Popular protest in Switzerland during the 1830s: Opposing models of political participation and citation of traditional ritual

Abstract

The article examines specific forms of popular protest and their political background in Switzerland during the liberal era after the French Revolution of 1830. In this era one finds two distinctive models of political participation: the older model of the so-called Landsgemeinde and the new liberal model. The Swiss protesters combined ideas, forms and symbols of both models. However the relation between the two models proved to be ambivalent and conflict-prone. This is demonstrated with a focus on several specific cases of popular protest. While the liberal leaders of the early 1830s mostly referred to the age-old Landsgemeinde to use it as a vehicle for their new aims, the protest action of the late 1830s against liberal governments encompassed a variety of forms and mixed symbolic references. We can observe a virtuoso mode of citation of protest rituals from different contexts and time periods. The primary function of the citation of old ritual was to provide the protestors' action with social acceptance. Thus, new and very different claims could also be made. Despite striking similarities, under the auspices of the post-revolution period one must avoid the assumption of a simple linear continuity of protest practice from the Ancien Régime.