We proposed to personalities from all walks of life – politicians, intellectuals, historians… – and ideological sensitivities, to define the word “republican”, emptied of its meaning by years of political language, serving to describe the perimeter of acceptability without never wonder what it covers. To discover the presentation of this series.
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Republic, republican, republicans… Behind the name and the adjectives we find a State, values, a Front, a party, clubs and associations… A word which wants to express both a mode of political organization and structural differences on how to organize society.
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But immediately after the affirmation of the initial position, the Republic must, according to its defenders, be social, liberal, universal, secular… There is even a kind of republican lexicon which allows each or everyone to take refuge behind a packaging available for justify any political posture behind “republican values”.
In reality, the base that founded the Republic (the Republics, as their political regimes have evolved over time) is rather flexible and could be reduced entirely to the fundamental principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 and in the Preamble of the Constitution of October 27, 1946, recalled in that of the Constitution of 1958:
DDHC of 1789
” The representatives of the French people, constituted in the National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt for the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and the corruption of governments, have resolved to expose, in a solemn declaration, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man, so that this declaration, constantly present to all the members of the social body, constantly reminds them of their rights and their duties; so that the acts of the legislative power, and those of the executive power, being able at any moment to be compared with the goal of any political institution, are more respected; so that the complaints of the citizens, henceforth founded on simple and indisputable principles, always turn to the maintenance of the Constitution and to the happiness of all.
Consequently, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen.
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can only be based on common utility.
The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, safety, and resistance to oppression.
The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body, no individual can exercise authority which does not emanate expressly from it.
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Freedom consists in being able to do all that does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits other than those which assure the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.
The law has the right to defend only actions harmful to society. Anything that is not forbidden by law cannot be prevented, and no one can be compelled to do what it does not order.
The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to contribute personally, or through their representatives, to its formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in his eyes, are equally admissible to all dignities, places and public employments, according to their capacity, and without any other distinction than that of their virtues and their talents.
No man can be accused, arrested or detained except in the cases determined by the law, and according to the forms it has prescribed. Those who solicit, expedite, execute or cause to be executed arbitrary orders must be punished; but every citizen summoned or seized by virtue of the law must obey immediately: he is guilty by resistance.
The law should only establish penalties that are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one can be punished except by virtue of a law established and promulgated prior to the offense, and legally applied.
Every man being presumed innocent until he has been declared guilty, if it is deemed essential to arrest him, any rigor which would not be necessary to ascertain his person must be severely punished by law.
No one should be disturbed for his opinions, even religious ones, provided that their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.
The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: every citizen can therefore speak, write, print freely, except to answer for the abuse of this freedom in the cases determined by law.
The guarantee of the rights of man and of the citizen requires a public force: this force is therefore instituted for the benefit of all, and not for the particular utility of those to whom it is entrusted.
For the maintenance of the public force, and for the expenses of administration, a common contribution is indispensable: it must be equally distributed among all the citizens, by reason of their faculties.
All citizens have the right to ascertain, by themselves or through their representatives, the need for the public contribution, to consent to it freely, to monitor its use, and to determine the quota, the base, recovery and duration.
The company has the right to hold any public official accountable for its administration.
Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured, nor the separation of powers determined, has no Constitution.
Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of it, except when public necessity, legally established, obviously requires it, and under the condition of a fair and prior indemnity. “.
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Preamble to the Constitution of October 27, 1946
” Following the victory won by free peoples over regimes that have attempted to enslave and degrade the human person, the French people once again proclaim that every human being, without distinction of race, religion or creed, has inalienable and sacred rights. It solemnly reaffirms the rights and freedoms of man and citizen enshrined in the Declaration of Rights of 1789 and the fundamental principles recognized by the laws of the Republic.
It further proclaims as particularly necessary in our time the following political, economic and social principles:
The law guarantees women, in all areas, rights equal to those of men.
Any man persecuted because of his action in favor of freedom has the right of asylum on the territories of the Republic.
Everyone has the duty to work and the right to get a job. No one may be harmed, in their work or employment, because of their origins, opinions or beliefs.
Every man can defend his rights and his interests through trade union action and join the trade union of his choice.
The right to strike is exercised within the framework of the laws which regulate it.
All workers participate, through their representatives, in the collective determination of working conditions and in the management of companies.
Any property, any enterprise, the operation of which has or acquires the characteristics of a national public service or a de facto monopoly, must become the property of the community.
The Nation provides the individual and the family with the conditions necessary for their development.
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It guarantees everyone, especially children, mothers and older workers, protection of health, material security, rest and leisure. Any human being who, because of his age, physical or mental state, economic situation, is unable to work has the right to obtain suitable means of existence from the community.
The Nation proclaims the solidarity and equality of all French people before the charges resulting from national calamities.
The Nation guarantees equal access for children and adults to education, vocational training and culture. The organization of free and secular public education at all levels is a duty of the State.
The French Republic, faithful to its traditions, complies with the rules of public international law. She will undertake no war with a view to conquest and will never employ her forces against the freedom of any people. “.
If there are multiple reasons for arguing about the Republic, its values or the definition of the Republican, the return to fundamentals could undoubtedly help to clarify minds and reduce postures.
Alain Bauer: “Being a Republican means complying with the fundamental principles of 1789 and 1946”