October Days

The October Days are presented as a possible consequence of the taking of the Bastille, and as evidence that historical events do not carry a definitive meaning independently of later interpretation. The book contrasts a reading of the Bastille’s fall as an inconsequential outburst with one that sees it as the first assertion of popular strength leading toward the march on Versailles; the event’s place in that sequence remains contested.

Place in the Historical Argument

The passage begins from an immutable fact: the Bastille was taken in 1789. What that fact means is less settled. The taking might be seen as a revolt against a partly dismantled fortress, later elevated into a glorious deed by the Convention, which needed a distinguished past of its own. Alternatively, it might be understood as the first display of popular strength, giving the populace confidence and preparing it to undertake the march on Versailles during the Last Days of October.

Meaning in Suspense

The October Days enter not through a narrated scene of the march but through a question about historical consequence. The text does not decide whether the fall of the Bastille should be connected to the later march as the beginning of a popular movement, or treated as an episode whose importance was subsequently constructed. The contrast makes the event a test case for how histories are organized: an episode may be joined to what follows as a beginning, or separated from it as a fragment without consequence.

Historical Interpretation and the Present

The passage refuses to grant a present-day historian a final, neutral verdict. The historian is himself historical, interpreting the past in the light of his own projects and those of his society. The October Days therefore acquire significance within a retrospective account that selects and relates earlier events; their relation to the Bastille’s fall cannot be detached from the purposes through which that account is made.

Significance

The example supports the book’s broader claim that the meaning of the social past remains in suspense rather than being definitively fixed by the events themselves. The taking of the Bastille is certain, but whether it anticipates the march on Versailles, and whether that march confirms a story of popular strength, depends on how later interpreters illuminate the sequence. The October Days thus mark a possible historical consequence while exposing the continuing freedom and situatedness involved in assigning the past its meaning.