Citoyenne la traductrice jacobine

As you might have guessed from the heading, my school has a French Revolution reenactment every year. Last year, on account of an evil!choir rehearsal, I could not go. So this year I did. To give an idea of my indescribable horror at the presentation, I give you my angry/disappointed (and thus rather disjointed) email to the teacher directing it:

Citoyen:

With all due respect, I feel compelled to say that, after awaiting this reenactment with much anticipation, I was deeply saddened by its portrayal of the Revolution and most especially, of Robespierre.

Some inaccuracies are, of course, to be expected, and even the worst of the not easily avoidable sort may be tolerated; as a teacher of history, I am sure you are aware of the true nature of Marat's assassination, and thus I will not dwell on it; I understand that a public shooting is much easier to portray in such a venue.

Therefore, I will arrive at my point(s):

The portrayal of the Girondins was entirely too kind; do not believe the Girondins any more scrupulous than the Montagnards (as a side note, I am sure you are aware that both Brissotins and Montagnards were members of the Jacobin club, and as such it is misleading to call their opponents "Jacobins"); their rhetoric was just as bloody as that of the Montagne. While they called for war with Austria, Robespierre was one of the few to oppose them; later they would refuse to fight the war they had so ardently called for, content instead to squabble with their former allies, the Montagnards. Few modern historians defend them; they were at best incompetent; at worst hypocrites. Nonetheless, with the Commune calling for their blood, Robespierre prevented 73 of them from being sent to the guillotine, and only the leaders (those that were caught, since others went to the provinces to stir up insurrections) were executed.

Now to the Terror: originally an idea of Danton's (the Committee of Public Safety, as I'm sure you are aware, was originally "his"), it was made necessary by war on all borders and civil war in the Vendee and elsewhere (partially created by the Gironde, either by calls to arms or previous incompetence in running the government). I notice that Danton was absent from this reenactment... I wonder why...

At any rate, Robespierre was made to look like a bloodthirsty dictator; I cannot believe that such vile representations of Thermidorian propaganda still exist! Surely you must know that this was not the case? For one, the Committee of Public Safety had no "chairman," a common enough misconception; more decrees are signed by just about every other member (where, by the way, were Saint-Just, Couthon, Collot d'Herbois, Lindet and the rest?). More disturbingly, according to historical record, Robespierre never attended trials, much less executions; he did not personally send anyone to the guillotine (although it is true he supported the Revolutionary Tribunal's verdicts); no one was sent to the guillotine without trial in Paris. Robespierre despised those responsible for the massacres in the provinces and had them recalled to Paris to account for their crimes (isn't it interesting to note that it was those same men who later executed him without a trial?). The most ghastly inaccuracy is the last; even the Thermidorians (who make such outrageous claims as Robespierre skinned priests to make shoes for the sans-culottes) do not attempt to say he had the Girondins and their supporters shot en masse, without even a trial. Even Robespierre's words are twisted; they are not his own; those meant to resemble them are taken out of context.

The crowd, the guards, and the execution were all excellent, but the calumny of Robespierre, so thoughtlessly repeated here was very upsetting to me; if your aim is to teach history, I must say, with regret, that you have fallen short.

Vertu et égalité,

Citoyenne S. L.,

Student of the French Revolution and Robespierriste

P.-S. A few suggestions of a more minor order, if I may:

1. Robespierre, unlike his friend and ally Saint-Just did not dress in all black, but he did wear culottes, a powdered wig, and glasses (he was myopic); he would have been horrified by the morbid ensemble he is given in this reenactment.

2. The Revolutionary Tribunal, did not operate in such a manner; Charlotte Corday was afforded a lawyer at her trial and however flimsy an indictment's support might argued to be, there was still at all times evidence presented and a vote taken by the jury.

3. Some of the costumes were far too nice to have been socially acceptable at this time; they date from earlier eras. Similarly, most people wore tricolor cockades and sashes to show their support of the Revolution.

4. If the Brissotine was supposed to be Manon Roland, it should be known that she did not speak out in public, except at her trial, believing it out of place. If not, it's still not likely that a woman supporting the Gironde would be so outspoken.

I apologize for nit-picking, but I thought these points might be useful for future productions.

...

I seriously feel like crying now.