March 14th 2025,

Thankfully this post should be quite short.

For Canadian History we had our discussion. Because many in the class did not show up, my professor had us get into small groups to discuss the readings on Diefenbaker. I absolutely refused to do this, one of the reasons why is because the group I would’ve joined got too big. There was around six people and I was not going to add to that, I also do not like these kinds of activities so I just stayed in my chair and did my own thing. My professor did ask if I was going to join, I said no, he then put his hands in a praying motion and begged me to “please” do it but I still refused. Was it a dick move? Sure, but at the time I was just not ready to do this and I also do not feel comfortable with some of my classmates. Will I ever like my fellow students, no. Some? Yes, but probably not most and I need to get over myself, but what’s done is done.

French Revolution class gets into the republic and Robespierre! So both the flight to Varennes and the wars led to the creation of the first French Republic. Between August and September 1792 this happened. The republic was modelled on a fraternal bond between equal citizens, replacing the patriarchal hierarchy of the King over his subjects. This was based off the US and classical republics. The Jacobins would take control of the National Assembly by pushing their rials. They claim to embody Rousseau’s general will, any dissent was treated as treason. Neo-classical art would celebrate Rousseauian civic virtue, republicanism, and the separate spheres (public v. private). In January of 1793 the phrase “Vive la France” would be made after Louis XVI was guillotined.

Now we can get into the “incorruptible” Robespierre. He was the head of the Committee of Public Safety (CPS) and suspended the new 1793 democratic constitution “until peace,” this was done to deal with the national emergency. Thus the CPS rules by decree. My professor claimed that this move was ironic because Robespierre critiqued Sieyés’ citizen distinction (active v. passive), but now due t pressure from current events he switches his tune and is willing to suspend a truly democratic constitution outright. The Jacobins h a two-pronged approach to saving the republic: inculcate virtue in the citizenry and employing Terror. Civic virtue was inspire by the Greek and Roman republics, as in patriotic self sacrifice. They attempted to instil this civic virtue via cultural programs, conscription, patriotic oaths, and other things. They wanted to make passive citizens into active ones by “revolutionizing” daily life.

The Terror was used against enemies of the revolution. She then proceeded to show us a few quotes from Robespierre himself:

“I’d the mainspring of poplar government in peace time is virtue, amid revolution it is at the same time both virtue and terror: virtue without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is nothing but prompt, severe, inflexible justice…”

“Without, all the tyrant encircle you; within, all the friends of tyranny conspire… the first maxim of your policy ought to be to lead the people by reason and the people’s enemies by terror.”

The Terror was initially for the protection of the state during emergencies but would later be weaponized by the weak against authorities.

That’s where the lecture ended. I will say I have a bit of a weird perspective on Robespierre. I cannot bring myself to hate him. I really can’t, and I believe it is because everyone at my school consistently compares him to the Bolsheviks. Without fail they are always referenced to each other so I get oddly defensive when people attack him. And I do mean “attack” and not just critique. I know he wasn’t perfect and he had his issues, which will be detailed in a later lecture, but I still cannot hate him like the rest of my classmates. During these lecture the amount of times that some of the students would constantly pipe up with jokes and whatnot was just… a lot. Does this make any sense at all?

Anyway, after class I went to my work placement which we learned about designating historical sites and how to date buildings based on their features (like style of windowsills and whatnot). There is a lot that goes into this but I cannot say much as it is very specific, so I will just end the post now.