Reflections on the Revolution in France
In “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Edmund Burke critiques the revolution that had recently occurred in France as irrational and impractical. Burke, a pillar of 18th-century conservatism, advocated for a well-supported divine right monarchy and uses the French Revolution as an opportunity to re-spark an earlier debate in England about the “right” (or lack thereof) of the people of a state to overthrow their divine monarch. Burke distinctly opposes any such overthrowing or revolution, and instead advocates for incremental changes in government or society to promote stability. A similar distinction can be drawn between Socialism and Communism. Communism, being a radical form of socialism, argues for a revolution to implement the political changes which socialist ideology argues should be incrementally incorporated. Burke critiques Enlightenment thinkers as simplistically reducing societies’ inherent complexities to fit their own philosophies, which fueled much of the French Revolution. Such philosophies do not account for the great nuances of a state and society, argues Burke, and perhaps carelessly encourage sudden revolutionary changes which ultimately result in chaos and disorder. He points to the “Reign of Terror” in France following the revolution as an example of the instability and tyranny it had caused.
Though Burke’s theories became widely influential in later conservatism, they were initially received poorly and with outrage in England. Burke was seen as a monarchical loyalist and deeply conservative and oppressive voice in English politics. In James Gillray’s political cartoon “Smelling Out a Rat,” printed shortly after “Reflections” was published, Gillray depicts Burke as a figure ascending from a mysterious smoke with a massive nose and inspecting spectacles, intended to expose an “atheistic revolutionary.” Burke holds a large cross in one hand and a crown in the other, reaffirming the narrative of his conservative advocacy of a supreme divine right monarchy.