The French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte's Trial

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The trial of Beboff and the equals is at stake. So much is at stake, not only in whether the republic survives, but how French people who are still involved in politics understand what they've done. These issues help us understand why the revolution came to such a sad end. The death of the republic and the abolition of civil liberties is a very sad end.

Featuring Laura Mason on her book The Last Revolutionaries: The Conspiracy Trial of Gracchus Babeuf and the Equals. Mason discusses Babeuf's call to abolish property, his radically egalitarian conspiracy against the Directory government, and the end of the French Revolution. How a centrist government turned its back on popular democracy, presided over growing inequality and working-class poverty, and abetted the rise of the reactionary right that would ultimately overthrow it. Check out the newsletter and our vast archives at thedigradio.com Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig