Germinal - Emile Zola [291]
5. co-operative societies: Co-operative societies were the brain-child of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–65). For him the founding principle of the new society was ‘mutuality’, a federation of small, semi-autonomous groups of workers supported by ‘self-help’ arrangements such as ‘friendly societies’ and the provident fund which Étienne will establish and run. See Introduction, p. xvii.
6. new contracts: In French ‘marchandages’, literally something acquired through bargaining.
CHAPTER II
1. ducasse: The name given to an annual celebration, lasting a minimum of three days, held (on their own chosen date) in towns and villages throughout the area now covered by Belgium and the north-eastern corner of France. The tradition dates back to pre-medieval times, and the celebration is characterized by fairs, processions and feasting.
2. Prince Imperial: Napoleon III’s son Eugène (1856–79), who died fighting in the British army against the Zulus.
3. Walloon: The dialect of French spoken by those living in southern Belgium or the adjacent parts of north-eastern France.
CHAPTER III
1. The Hygiene of Miners: Zola himself had read Dr H. Boëns-Boisseau’s Traité pratique des maladies, des accidents et des difformités des houilleurs [coal-miners], (Brussels, 1862).
2. ‘social question’: See Introduction, p. xxv.
3. cards: In French ‘livret’, a booklet. Since early in the century French workmen had had to have a booklet, which was stamped by their employer and certified by the municipality. The requirement was abandoned by a law passed on 25 April 1869. Having one’s booklet returned was synonymous with being fired, as in comparatively recent British usage when a worker was given his or her ‘cards’ (bearing National Insurance stamps).
PART IV
CHAPTER I
1. Prefect: The administrative head of a Department in France, answerable to the Minister of the Interior, who at this time enjoyed very wide-ranging powers, including that of being able to deploy the army or the police.
2. École des Mines: France’s national School of Mining founded on 19 March 1783.
3. La Grand’Combe: A small town in the mining area near Alès in the Languedoc.
4. École Polytechnique: Founded on 1 September 1795 as a national school to train young men for public service in various branches of civil and military engineering.
5. longed for the days of Louis-Philippe: Louis-Philippe (1773–1850) came to the throne following the 1830 Revolution and was deposed during the 1848 Revolution. He had acceded to power promising reform, but several of the liberal provisions of the Charter of 1830 were subsequently reversed under his increasingly oppressive rule.
6. Emperor…with his concessions: From 1860 onwards, and against the advice of the majority of his ministers, the Emperor Napoleon III had introduced a series of constitutional reforms that represented a move away from government by decree towards real parliamentary democracy.
7. ’89: 1789, the date of the French Revolution.
CHAPTER II
1. contador: A desk or bureau particularly designed for work with account books.
CHAPTER III
1. Assembly: The Assemblée Nationale, of which the Chambre des Députés was part.
2. 1848: See above, Chapter I, note 5, and Introduction, pp. xxiv–xxv.
CHAPTER IV
1. Lassalle’s idea of co-operative societies: See Part III, Chapter I, notes 4 and 5. Since the idea of co-operative societies was in fact Proudhon’s, the ‘muddle’ in Étienne’s mind is evident.
2. Bakunin, the exterminator: See Introduction, p. xviii.
CHAPTER VII
1. Hainaut: Formerly a ‘county’ within the Hapsburg Empire, Hainaut was divided when Louis XIV acquired the southern part of the territory under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), confirmed by the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678). French Hainaut became the eastern part of the Département du Nord in 1790.
PART V
CHAPTER II
1. bad air – ‘dead air’: The upper layer is firedamp, or methane gas; the lower is chokedamp, or carbon dioxide, which, being heavier than air, extinguishes flame.