Jacques Roux (; 21 August 1752 – 10 February 1794) was a

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Red priest Red Priest is a British Baroque instrumental group that was formed in 1997 by Piers Adams. Currently it is composed of four performers: Adams on recorder, Adam Summerhayes on violin, Angela East on cello and David Wright on harpsichord. The g ...

who took an active role in politics during the French Revolution. He skillfully expounded the ideals of

popular democracy Popular democracy is a notion of direct democracy based on referendums and other devices of empowerment and concretization of popular will. The concept evolved out of the political philosophy of populism, as a fully democratic version of this p ...

and

classless society A classless society is a society in which no one is born into a social class like in a class society. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience an ...

to crowds of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian

sans-culottes The (; ) were the working class, common people of the social class in France, lower classes in late 18th-century history of France, France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their ...

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

wage earners and shopkeepers, radicalizing them into a revolutionary force. He became a leader of a popular

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

Radical revolutionary

In 1791 Roux was elected to the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

. When the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted un ...

started in 1792, Roux became aligned with the

political faction A political faction is a group of people with a common political purpose, especially a subgroup of a political party that has interests or opinions different from the rest of the political party. Intragroup conflict between factions can lead to ...

dubbed by their enemies as the

Enragés The Enragés (; ), commonly known as the Ultra-radicals (), were a small number of firebrands known for defending the lower class and expressing the demands of the radical ''sans-culottes'' during the French Revolution.Jeremy D. Popkin (2015). ' ...

(French for "The Enraged Ones" but also "Madmen"). 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 The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

torpor of the

Jacobins The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...

. He demanded that food be made available to every member of society, and called for the wealthy to be executed should they hoard it. Roux tirelessly voiced the demands of the poor Parisian population to confiscate aristocratic wealth and provide affordable bread. He became popular enough that, as the split between the

Girondin The Girondins (, ), also called Girondists, were a political group during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initiall ...

s and the

Montagnards Montagnard (''of the mountain'' or ''mountain dweller'') may refer to: *Montagnard (French Revolution), members of The Mountain (''La Montagne''), a political group during the French Revolution (1790s) **Montagnard (1848 revolution), members of the ...

grew wider, his voice helped remove the Girondins from the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

in 1793.

''Manifesto of the Enragés''

In a controversial 1793 address to the

that's been dubbed the ''Manifesto of the Enragés'', Roux demanded the abolition of

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...

and

class society A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wea ...

in the name of the people he represented. Soon, Roux's incendiary rhetoric was igniting

food riot A food riot is a riot in protest of a shortage and/or unequal distribution of food. Historical causes have included rises in food prices, harvest failures, inept food storage, transport problems, food speculation, hoarding, poisoning of food, ...

s and upsetting the balance of power within the

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre ferv ...

, 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 The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...

. During this time, Roux's former friend,

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (, , ; born Jean-Paul Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes ...

, also turned against him, writing in his newspaper, ''

L'Ami du peuple ''L'Ami du peuple'' (, ''The Friend of the People'') was a newspaper written by Jean-Paul Marat during the French Revolution. "The most celebrated radical paper of the Revolution", according to historian Jeremy D. Popkin, ''L’Ami du peuple ...

'', that Roux was a false priest that was only interested in religion as long as it provided income. 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. 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. 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.

Death

On 14 January 1794 Roux was informed that his case was going to be tried by the

Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...

. 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. As the Enragés movement began falling apart,

Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and leader of the French Revolution. As the founder and editor of the radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'', he had thousands of followers known as ''the ...

's more moderate left-wing faction known as the Hébertists tried to win over his former supporters and continue where he had left off.

In popular culture

Peter Weiss Peter Ulrich Weiss (8 November 1916 – 10 May 1982) was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays ''Marat/Sade'' and '' The Investigation'' and h ...

's ''

Marat/Sade ''The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'' (), usually shortened to ''Marat/Sade'' (), is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. The work was firs ...

'', Roux is portrayed by an asylum patient in the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

'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 Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his distinctive deep, wikt:languid#Etymology 1, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and b ...

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

, where he laments the current direction of the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. 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 Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

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 isfriend Marat, though struck down by a better hand, isown." In the last seconds of the monologue, Roux pleads to his listeners to continue fighting, arguing that " the revolution isn't complete." Roux (played by

Elias Toufexis Elias Toufexis (, ) is a Canadian-American actor. He has played characters on television and in video games, mostly in science fiction and fantasy genres. He is known as the voice of Adam Jensen in '' Deus Ex: Human Revolution''. Career Film ...

) is featured in a mission in French Revolution-set ''

Assassin's Creed Unity ''Assassin's Creed Unity'' is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia. It is the eighth majo ...

'', in which the player is tasked with assassinating him.

References

External links

Jacques Roux Archive
at

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...