A bunch of these makes up a village; a bunch of villages makes up a
Department. Thus the large mass of the French nation is constituted by
the simple addition of equal magnitudes--much as a bag with potatoes
constitutes a potato-bag. In so far as millions of families live under
economic conditions that separate their mode of life, their interests
and their culture from those of the other classes, and that place them
in an attitude hostile toward the latter, they constitute a class; in
so far as there exists only a local connection among these farmers, a
connection which the individuality and exclusiveness of their interests
prevent from generating among them any unity of interest, national
connections, and political organization, they do not constitute a class.
Consequently, they are unable to assert their class interests in their
own name, be it by a parliament or by convention. They can not represent
one another, they must themselves be represented. Their representative
must at the same time appear as their master, as an authority over
them, as an unlimited governmental power, that protects them from
above, bestows rain and sunshine upon them.
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