Jacques Roux (; 21 August 1752 – 10 February 1794) was a French Catholic Red priest and revolutionary who took an active role in politics during the French Revolution. A major figure in radicalism, he skillfully expounded the ideals of popular democracy and classless society to crowds of Parisian sans-culottes, working class wage earners and shopkeepers, radicalizing them into a revolutionary force.

Radical revolutionary

In 1791 Roux was elected to the Paris Commune. When the French First Republic started in 1792, Roux became aligned with the political faction dubbed by their enemies as the Enragés (French for "The Enraged Ones" but also "Madmen"). He was considered the most extreme spokesman on the left for the interests of the Parisian sans-culottes.

Roux consistently fought for an economically equal society, turning the crowds of sans-culottes against the bourgeois torpor of the Jacobins. He demanded that food be made available to every member of society, and called for the wealthy to be executed should they hoard it.

Manifesto of the Enragés

In a controversial 1793 address to the National Convention that's been dubbed the Manifesto of the Enragés, Roux demanded the abolition of private property and class society in the name of the people he represented.

Food riots had taken place and it was viewed as upsetting the balance of power within the Paris Commune. Maximilien Robespierre, fearing Roux threatened the dominance of the Jacobin government, presented accusations of him being a foreign spy intentionally trying to disrupt the revolutionary government and the Committee of Public Safety. On 7 July 1793 Roux's enemies brought Elizabeth Marguerite Hébert (no relation to revolutionary Jacques Hébert) in for questioning in an attempt to charge Roux with extortion and "misappropriation of charitable funds". Hébert was a recent widow with no means to support herself and, two years earlier, Roux had agreed to raise funds for her and her family. When asked if Roux had an ulterior motive, she replied that she did not believe he did.

Roux (played by Elias Toufexis) is featured in a mission in French Revolution-set Assassin's Creed Unity, in which the player is tasked with assassinating him.

See also

  • Reign of Terror

References

  • Jacques Roux Archive at Marxists Internet Archive