Réveillon riots
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The Réveillon riots between 26 and 29 April 1789[1] centered in the St. Antoine district of Paris where a factory which produced luxury wallpaper was owned by Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. The factory employed around 300 people.[2] The factory where the riot took place was unusual in pre-revolutionary France as the factory was guild-free in an era where guilds controlled quality standards.
Protests began after rumors spread that the owner had made a speech stating that workers, many of whom were highly skilled, were to be paid lower wages and, as a result, there would be lower prices. Workers were concerned with food shortages, high unemployment, and low wages after a difficult winter in 1788. However, Réveillon was known for his benevolence towards the poor[3] and actually stated that bread prices should be brought down to those that people could afford (below 15 sous a day) but his comments were misinterpreted as wage restrictions. He made the comments on 21 April when the assembly of the Saint-Marguerite was discussing its Cahier which all Estates drew up before the Estates-General was to be called.
After informal protests on Sunday 26 April, groups of protesters congregated on the
While the protesters did not manage to destroy the factory, which was being guarded by a group of around fifty troops, a factory owned by the
On the fantasy/crime drama Grimm, the Réveillon riots were noted in the fifth season in the episode Wesen Nacht to have been wesen-on-wesen violence.
See also
References
- 'The Oxford History of the French Revolution' by William Doyle ISBN 0-19-285221-3
- ^ SafariX Textbooks Online – SafariX is now CourseSmart Archived 9 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sir Archibald Alison (1848). History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in M.DCC.LXXXIX. to the Restoration of the Bourbons in M.DCCC.XV. Vol. 1 (7 ed.). W. Blackwood and sons. p. 357 – via Google Books, Ghent University.
- ^ Sir Archibald Alison (1848). History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in M.DCC.LXXXIX. to the Restoration of the Bourbons in M.DCCC.XV. Vol. 1 (7 ed.). W. Blackwood and sons. p. 358 – via Google Books, Ghent University.
- ^ a b Chronology of the French Revolution: 1789–1790 Archived 17 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Micah Alpaugh, "The Politics of Escalation in French Revolutionary Protest: Political Demonstrations, Nonviolence and Violence in the Grandes journées of 1789," French History 23, no. 3 (Fall 2009), 336–359.
