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France


The July Revolution of 1830 brought an end to the French Restoration, but not to the monarchy - nor, consequently, to the republican secret societies, some of whose programs began to include social-revolutionary elements. Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881) perhaps contributed more than anyone to the amalgamation of the two traditions, putting the radical-liberal tactics of a semi-military coup d'état at the service of his communist ideas. For him, secret societies were an almost natural way of association, and he even tried to lead them from the dozens of prisons where he spent more than half of his adult life. In 1834, with Armand Barbès and Martin Bernard, he organized the Société des Familles, and after its discovery, the Société des Saisons. The name reflects the structure: the Society of the Seasons was constructed of units of seven people, who formed a Week, four Weeks formed a Month, and so on.

On May 12, 1839, the organization attempted an insurrection in Paris. It was unsuccessful, and in the course of the following months all of the most important participants were arrested and brought before the courts in two groups. In the first case, Barbès was condemned to death, and in the second, Blanqui; yet both sentences were changed to life imprisonment. The proceedings of the court cases were published as a book - one of many ways in which the doings of secret societies became known to the public at large.

Read also the indictment of the Société des Saisons (Pdf 4,2 Mb).
Source: Procès des accusés des 12 et 13 mai devant la Cour des Pairs, contenant les faits préliminaires, les débats, les interrogatoires, les dépositions des témoins, les requisitoires, les plaidoiries, les répliques et l'arrêt de condamnation, Paris: Pagnerre, 1839, pp 1-37. (Call number: F1066 b/98).

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