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Jacques Roux | |
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| Born | 21 August 1752 |
| Died | 10 February 1794 (aged 41) |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Occupation(s) | Priest, revolutionary |
| Known for | Radical revolutionary leader |
| Movement | Enragés |
| Opponents | |
Jacques Roux (French pronunciation: [ʒak ʁu]; 21 August 1752 – 10 February 1794) was a radical Roman Catholic Red priest who took an active role in politics during the French Revolution.[1] He skillfully expounded the ideals of popular democracy and classless society to crowds of Parisian sans-culottes, working class wage earners and shopkeepers, radicalizing them into a revolutionary force.[1] He became a leader of a popular far-left.[2]
In 1791 Roux was elected to the Paris Commune. When the French First Republic started in 1792, Roux became aligned with the political faction dubbed by their enemies as the Enragés (French for "The Enraged Ones" but also "Madmen").[3] He was considered the most extreme spokesman on the left for the interests of the Parisian sans-culottes.
Roux consistently fought for an economically equal society, turning the crowds of sans-culottes against the bourgeois torpor of the Jacobins.[4] He demanded that food be made available to every member of society, and called for the wealthy to be executed should they hoard it.[1] Roux tirelessly voiced the demands of the poor Parisian population to confiscate aristocratic wealth and provide affordable bread.[1]
He became popular enough that, as the split between the Girondins and the Montagnards grew wider, his voice helped remove the Girondins from the National Convention in 1793.[5]
In a controversial 1793 address to the National Convention that's been dubbed the Manifesto of the Enragés, Roux demanded the abolition of private property and class society in the name of the people he represented.[6]
Soon, Roux's incendiary rhetoric was igniting food riots and upsetting the balance of power within the Paris Commune. Maximilien Robespierre, fearing Roux threatened the dominance of the Jacobin government, presented accusations of him being a foreign spy intentionally trying to disrupt the revolutionary government and the Committee of Public Safety.[1] During this time, Roux's former friend, Jean-Paul Marat, also turned against him, writing in his newspaper, L'Ami du peuple, that Roux was a false priest that was only interested in religion as long as it provided income.[7] On 7 July 1793 Roux's enemies brought Elizabeth Marguerite Hébert in for questioning in an attempt to charge Roux with extortion and "misappropriation of charitable funds". Hébert was a recent widow with no means to support herself and, two years earlier, Roux had agreed to raise funds for her and her family. When asked if Roux had an ulterior motive, she replied that she did not believe he did.[5] He wasn't arrested then, but in August 1793, Roux was arrested under the charges that he had withheld funds from both the widow Hébert and another widow, Mlle. Beaurepaire. Roux assured the revolutionary committee of section Gravilliers that he did nothing of the sort and that his enemies were working against him.[5] Roux was released into the custody of two of his friends, where he continued fighting for his ideals. On 5 September 1793 Roux was thrown into prison again.
On 14 January 1794 Roux was informed that his case was going to be tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal. Upon hearing this news, Roux pulled out a knife and stabbed himself several times, but failed to land a fatal blow. Less than a month later, on 10 February 1794, while recovering in prison, Roux stabbed himself again, this time succeeding in killing himself. He was 41.[5]
As the Enragés movement began falling apart, Jacques Hébert's more moderate left-wing faction known as the Hébertists tried to win over his former supporters and continue where he had left off.[1]
In Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade, Roux is portrayed by an asylum patient in the Marquis de Sade's dramatization of Jean-Paul Marat's assassination. The actor's lines come under fire by the asylum directors, who have cut his dialogue. In most productions, the actor portraying Roux is costumed in a straight jacket, which symbolizes the asylum's desire to restrain political radicals such as himself.
Roux was portrayed by Alan Rickman in a monologue written by Peter Barnes for the television short Revolutionary Witness. In the monologue, Roux performs a sermon in a ruined church the day before he is brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, where he laments the current direction of the revolution. He argues that the poor, despite aiding in the revolution, are still being oppressed and dying while the rich are still powerful. He also narrates his life, regaling anecdotes from his youth all the way to the revolution. He believes that, due to his populist and progressive beliefs, he is "too revolutionary for the revolution." As his sermon comes to an end, he promises that he will not defend himself before the Tribunal, but attack his opponents, promising that, should he be found guilty, he will "die like [his] friend Marat, though struck down by a better hand, [his] own." In the last seconds of the monologue, Roux pleads to his listeners to continue fighting, arguing that "the revolution isn't complete."[8][9]
Roux (played by Elias Toufexis) is featured in a mission in French Revolution-set Assassin's Creed Unity, in which the player is tasked with assassinating him.
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