decision of “subsequent laws”, was borrowed by the Austrian and Prussian bourgeoisie from their French models, for the same was done in the French constitution of 1830 and in the preceding constitutions.

People! Pay as much attention to the details as to the principles, before you attain power! It was precisely for this point that the fight was waged in the English Convention!

The only definite and final clauses of the entire constitution are those on the election of the President (§ 45) and on the revision of the constitution (§ 11). They are the only provisions that can be violated, because they are the only ones that do not contradict themselves.

They were aimed by the Constituent Assembly of 1848 directly against Bonaparte, whose intrigues for the presidency alarmed the deputies.

The eternal contradictions of this humbug of a constitution show clearly enough that the bourgeoisie may be democratic in words, but not in its deeds; it will acknowledge the truth of a principle, but never put it into practice – and the real “constitution” of France is to be found not in the Charter we have reproduced, but in the organic laws enacted on its basis, which we have briefly outlined for the reader. The principles were there – the details were left to the future, and with those details shameless tyranny was once again raised to the status of law!

The excess of despotism attained in France becomes obvious from the following provisions for the workers:

Every worker receives from the police a book, the first page of which contains his name, age, birthplace, trade or profession, and a description of his person. He is obliged to enter in it the name of the employer for whom he works, and the reasons for leaving him. But that is not all: the book is handed over to his employer and deposited by the latter at the police office, together with a characterisation of the worker. When a worker gives up his position, he must go to the police office to fetch this book; he may not take another job without presenting it. Thus the worker’s bread depends entirely on the police. Yet that is again not all: this book serves the purpose of a passport. If the worker has made himself unpopular, the police write in it: “bon pour retourner chez lui” <“valid for returning home”> and he has to go back to his native place! The revelation of this appalling fact needs no comment! Let us leave it to the reader to picture the full impact for himself and to trace the actual consequences. Not even in the bondage of feudal times, nor in the pariahdom of India, is a parallel to be found. Is it any wonder, then, that the French people are waiting for the hour of insurrection? Is it any wonder that their indignation will unleash a storm? It was merciful in 1830, it was merciful in 1848; but since then its freedom has been haggled away and its blood shed in torrents; every prison in France is overcrowded with those sentenced for life, 15,000 have been deported at one go, and now the appalling despotism we have described weighs upon it. Is it any wonder, then, that the bourgeoisie fears the people and is straining its last strength to postpone the hour of vengeance? But it is split within itself. It has too many contradictory aspirations, and first on the agenda stands:

THE GAME OF NAPOLEON

The question now is whether the President’s term of office is to be extended and the constitution revised. Napoleon cannot be re-elected without an open breach of the constitution, firstly because he cannot be re-elected before the expiry of a period of four years after his term of office, and secondly because the constitution can only be amended by a two-thirds majority. There is no such majority on this question, and therefore a constitutional re-election is impossible.

Hence for Bonaparte there is only one alternative: to defy the constitution, take up arms and fight the matter out, or to hand over his office at the prescribed time in accordance with the law. In the latter case, Cavaignac would become President and the republic of the bourgeoisie would be complete. In the former case, the consequences are more complicated.

Napoleon’s game, therefore, now consists in stirring up the discontent of the people. The bourgeoisie is Napoleon’s enemy – the people know this, and a bond of sympathy exists between them. He shares, however, the stain of oppression with the bourgeoisie; if he can shift this entirely from his own shoulders onto theirs, then a great obstacle is removed.

That this is what he is aiming at was proved by his recent speech in Dijon, where he said:

“The National Assembly has put all the bad laws into force; every good law I have proposed has been rejected or mutilated by this body. They have frustrated all my efforts to improve your conditions and have placed obstacles in the way of improvements where none existed.”

In this way he endeavours to divert the lightning from his own head onto the Assembly. Meanwhile, the army is more in his favour than in that of the latter body – and the misery of the people is such that, in the opinion of the broad masses, almost any change must be a change for the better, while the discerning are only a minority.

Therefore, if the bourgeoisie, faced with Napoleon’s determination, were to risk the struggle under Cavaignac, the people would certainly fight against them – and Napoleon would fight on the side of the people. United, they would prove too strong for the Assembly. But then the critical moment would arrive when the Assembly would discover that the people are on the point of victory, and it would choose the lesser of two evils. It would prefer an empire or a dictatorship of Napoleon to a democratic and social republic, and would therefore come to an arrangement with the President. As the latter fears the democratic power just as much as they do, he would accept their help. The army, or at least a part of it, would become even more devoted to Napoleon through the excitement, the danger and the “glory” of the struggle, and the conflict would thus take on a new aspect – the army and the bourgeoisie against the people. The outcome depends on the courage, prudence and unity of the people. Napoleon’s game consists in playing off the people against the bourgeoisie, then the bourgeoisie against the people, and using the army against both.

The future is pregnant with great events, and present-day France is one of the most interesting objects of study that history has to offer.