Why Doesn't It Make It Into the Press?

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Babbo says, yes, there's a right to insurgency. And then he lays out what he had already published in his people's Tribune. Nobody else in the trial has admitted opposition to property up until Babbo makes this final speech. So none of this makes it into the press. But I also think that they're trying to remake Babuph in their image and cast him as an idealist who is only fighting for democracy.

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