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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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