Make France Great Again-Chapter 63: The Current Situation in France

The situation in France unfolded just as Jerome Bonaparte had anticipated.

After the event of June 1st, when the body of Louis Napoleon was recovered, Paris indeed experienced a short-lived peace between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

The bourgeoisie recalled the glory of the Napoleonic Empire, while the proletariat believed that the government’s act of retrieving Louis Napoleon’s remains was intended to implement Prince Louis Napoleon’s theory for the welfare of workers.

Under the false peace, the workers finally stayed quiet for a few days.

Lamartine also received unanimous praise in Paris for the strategy of bringing back Louis Napoleon’s body, with his votes in the Seine Province surpassing those of Lederer Roland, known as "the friend of the workers," making him first in the Seine Province.

Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.

However, fantasy is ultimately just fantasy. The initially delighted workers, after a two-week-long wait, did not see any reform measures from the government.

Hungry and frustrated, they decided to once again demonstrate their demands to the National Assembly.

On June 15th, a group of workers rushed to the front of the National Assembly, disarming the police stationed there.

The originally peaceful National Assembly became chaotic due to the appearance of the workers.

The workers expressed their demands to the National Assembly’s members, hoping they would take their requests seriously.

Perhaps because of the mass of workers, the members of the National Assembly pushed Thiers out to negotiate.

In order to stabilize the situation, Thiers falsely agreed to all the workers’ suggestions.

Believing in the National Assembly’s fairness, the workers left satisfied.

Although General Gourden, arriving afterward, led the National Guard to arrest some workers, he was ultimately dismissed due to the National Assembly’s significant losses.

After this incident, the National Assembly lost the last bit of patience with the workers.

Urged by Thiers and others, Cafenak, who returned to Paris to report after serving as Governor of Algeria, was nominated as the Minister of War for the French Republic.

This iron-blooded butcher would become the hated enemy of the Parisian working class.

With the executioner ready, the next step was action.

Under the authorization of the National Assembly, Cafenak secretly mobilized over 50,000 troops from the Seine Province and nearby regions to the outskirts of Paris.

Once the National Assembly issued the order, they would pounce on Paris.

On June 20th, everything was prepared except for removing the pesky Executive Committee.

At the proposal of Senator Falu from the Order Party [Orthodox Faction], the National Assembly, after heated discussions, decided to agree with Senator Falu’s Theo.

The newspaper titled "On the Dissolution of the National Workshops by the National Assembly" brazenly appeared in Paris.

The workers looked angrily at the statements published by "National Newspaper," claiming to be republican. They couldn’t believe that the government they had fought hard for in February would abandon them in just four months.

On June 25th, a massive demonstration began, involving nearly 30,000 workers. The entire Paris seemed to be overrun in an instant. The well-dressed gentlemen and ladies stood at their windows, gazing at the ragged workers holding red flags with fear and disgust in their eyes. In their eyes, these workers were not fellow breathers bound by the same fate but rather parasites in all of Paris, disruptors of their peace.

The workers, undeterred by the disdainful gazes of the property owners, marched forward bravely. They arrived at the Paris City Hall, demanding an explanation from Paris.

However, what awaited them was not government mediators, but a cold announcement.

The announcement stated: In accordance with the unanimous agreement of the National Assembly and the Executive Committee, the national workshops would be dissolved, the young and able-bodied would be conscripted into the army, and the remaining personnel would be dispersed to the outer provinces for work.

This announcement, rather than a notification, seemed more like a declaration of war from the bourgeois government.

The issuers of this announcement were not the so-called aristocrats, but a group of scholars, psychologists, and poets, who ought to stand on the same front line as the working class, but had now become potential executioners seeking workers’ demise.

When the workers wanted to negotiate with the Executive Committee, the Mayor of Paris, Marast, met with the representatives chosen by the workers. The worker representatives told Marast that if the government did not revoke the order, they would initiate another revolution just like the February Revolution.

The worker representatives’ threats were not taken to heart by Marast, who, with an arrogant attitude, told the worker representatives that either the workers dissolved voluntarily according to the government’s orders, or the government would force dissolution.

The second option would not be as favorable as the first.

[Marast became the President of the National Assembly after this event.]

"Sir, then we will defend our rights in our own way!" the worker representative, with trembling lips, issued the final ultimatum to Marast.

Having learned from some sources about the military stationed, Marast was certainly not afraid of the workers’ threats. Should the workers take action, they would face 50,000 troops coordinated with the National Guard’s thunderous response.

Marast continued to address the workers with an arrogant tone: "Do as you please!"

The worker representatives led the workers away, intending to mobilize during this last period.

The National Assembly was not idle either. Under the push of the Order Party, a proposal to temporarily suspend the Executive Committee’s powers and transfer them to Cafenak was up for a vote.

The proposal was brought forth by Bastide, who succeeded Lamartine as the French Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[Bastide: A right-wing member of the Republican Faction, who took over from Lamartine as Foreign Minister at the beginning of June, and also the Foreign Minister in Cafenak’s dictatorial government.]

The Order Party and the right-wing faction of the Republicans unanimously agreed to the proposal to suspend the Executive Committee, while also announcing Cafenak’s appointment as Governor, making him currently the only governor in France.

After the meeting, the Bonapartists gathered in Princess Mathilde’s private residence to conspire.

"Your Highness was right! Those guys are really going to take action against them!" Percy said excitedly.

"Yes! I didn’t expect them to act so fast!" Rue also sighed, noting that less than half a month of peace had passed before another revolution was about to be born.

"Did my brother mention what to do next?" Princess Mathilde inquired.

Since Pierre Bonaparte’s attempt to replace Jerome Bonaparte as the Bonaparte Leader was thwarted, Old Jerome Bonaparte had no interest in the small Bonaparte faction, so Mathilde Bonaparte, who was helping her brother, became the backbone of the French Bonaparte Faction.

"His Highness instructed us in a letter to keep a low profile during the martial law period, so they won’t find fault with us."

"Rue, make sure all the Bonaparte Party Members avoid exposure in government sights during this time."

"Yes!"