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Conspiracy of the Equals / Société des Égaux people 1

Conspiracy of the Equals / Société des Égaux ×

Gracchus Babeuf

Gracchus Babeuf
Social movements and organizing Conspiracy of the Equals / Société des Égaux France 1760–1797

Advocate of substantive equality in the Conspiracy of the Equals

Born François-Noël Babeuf; a journalist who judged the Revolution's legal equality powerless against poverty and property inequality, he led the 1796 Conspiracy of the Equals against the Directory, was arrested and executed in 1797.

Born François-Noël Babeuf, he was a journalist and activist during the French Revolution who challenged inequalities of property and living conditions beyond legal equality. He participated in the 1796 Conspiracy of the Equals against the Directory, was arrested and was executed in 1797. Sylvain Maréchal wrote the Manifesto of the Equals; it is neither a text authored by Babeuf nor a record of enacted policy. Later socialists received and transformed this legacy rather than simply inheriting an unchanged doctrine.

Career timeline
  • 1789Drafted the first article of the electors' cahier at Roye, demanding the abolition of feudal rights.
  • 1794Published Le Tribun du peuple, defending the Thermidorians while attacking the Revolution's economic outcome.
  • 1796Took part in the Conspiracy of the Equals; the plot was disclosed in May and he was arrested on 10 May.
  • 1797Tried before the high court at Vendôme, convicted, and executed with his associates.