Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-278) and index.
Contents:
Must there be distinctions among men? -- Hope and despair -- Re-imagining revolution -- The plot against the government -- Fear and polarization -- The case for conspiracy -- The equals in Vendome -- Squaring off -- Witness for the prosecution -- Reclaiming the revolution -- Perfect equality -- Speaking to the nation -- Trial's end -- The republic imperiled -- Buonarroti's gospel.
Summary:
"Laura Mason tells a new story about the French Revolution by exploring the trial of Gracchus Babeuf. Named by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as the "first modern communist," Babeuf was a poor man, an autodidact, and an activist accused of conspiring to reignite the Revolution and renew political terror. In one of the lengthiest and most controversial trials of the revolutionary decade, Babeuf and his allies defended political liberty and social equality against a regime they accused of tyranny. Mason refracts national political life through Babeuf's trial to reveal how this explosive event destabilized a fragile republic. Although the French Revolution is celebrated as a founding moment of modern representative government, this book reminds us that the experiment failed in just ten years. Mason explains how an elected government's assault on popular democracy and social justice destroyed the republic, and why that matters now."--Dust jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.