The Arcades Project - Operi

days later, from out of this thicket a wonderful giant of a flower arises, whose
growth is so rapid that one can witness its unfolding with the naked eye. Just so
paltry and stunted remained the French working class in a corner of society, until
suddenly the explosion of the February Revolution was heard. But with that, a
gigantic blossom shot up from the unremarkable bushes, and this bloom full of sap
and vitality, full of' beauty and significance, was called the association ." Sigmund Englander, Geschichte der JranzosischenArbeiter-Associationen
(Hamburg, 1864), vol. 4, p. 217. [a2,1]
Organization of the state workshops (ateliers nationaux) by Thomas. "It suffices
to mention that Emile Thomas divided the workers into brigades and companies,
and that their chiefs were elected by universal suffrage of the workers. Every
company had its flag, and Emile Thomas made use, for this organization, of other
civil engineers and of students from the Ecole Poly technique, who, through their
youth, exerted a moral influence on the workers . ... Nevertheless, although the
minister of public works ordered the state engineers to come up with proposals for
works . .. , the engineers in charge of bridges and roads decided not to comply with
the minister's order, for in France there had long been a great rivalry between
st.ate engineers and civil engineers, I and it was the latter who directed the national
workshops. Thomas was therefore left to his own resources, and he never could
assign to such an army of workers, whose ranks were daily swelling, any sort of
useful work. Thus, for example, he had trees from the outskirts of Paris brought
into the city to be planted along the boulevards, because during the struggles of
r .... ehruary the old trees on the boulevard had been cut down. The workers with the
trees paraded slowly across Paris, singing as they went . ... Other workers, who
had the job, for example, of cleaning the railings of bridges, became an object of
derision for passersby, and so the majority of these workers also wound up passing
their time in mere cardplaying, singing, and the like . ... The national workshops
before long became . .. the gathering place for all sorts of vagabonds and idlers,
whose lahor consisted exclusively in marching through the st.reets with their standanl
hearers, here and there mending the pavement or turning up earth, but on
the whok---singing and shouting, ragtag and unruly-doing whatever came into
t.heir heads . ... One day, there suddenly appeared on the scene 600 actors, painters,
artists, and agents, who together announced t.hat, since the republic was
guaranteeing work to all citizens, they too were putting forward their claim.
Thomas made them inspectors.?? Sigmund Englander, Geschichte de,. Jranzosischen
Arbeiter-Associationen (Hamburg, 1864), vol. 2, pp. 268-271. 0 Flaneur 0
[a2,2J
(,Neither the mayors nor the police commissioners, who had to sign the certificates
attesting to the hearers' eligibility to work in Paris, could maintain the slightest
control in view of the threats circulating against them. In their anxiety, they even
gave certificates to ten-year-old children, who, with these in hand, presented
themselves for admission to the national workshops." Sigmund EngHinder,
Geschichte de,. Jranzosischen Arbeiter-Associationen (Hamburg, 1864), vol. 2,
p. 272. [a2a,1J