Early years of the French revolution were marked by widespread rural attacks on landed elites. In some places peasants and small towns, people become convinced that there are bandits roaming the countryside. The national assembly continues to work on its declaration of the rights of man and citizen.
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