Jacques Roux
Jacques Roux
Enragé priest who demanded controls on subsistence prices
The leading spokesman of the Enragés, he demanded action against the wealthy in the name of poor Parisians' survival, presented the Enragés' programme to the Convention in 1793, and was arrested amid Montagnard and Jacobin attacks.
A priest and radical activist in Paris’s Gravilliers section, Roux became a leading figure among the Enragés. He attacked food monopoly and speculation, demanded forceful price controls and economic equality, and presented the Enragés’ programme to the Convention in 1793. Arrested after attacks from Montagnard and Jacobin leaders, he died by suicide in prison.
Career timeline
- 1791Elected to the Paris Commune.
- 1793When food-price riots broke out in Paris, he defended such direct action.
- 1793Presented the Enragés' programme to the Convention: the 25 June address demanding taxation of necessities and punishment of speculators.
- 1793Arrested in August, released, then rearrested on 5 September and interned at Sainte-Pélagie.
- 1794On being sent before the Revolutionary Tribunal, he tried twice to kill himself in prison and died on 10 February.