27 Messidor
An CCXXXIV
Jacques Roux
Jacques Roux was an early communist. The former priest became the spokesman of the propertyless masses as leader of the Enragés (the Furious). He called for a state-controlled economy, the prohibition of landed property and the death penalty for speculators. When Jacques Roux supported the protest actions of Parisian women against food merchants in order to force the government into radical economic intervention, the Committee of Public Safety had him arrested. Roux sank into despair in captivity. He made several attempts to take his own life. Only in hospital did he succeed in ending his life.
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1752 - 1794
- August 21, 1752 · Birth in Pranzac (today the department of Charente).
- 1789 · Roux is a priest in Saint-Thomas-de-Conac. Inspired by the ideas of the Revolution, he is forced to leave his parish and goes to Paris.
- January 16, 1791 · He takes the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
- 1792 · When Marat is forced into hiding, Roux shelters him. By the end of the year, the Enragés movement emerges, in which Roux plays a significant role.
- January 21, 1793 · As a representative of the Paris Commune, Roux accompanies the former king Louis XVI on his way to the guillotine.
- July 1793 · After Marat’s assassination, Roux continues his newspaper Le Publiciste de la République française. He presents himself as Marat’s successor.
- September 5, 1793 · Roux is arrested because of his socio-revolutionary demands.
- January 14, 1794 · He appears before the criminal court of the Châtelet, which declares itself incompetent and refers him to the Revolutionary Tribunal. Roux then inflicts five dagger wounds to his chest. He is taken to the Bicêtre Hospital.
- February 4, 1794 · Suicide at the Bicêtre Hospital.
Quotes
Liberty is nothing but an empty illusion as long as one class can let another starve with impunity.
Jacques Roux, 1793.
All bad citizens who, over the past four years, have acquired immense wealth must be put to death—those egoists who exploited public misery to enrich themselves.
Jacques Roux, July 1793.
There are far more innocent people in prisons than guilty ones.
Jacques Roux, September 1793, from Sainte-Pélagie prison.
Le Moniteur
The Bicêtre Hospital, where Jacques Roux took his own life.
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