To what extent is the Marxist view an accurate interpretation of the Essay

To what extent is the Marxist view an accurate interpretation of the origins of the French Revolution in 1789 - Essay Example This time, though, the rising urban class of shopkeepers and artisans, known as the bourgeoisie, continued the struggle, focusing it against the noble landowning class that had traditionally been the support of the monarchy. With the bourgeoisie success, the noble class was pulled down, the king along with it as its figurehead, and replaced by the First Republic. This, however, is not the view of modern historians such as E.J. Hobsbawn and George Rude, who feel the populace and small traders had at least an equal part in the disruption. Studies have indicated that the percentage of urban capitalist shopkeepers and artisans made up perhaps half of the revolutionary forces. â€Å"Cobb †¦ found that the rank and file of the Parisian armies revolutionnaires was 35 percent artisan and 25 percent shopkeeper and smaller merchants† (Lewis 1998). Hobsbawm (1969) claims perhaps as many as one European out of every five was a Frenchman and the majority of these Frenchmen were rural farmers or small shop workers. In many ways, the search for the reasons and participants can be found in the theories brought forward by Karl Marx, such as in the popular protest movements of the day which provide a more accurate view of both how the monarchy lost its favor and who was most in control of the political and social changes that were happening in those years. The central concepts of Marxist economics, essential to understanding the causes of the French Revolution, include the theory of labour value, the disposition of production and the inevitable conflicts between the classes. Conflicts will always persist because the upper class can never totally control the lower classes. Lesser concepts include the idea of increased misery, the obsession with possessions and the consequences of economic alienation. Marx’s theories of labour value combined with his concepts of