« Le conseil des buveurs de bière» de Roubaix (1892-1902). Subversion et apprentissage des règles du jeu institutionnel
In: Politix: revue des sciences sociales du politique, Band 14, Heft 53, S. 87-115
ISSN: 0295-2319
Roubaix City council as «The beer-drinkers' council » (1892-1902). Learning and subverting the rules of the political game
Rémi Lefebvre
At the end of the nineteenth century, the working-class elite was granted a role in politics at the municipal level first. At that stage, local councils tended to become instrumental as socialists tried to use them in order to subvert the rules of the political game and to increase their resources. Thus they contributed to the shaping of the municipal authority. City councils were places where socialism was put into practice, and in that view they now make a useful research topic. Based on a case study (Roubaix working-class controlled city council, 1892- 1902) this article intends to show how the socialists finally found themselves transformed by the municipal corporation they meant to transform. Indeed they contributed to alter the institution by giving it a political dimension and by promoting municipal interventionism. But at the same time they had to adapt themselves to local customs and they tended to duplicate traditional practices.