Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

The brief June insurrection in Paris 1832 was basically a footnote in the history of revolutions. It lasted two days and was crushed fairly conclusively. And yet thanks to Victor Hugo its prominence dwarves nearly every other example with the exceptions of the Russian Revolution in October 1917, the American Revolution and the Great French Revolution (that's the first one that started in 1789). Its cultural footprint is extreme. Though many are more familiar with its film and musical adaptations, unless you're Japanese in which case the 52 episode anime Shoujo Cossette would be what you think of.

Indeed the mainstream romanticism of the story has become so great, that there's been a bit of a backlash against amongst serious revolutionary types. Which I think is a shame in addition to a very engrossing-if incredibly bleak- story packed with memorable characters, it also still contains much value for those favouring a drier more practical work on revolt and repression.

Let's get this out of the way, Les Miserables is public domain so can be bought cheap or gotten for free online. Its also very easy to read, the text hasn't dated much and favours plain speaking. It is however very long, about Five full Volumes, but those volumes are broken down into separate books (48 in total) and those are broken up into chapters. So while's it quite lengthy it is very easy to break up the reading, with a bookmark. I read it over a period of three weeks, Monday to Friday while at work. If your not certain just try reading the first chapter, about the life of the Bishop, Jean Val Jean doesn't appear until later. You'll get a feel for the prose and the length is mostly equivalent.

If you do stick with it you'll be in for a treat. The musicals are in broadstrokes faithful they just cut a lot out and combine characters, but the core cast Jean Val Jean, Fantine Cossette, Javert, Marius, the Thénardiers etc make an appearance and are usually faithful. Well except in the 1990's film version where Jean Val Jean is very violent and Marius has all the character traits of the Revolutionaries dumped into him.

But the stuff that's cut out is done so for time and pace, much of what gets ripped out is some of the best parts of the story. Unfortunately the part of the story that gets mangled the most is the revolt itself. In most retellings its a tragedy about the dangers of romantic idealistic students biting off more then they can chew. They're aren't wrong in their ends, just in their means. That isn't really how it plays out in the novel. They still lose of course, but Hugo goes to great pains to establish that they republicans were a lot more serious minded about it, and the insurrection had more potential than is usually shown.

The Friends of the ABC, while they are idealistic and have romantic notions about the coming fight, are a bit more grounded.They've been preparing for months, stock piling weapons, agitating and networking. Interestingly most of their links and contacts are with secret societies of workers, mostly artisans, like stonemasons. When the revolt kicks off at General Lamarque's funeral its much more widespread, with several working class districts rising up and building barricades. The Friends of the ABC built one of the more formidable ones, they're one of the last to be breached. And many of the fighters are local workers. It still comes across as rather naïve, hoping the rest of Paris would rise once the fighting was underway, though Hugo does describe a number of incidents of spontaneous clashes with the troops occupying Paris.

The Society of the Friends of the A B C affiliated to the

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Mutualists of Angers, and to the Cougourde of Aix, met, as we have seen, in the Café Musain. These same young men assembled also, as we have stated already, in a restaurant wine-shop of the Rue Mondétour which was called Corinthe. These meetings were secret. Others were as public as possible, and the reader can judge of their boldness from these fragments of an interrogatory undergone in one of the ulterior prosecutions: “Where was this meeting held?” “In the Rue de la Paix.” “At whose house?” “In the street.” “What sections were there?” “Only one.” “Which?” “The Manuel section.” “Who was its leader?” “I.” “You are too young to have decided alone upon the bold course of attacking the government. Where did your instructions come from?” “From the central committee.”

That's how they fought, lets tackle why they thought. The main thrust of the uprising was to topple the Orleans Monarchy and replace it with a Republic. A republic inspired by the Republic established in 1792. However it was also strongly motivated by desires to improve the lot of the working class. If you've seen the musical or film you'll know that Post Napoleon France wasn't a great place to be poor, employed or not. Pay was low, laws very strict, both bosses, local government and police could control their fates. The prisons were cruel, (I mean even more so than now) the courts corrupt, that trial Jean Val Jean exposes himself at, wasn't an exaggeration. This is why most of the fighting was in the working class areas.

They weren't completely homogenous though, Hugo mentions Socialists, of varying types, and Mutualists. It even contains a passage about Communism. Though he's critical of it and Land reformers, he does so in a unique way. He believed their plans would kill production, and that's really the crux of the disagreement.

Communism and agrarian law think that they solve the second problem. They are mistaken. Their division kills production. Equal partition abolishes emulation; and consequently labor. It is a partition made by the butcher, which kills that which it divides. It is therefore impossible to pause over these pretended solutions. Slaying wealth is not the same thing as dividing it.

Even the Friends of the ABC aren't uniform. One is obsessed with the occupation of Poland, (it was a 19th century Palestine ) they're uniformly republicans, with the exception of Marius who isn't really a member just a friend, and Grantaire whose a drunk pessimist who hangs around because he likes Enjolras the groups leader.

I suppose its time to cover the authors politics. Victor Hugo's political ideas changed quite a bit over time, though generally of the Left. At the time of publishing Les Miserables, he could be broadly placed as a liberal Republican with Social Democratic ideals. He believed in a politically equal Republic, but one that also helped the poor while not molesting the rich so long as they were honest. He also despite being a Catholic (he would lose his faith later) believed in a secular society and bitterly attacked the church for its hypocrisy and destructive role in French society. One entire book is dedicated to listing the crimes of the Monastic orders and the Nunneries, and argues for their abolishment.

The leprosy of

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monasticism has gnawed nearly to a skeleton two wonderful nations, Italy and Spain; the one the light, the other the splendor of Europe for centuries; and, at the present day, these two illustrious peoples are but just beginning to convalesce, thanks to the healthy and vigorous hygiene of 1789 alone.

 And when Jean Val Jean and Cossette escape to a Nunnery, its depicted as a torturous place for the young girls in their isolated care.

Hugo is also highly contemptuous of the prison and police system. Javert is the main antagonist, and he's tormenting Jean Val Jean. the spirit of human redemption (literally) because Val Jean was on the wrong side of the law. His crime was stealing one loaf of bread to feed his sister and her children. When he went to prison for the crime they starved to death without his meagre earnings. That's the tip of the iceberg, the use of convict labour, torture and the death penalty are all bitterly condemned at length. As is the corruption of the law. Through Fantine we see that the law is weighted in favour of the well to do. Javert interferes in a street fight between Fantine and an idle rich man, he sides with the latter on the basis that they are a good law abiding citizen and Fantine is a street prostitute. She ends up dying as a result of her attack from pneumonia.

The treatment of women was very surprising considering the date of publication. Its very positive and hostile to prevailing social customs at the time of the setting and publication. Fantine's life is destroyed figuratively and then physically, because she doesn't live up to the expectations put on women. Her crime was falling in love with a young man, said young man leaves her for another, but now she's pregnant. The shame attached to this forces her far from home, she has to put her daughter Cossette in the care of strangers, and work in another town, keeping it a secret. In the musical and the latest film they make a small but important and in my view flawed change to the scene where she's discovered. In the musical/film her overseer is male and quite clearly fancies her and keeps harassing her. When he discovers she's had a child and another lover he reacts with disgust and fires her.

As an indictment of scummy bosses and the powerlessness line workers can be its a good example, but that wasn't what the passage was about originally. In the novel her overseer is also a woman, and she is not sexually harassing Fantine. She does however still fire Fantine in disgust when she learns of the out of wedlock child. Destitute Fantine has to keep sending money to her poor child, Fantine is desperate. First she sells her hair and teeth, and only then sells herself sexually. All the while wasting away and freezing to death. Her ex-boss saw her in this state and instead of remorse she feels proud and vindicated. Fantine has proven herself morally suspect so in the eyes of her ex employer she did the right and moral thing firing her. Its an accusation against the social roles for women at the time.

It was with this full power, and the conviction that she was doing right, that the superintendent had instituted the suit, judged, condemned, and executed

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Fantine.

 Madame Victurnien sometimes saw her passing, from her window, noticed the distress of “that creature” who, “thanks to her,” had been “put back in her proper place,” and congratulated herself. The happiness of the evil-minded is black.

In addition the story manages to cram in a lot of information about the Great French Revolution, the Revolution of 1830, the Revolution of 1848 and street fighting in 1831 and 1839. Its packed with historical information.

I could go on forever singing the novels praises but I'll stop now.