The Coming of the French Revolution by Georges Lefebvre

Author:Georges Lefebvre
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2019-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

The Economic Crisis

As always in the old France, food shortage was due to a succession of mediocre or clearly inadequate crops. The French of that time ate a great deal of bread. Peasants and workingmen required no less than two or three pounds a day. The average daily consumption was later estimated by the Convention at a pound and a half, whereas the ration during the war of 1914 was only two-fifths of a pound. Except in the larger cities and in areas producing much wheat, the bread was generally of rye or buckwheat, or of a variable mixture of wheat, rye and barley. Despite backward methods of cultivation, France in the good years managed to be self-sufficient on the eve of the Revolution. The South never grew enough grain for its needs, but brought it in from Brittany and the North by sea, or from Burgundy by internal waterways. At the same time there was a general anxiety to have the granaries well-stocked. It was hard to get from one year to the next without a reserve, for except in the South, where the grain was threshed immediately with the help of mules, asses or oxen, the threshing was usually done with flails and was a long and laborious process which the farmers preferred to postpone until the winter, after the fall plowing was over. Meanwhile they had to have “old grains” to live on. Of these there was never thought to be enough, for without them famine was certain if the crop failed. It was not easy to move grain from one province to another, because transport by water was often impossible for want of canals, and by wheeled vehicles was slow and expensive. Supply by sea was irregular and relatively meager, the coastal craft weighing 200 or 300 tons at most, and often less than 100; nor could one ever be sure that foreign governments would not prohibit export at the most critical moment. Hence every region wished to keep its local grain supply and live on its own. Difficulty in communications did not allow much exportation in any case; the total export of grain from France seems never to have passed two per cent of the crop. Yet people eyed every outgoing shipment with misgivings, even if bound for another province of France. They feared not only famine but also rising prices, and the apprehension of consumers was shared by the authorities in their concern for public order, especially by the municipal authorities, which were the most vulnerable to disturbances.

Hence the grain trade was carefully regulated. Peasants were not allowed to sell grain outright, either at home or in transit. They were required to bring it to the town market and there display it before the eyes of the inhabitants, who had the right to buy it first, the bakers coming next, and the merchants last. The authorities intervened, when necessary, to apportion the available supply and even to set the price. In any case they kept a record of grain trading as the basis for the price of bread, which was controlled.

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