“Troyes and Aube, from the revolution of 1848 to the assassination of Jean Jaurès in 1914”: a local history of the workers’ movement

A contrasting territory, between Champagne vines and emerging industries, Troyes and the Aube department experienced a development of the revolutionary movement from 1840 onwards, thwarted by successive repressions. From the bread riots of 1847 in Troyes to the mobilizations of 1848 and 1851, to the repercussions of the Commune, the proletarians clashed with the bourgeois and peasant guards until the workers’ movement was structured, of Guesdist essence with the Party. French worker.

In his preface, Jean-Numa Ducange salutes the success of the author, Michel Choquart, “who knows how to articulate local dimensions with national dynamics” of the period. A dense and beautiful book, which weaves, through numerous sources, the threads of a rough rise in the conquests of the Aube working class. In each sequence of the work, relevant illustrations accompany the fiery escapes of a class war, inscribed in the originality of French history where republic and socialism combine.

The strength of the cooperative movement, often underestimated these days, is underlined. This work is yet another beautiful tribute to the courageous revolutionary figures of the time, in the diversity of their careers. This is the case with the author’s ancestor, Georges Choquart, a Republican winegrower, with Albert Néret, a poet and hosier worker, and with Ambroise-Napoléon Cottet, a persecuted weaver. The whole forms innovative research accessible to the general public.

Troyes and Aube, from the revolution of 1848 to the assassination of Jean Jaurès in 1914by Michel Choquart, Editions du Cemoa, 416 pages, 39 euros