RichB Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Has anyone been watching Versailles on bbc? http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Versailles Last nights episode covered the french revolution in quite interesting detail. Some rather interesting parallels to todays world. Wonder what they are suggesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormymonday_2011 Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Almost felt sorry for Louis XVI who lost his throne and then his head because of the reluctance of French aristocrats and clergy to pay even a tiny share of their wealth in taxes. The parallels with our own Bourbon elite who want to pauperise the rest of society while they lead a life of gilded leisure did not require much explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Orange Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 And Louis XVI trying to reform the corrupt, crumbling Bourbon system but caving in too easily to the far too wealthy, far too small clique of vested interests is too similar to the Obama Administration and the 1%. The next President will not be assassinated by a (ostensive) lone misfit but will die in a palace coup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 I did see it and I thought a lot of parallels could be drawn. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R K Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Almost felt sorry for Louis XVI who lost his throne and then his head because of the reluctance of French aristocrats and clergy to pay even a tiny share of their wealth in taxes. The parallels with our own Bourbon elite who want to pauperise the rest of society while they lead a life of gilded leisure did not require much explanation. Come come, Dave's withdrawn Mr Goodwin's gong what more do you want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHERWICK Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Almost felt sorry for Louis XVI who lost his throne and then his head because of the reluctance of French aristocrats and clergy to pay even a tiny share of their wealth in taxes. The parallels with our own Bourbon elite who want to pauperise the rest of society while they lead a life of gilded leisure did not require much explanation. According to Injin, Traktion and others, paying 'even a tiny share of their wealth in taxes' is 'against freedom'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milton Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 (edited) I shall have to have a watch. The Paris Commune was a government of workers, which briefly ruled France, for a period of two months in 1871, [basically a bunch of working class street mobs who sacked the government after the Prussian war. .] They inspired Marx and every leader of the left thereafter. [Mao, Lenin, etc] Marx praised the Commune's achievements, and described it as the prototype for a revolutionary government of the future, "the form at last discovered" for the emancipation of the proletariat. The Communards, were described as "the dictatorship of the proletariat" - the working class organized as the ruling class - the key to the transition to socialism. The Paris Commune represented a new form of government, never before seen or imagined. In its brief existence, the commune was never avowedly socialist. Yet Marx suggested that events would force it to act in a socialist manner. This was a 'real' proletariat government. The only one, to ever exist arguably. They lasted just two months. Unfortunately for them, they chose not to seize the national bank's assets because they were afraid that the world would condemn them if they did. Thus large amounts of money were moved from Paris to Versailles, money and Banks that financed the army that crushed the Commune. Marx criticised them for having "lost precious moments" organising democratic elections rather than instantly finishing off Versailles once and for all. France's national bank, located in Paris and storing billions of francs, was left untouched and unguarded by the Communards. Lenin criticised the Communards for having "stopped half way … led astray by dreams of … establishing a higher [capitalist] justice in the country … and that such institutions as the banks, for example, were not taken over. We are ruled by the Banks. In 1871 when the Commune in Paris was at its height and the streets were red with blood, a young man called on the great banking firm of Rothschild to ask advice about a large fortune to which he had become heir. The head of the house told him to buy French Government Securities. "What, buy securities when the streets of Paris are running with blood!" was the young man's surprised exclamation. Baron Rothschild is reported to have said: "My young friend, that is the very reason that today you can buy securities for 50 percent of their face value." The young man invested his entire fortune on the advice of Rothschild and within three years it almost doubled. How Baron Rothschild Bought Paris Realty in Panic of 1871. That this is the time to buy real estate when prices are low and discontent and uncertainty are in the air, recalls the story of one o the great Rothschild bankers who lived in 1871. It is told of this Baron Rothschild that in the days following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, when the mob ruled Paris, that a friend went to him and said "What are you going to do to protect your interests in this dreadful hour?" The Baron said to him, "Can you keep a secret?" He said, "Yes," and the Baron said, "Well, if the truth must be told, I am protecting myself by buying real estate." His friend said, "Do you mean to say you are buying real estate with the gutters of Paris running with blood and the city in the hands of a mob?" Rothschild said, "Yes, my friend, I mean that very thing, and that is the only time, when the gutters are running with blood, that you can buy real estate at 50 cents on the dollar." To substantiate the fact that there was a baron Rothschild in paris in 1871, genealogical records show that baron Rothschild (born in England in 1808) at the close of the Franco-Prussian War in , was the head of a group of financiers who guaranteed the maintenance of the foreign exchanges to facilitate the payment of the French indemnity. Edited February 18, 2012 by Milton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 The Paris Commune was a government of workers, which briefly ruled France, for a period of two months in 1871, [basically a bunch of working class street mobs who sacked the government after the Prussian war. .] They inspired Marx and every leader of the left thereafter. [Mao, Lenin, etc] We are ruled by the Banks. They never ruled France True many were working class but also many were Jacobites They executed the Archbishop of Paris along with 8 other priests Maybe they inspired Marx and i agree with you we are ruled to a certain point by the banks! BTW 20,000 to 30,000 Communards were executed without a trial at the time anybody that had traces of gunpowder on the clothes were shot in the streets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compukit UK101 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Has anyone been watching Versailles on bbc? http://www.bbc.co.uk...ch?q=Versailles Last nights episode covered the french revolution in quite interesting detail. Some rather interesting parallels to todays world. Wonder what they are suggesting! Enjoyed that alot. Thanks very much. Seems like Louis XV was the one who did most of the damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormymonday_2011 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 According to Injin, Traktion and others, paying 'even a tiny share of their wealth in taxes' is 'against freedom'. To be fair to Injin and Traktion they dont like taxes for anyone not just the rich In 18th Century France the aristocracy and clergy had no problems with taxes being levied on the rest of society as much of that income wound up in their pockets. They just did not want to pay it themselves. Again this has quite a lot of parallels with what we are increasingly seeing across the western world where tax revenues are diverted by processes, such as PFI, bank bailouts, special consultancy arrangements for top civil servants paid via PSCs, payments to 'service' providers to the state such as A4e etc. The corporate dole dependency is getting to be as big as that paid to the jobless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evetsm Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The French Revolution is a story about money debasement and inflation, going back 70 years earlier to John Law's money printing, not taxation. That is the parallel that we have today : Inflation and the French Revolution: The Story of a Monetary Catastrophe http://mises.org/daily/1504 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compukit UK101 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 niall fergusons excellent lecture on falling empires mentions the speed with which the bourbon monarchy collapsed some 13 years after the american war of independence gave them a boost. http://www.zerohedge...res-verge-chaos fascinating hour. liked that very much also. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormymonday_2011 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 (edited) The French Revolution is a story about money debasement and inflation, going back 70 years earlier to John Law's money printing, not taxation. That is the parallel that we have today : Inflation and the French Revolution: The Story of a Monetary Catastrophe http://mises.org/daily/1504 Not quite that simple. After Cardinal Fleury's reforms in the reign of Louis XV France was pretty much on a gold and silver standard from 1726 -1776. Paper money was reintroduced inr 1776 when the French government was supporting the American colonists against the British crown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_livre Fleury currency reforms did not stop Louis XV running up massive debts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_French_Revolution It should alos be noted that Britain was also running up large debts in its wars with France but it did not have a Revolution. Edited February 19, 2012 by stormymonday_2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 It should alos be noted that Britain was also running up large debts in its wars with France but it did not have a Revolution. Aye, 4 good reasons for that. 1. We were in proper fighting wars on a much bigger scale, not noncing about. France only caught up in the blood stakes later. 2. We weren't afraid to send the troops in against the home crowd for 'training' purposes. 3. We ruled the world, France only got as far as Europe, and that was for a much shorter time. Amateurs, shouldn't have killed off all the pro's under the guillotine. 4. We won. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Orange Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) Britain had the Bank of England to help specifically with war debts, funding many, many decades of wars with rival French and Spanish superpowers, sustaining imperial expansion. Edited February 23, 2012 by Big Orange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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