Excerpt

Excerpt from The crowd, by Gustave Le Bon

A slaughterer at the Abbaye having complained that the ladies
placed at a little distance saw badly, and that only a few of
those present had the pleasure of striking the aristocrats, the
justice of the observation is admitted, and it is decided that
the victims shall be made to pass slowly between two rows of
slaughterers, who shall be under the obligation to strike with
the back of the sword only so as to prolong the agony. At the
prison de la Force the victims are stripped stark naked and
literally "carved" for half an hour, after which, when every one
has had a good view, they are finished off by a blow that lays
bare their entrails.

The slaughterers, too, have their scruples and exhibit that moral
sense whose existence in crowds we have already pointed out.
They refuse to appropriate the money and jewels of the victims,
taking them to the table of the committees.

Those rudimentary forms of reasoning, characteristic of the mind
of crowds, are always to be traced in all their acts. Thus,
after the slaughter of the 1,200 or 1,500 enemies of the nation,
some one makes the remark, and his suggestion is at once adopted,
that the other prisons, those containing aged beggars, vagabonds,
and young prisoners, hold in reality useless mouths, of which it
would be well on that account to get rid. Besides, among them
there should certainly be enemies of the people, a woman of the
name of Delarue, for instance, the widow of a poisoner: "She
must be furious at being in prison, if she could she would set
fire to Paris: she must have said so, she has said so. Another
good riddance." The demonstration appears convincing, and the
prisoners are massacred without exception, included in the number
being some fifty children of from twelve to seventeen years of
age, who, of course, might themselves have become enemies of the
nation, and of whom in consequence it was clearly well to be rid.

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Explanation

Gustave Le Bon’s The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1895) is a foundational work in crowd psychology, exploring how individuals in groups abandon rationality, morality, and individuality to adopt a collective, often violent and irrational, mentality. The excerpt you’ve provided describes the September Massacres (1792), a series of killings during the French Revolution where revolutionary crowds slaughtered over 1,000 prisoners (mostly aristocrats, clergy, and political opponents) in Parisian prisons. Le Bon uses this historical event to illustrate his theories about crowd behavior—its brutality, moral hypocrisy, and primitive logic.

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Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt

1. Context: The September Massacres (1792)

The passage depicts the systematic, ritualistic violence of the September Massacres, which occurred amid the radical phase of the French Revolution. Fear of counter-revolutionary uprisings (fueled by the Prussian invasion and the fall of the monarchy) led revolutionary factions to justify the mass execution of prisoners as a "preventive" measure. Le Bon, writing in the late 19th century, uses this event to argue that crowds operate on instinct, suggestion, and contagion, not reason.

2. Themes in the Excerpt

• Collective Brutality and Dehumanization The passage describes violence as organized, almost ceremonial, with rules to maximize suffering (e.g., striking with the back of the sword to prolong agony, stripping victims naked for public "carving"). The crowd treats killing as a spectacle, ensuring "everyone has a good view" before the final blow. This reflects Le Bon’s claim that crowds lose individual morality and engage in acts they would never commit alone.

  • "the victims shall be made to pass slowly between two rows of slaughterers" → The methodical, almost theatrical nature of the killings suggests a group ritual, not spontaneous rage. The crowd derives pleasure from participation and observation, reinforcing Le Bon’s idea that crowds are hypnotized by their own violence.

  • "stripped stark naked and literally 'carved' for half an hour" → The language ("carved" like meat) dehumanizes the victims, reducing them to objects for the crowd’s amusement. This aligns with Le Bon’s argument that crowds simplify complex moral questions into primitive binaries (us vs. them, good vs. evil).

• Moral Hypocrisy and Selective Virtue The crowd exhibits contradictory morality: they refuse to steal from the victims (taking jewels to the committee table), yet they torture and murder without remorse. Le Bon argues that crowds develop a self-righteous moral code that justifies atrocities while maintaining a veneer of virtue.

  • "The slaughterers, too, have their scruples and exhibit that moral sense whose existence in crowds we have already pointed out." → The crowd’s "moral sense" is arbitrary and performative. They follow rules (e.g., not stealing) to legitimize their violence, but these rules are not based on true ethics—just group consensus.

• Primitive Logic and Paranoia The crowd’s reasoning is simplistic, associative, and paranoid. After killing aristocrats, they extend their violence to vagabonds, beggars, and children based on flimsy logic:

  • "useless mouths, of which it would be well on that account to get rid" → The crowd justifies murder through utilitarian brutality—killing those deemed "useless" to the nation. This reflects Le Bon’s claim that crowds reason in absolutes, seeing solutions in elimination rather than nuance.

  • "a woman of the name of Delarue, the widow of a poisoner: 'She must be furious at being in prison, if she could she would set fire to Paris: she must have said so, she has said so.'" → The crowd invents evidence to justify violence. The widow is condemned not for actions but for imagined intentions ("she must have said so"). This illustrates Le Bon’s idea that crowds replace facts with collective delusions.

  • "some fifty children... who, of course, might themselves have become enemies of the nation" → The crowd projects future guilt onto children, killing them preemptively. This shows how crowds abandon temporal logic (past/present/future blur) and act on irrationally inflated fears.

3. Literary Devices

• Irony

  • The crowd’s "scruples" about theft contrast with their sadistic murders, highlighting their moral inconsistency.
  • The phrase "Another good riddance" is darkly sarcastic, framing mass murder as a casual, justified act.

• Imagery of Butchery

  • Words like "slaughterers," "carved," "entrails" evoke animal slaughter, reinforcing the dehumanization of victims and the crowd’s descent into savagery.

• Repetition and Contagion

  • The crowd’s logic spreads like a virus: one suggestion ("useless mouths") leads to another (killing children). This mirrors Le Bon’s theory of mental contagion in crowds.

• Detached, Clinical Tone

  • Le Bon’s unemotional prose (e.g., "the prisoners are massacred without exception") makes the horror more chilling, emphasizing the mechanical nature of crowd violence.

4. Significance in Le Bon’s Argument

This excerpt serves as a case study for Le Bon’s broader claims about crowds:

1. Loss of Individuality: The slaughterers act as a single entity, not as individuals with personal morals.
2. Suggestibility: The crowd adopts any idea that justifies its impulses (e.g., killing children to prevent future treason).
3. Moral Licensing: The crowd feels virtuous while committing atrocities, believing they serve a higher cause (the nation).
4. Regression to Primitivism: The crowd’s logic is pre-rational, relying on fear, superstition, and tribalism rather than Enlightenment ideals.

Le Bon’s analysis was influential (and controversial) because it pathologized democratic movements, suggesting that mass politics inevitably leads to irrational violence. His work was later cited to explain fascist mobs, lynchings, and revolutionary excesses, though critics argue he overgeneralized and ignored structural causes of violence (e.g., poverty, oppression).

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Conclusion: The Crowd as a Monstrous Entity

The excerpt paints the crowd as a hydra-headed beast: capable of moral posturing in one breath and sadistic murder in the next. Le Bon’s description is not just historical but psychological, showing how group identity erases individual conscience. The September Massacres, in his view, are not an anomaly but a warning—what happens when reason is replaced by collective hysteria.

This passage remains relevant in discussions of mob mentality, propaganda, and political violence, serving as a cautionary tale about the fragility of civilization when faced with the unleashed id of the crowd.