ASPIRASI LIBERALISME, NASIONALISME DAN SOSIALISME DALAM MENGINTERPRETASI REVOLUSI 1848 DI JERMAN

Abstract

This article examines the origins of the 1848 Revolution using Germany as a case study. It aims to analyze the existing interpretations explaining the outbreak of the March Revolution: liberalism, nationalism, and socialism. The call to reform the political order, the aspiration to unify the various German states, and the desire to rectify the growing socioeconomic discontent, explained the factors of the revolution. This article argues that the events of 1848 were the “revolution of the masses†rather than a bourgeois revolution. The masses, comprising the artisan, peasants, and the working class, were only ready to identify themselves with the ideological struggles of the bourgeois as long as their socioeconomic ills were resolved. While the bourgeoisie provided intellectual leadership, the people were the main revolutionary forces. The revolution gained momentum with the active participation of the masses and the premature revolution collapsed when the masses failed to come to the support of the bourgeoisie in anti-revolution campaigns launched by the monarchy. This article suggests that it was oppression rather than ideology, which gave decisive impetus to the 1848 movement.