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Jacobins and Marxists : A Shared History
How it started
It started with wondering about two questions. 1. Why are the Jacobins called that? 2. Why is a Marxist 21st Century magazine about modern socialism called Jacobin?
The first question is easily answered. (Thanks to Wikipedia.)
Jacobin (political) Not to be confused with Jacobitism or the Jacobean era.
A Jacobin was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution (1789–1799). The club got its name from meeting at the Dominican rue Saint-Honoré Monastery of the Jacobins. The Dominicans in France were called Jacobins (Latin: Jacobus, which corresponds to Jacques in French and James in English) because their first house in Paris was the Saint Jacques Monastery. (1)
OK, that makes sense. And I must confess, when I was only a little bit younger, I did confuse Jacobitism with Jacobinism, which is understandable as it’s only one letter different, though poles apart politically. But we’re only talking about Jacobinism here, because Jacobitism is a silly romantic fantasy unworthy of socialist discourse.
