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A quick Google search shows that the phrase originated with Georges 
Clémenceau in the debates with Déroulède and others concerning the first 
centennial commemoration of the Revolution in 1889. At the time, Clémenceau 
did represent the pro-Revolutionary, although non-socialist Left.  During 
the Bicentennial of 1989, Mitterrand repeated the phrase. It was generally 
intended to mean that you have to consider the revolutionary phenomenon as 
a whole without picking and choosing the more moderate changes (or in more 
recent times the struggles for human rights) and shoving the Terror under 
the rug (which the Bicentennial nevertheless tended to do). For some 
sympathizers with the Revolution, the accent was on the inevitable tragedy 
of violence used in the struggle for freedoms, while for others it could 
serve as a justification for violence in future revolutionary struggles. 
 
Martin S. Staum 
 
 
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