#legray | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nesiacha · 1 month ago

Text

I am so exhausted that I only now realize that I forgot to include the letter from Albertine Marat to be published by Babeuf in his newspaper Le Tribun du peuple (which shows that Babeuf had a definitive break with Tallien and Fréron). I now wonder if Albertine Marat and Simone Evrard were not arrested in addition to their connection with Babeuf under Bonaparte, but there was such a hunt for neo-Jacobins in 1801 that, in any case, I think they would have been arrested even without that.

Letter from Albertine Marat to Fréron (dated October 13, 1794)

Citizen, Citizen Legray, president of the electoral club, was thrown into chains last night; having nothing to counter the great truths he announced from the tribune, in order to silence what he still had to say, he was thrown into a dungeon. This assault on the liberty of the best patriot is for us the signal that the system of oppression and tyranny will renew itself; but it is in vain that they believe they are preparing new chains for us. Worthy of the liberty whose fire circulates in our veins, we shall break them before they can be imposed upon us. Determined to perish rather than return to the shameful slavery they are preparing for us, and from which we have only just emerged, we reiterate the oath to annihilate ourselves rather than subscribe to any act of tyranny, oppression, or arbitrariness. We acknowledge, based on the Declaration of Rights, our compass and our shield, that there is oppression against the social body in the person of the patriot Legray, one of the most ardent defenders of these rights, and we will, in a manner worthy of us, fight against his enemies and ours. Our weapons are all ready, and we would all perish, but their sharpness would not be dulled. The crimes of our enemies, those are our weapons; the series is made; we have forgotten nothing, and I declare to you that I have fulfilled my task and provided the sharpest blows against them. I have done more, I have ensured that, whatever fate awaits me, they will not be broken. I have handed them over to be launched against them with a steady hand so that they cannot escape. You see from this that our resolve is unshakable. If one of our fighters perishes on the breach, the place will never be empty until the last of us is annihilated. Open your bastilles, create new ones to engulf us, but above all, do not forget a single one of us, for it would only take one to relight the torch of liberty that you are trying to extinguish.

And you, who call yourself the apostle of Marat! and who have just promised to follow in his footsteps, remember that he was never silent when a patriot was oppressed, remember that he never allied with political brigands, with the oppressors of the people, remember also that he never denied the sacred name he took.

There are only two roads, that of crime and that of virtue. However thorny and anxiety-ridden the latter may be, patriots will never deviate from it, even if our bloodied corpses fill the graves that have already been prepared for us: this is our final determination.

Signed, Albertine Marat

Relations Between Gracchus Babeuf and Jean-Paul Marat

After relaying Babeuf's opinion of Napoleon here https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/767626191447392256/the-journey-of-the-forgotten-french-revolutionary?source=share

It seemed important to me, after having mentioned Albertine Marat, to say what relationships and opinions Jean-Paul Marat and Gracchus Babeuf may have had.

Gracchus Babeuf and Jean-Paul Marat had a rather complex relationship. In fact, Gracchus Babeuf was arrested in 1790 for, as he stated, “having supported that the French, being free, could sow motions in the streets and tobacco in the fields. He was taken from his bed in the night by an armed squad with the secrecy and violence once used by Sartine and Le Noir; and he was dragged from Roye to Paris, where he was incarcerated under an order from the Court of Aids, combined with the Committee of Searches” (National and Political Journal, directed by Salomon [his real name: Antoine de Rivarol, 1743-1801] and before him by Antoine Sabatier de Castres, No. 3, Cambrai, July 1790). He wrote to Marat to inform him of his conditions of detention, arbitrary decisions, and Marat published his correspondence with Babeuf: "These unfortunate individuals were each thrown into a separate dungeon, where they were shackled, and all imaginable precautions were taken to prevent any communication. What are they accused of? Who issued the orders? Why were short-coated horsemen used instead of the National Guard? Why these barbaric precautions, these violations of the home in the dark of night, to drag the poor from their sleep, who appeared to be living without reproach and peacefully in their families? Who could have caused this alarm, fear, and pain? Why this gloomy, dark, frightening procession? Why these chains, these black cells? Why this sequestration of each prisoner, of the rest of the living? Why, why, why? … Important questions raised by these alarming acts of despotism and barbarism, to which every good citizen awaits an answer.” (Babeuf, in L'Ami du Peuple, No. 138, June 19, 1790). Historian Jean Marc Schiappa claims that Marat continued to support Babeuf’s release.

However, there were differences in their opinions, and at times, they harshly criticized each other. An example is the "Joly affair", one of the secretaries of the municipality (unfortunately, I was unable to access the full document due to technical issues, but I will send you the link). They also disagreed in their critiques of Necker, despite both being opposed to him. Marat accused Necker, according to Babeuf's correspondence, of having “sought to restore the chains of despotism to the King, having ceased to appear as the defender of the People at the very moment when his enthusiasm had rehabilitated him; of having cowardly abandoned, in order to solicit clemency for the traitors to the Homeland, the blind trust of this devoted People whose loud demands had brought him back from exile. He had even gone so far as to lead the vile monopolizers, and barbarically tried to make the People perish from hunger.” Babeuf responded, saying: "If Mr. Marat’s grievances were valid, if he could prove what he claims, if while France believed him to be the virtuous Minister and the honest man par excellence, he had the talent to discern a traitor cloaked in the mantle of hypocrisy, and was capable of clearly exposing his black deeds and criminal machinations, his denunciation would become an act of courage and true patriotism, for which the Nation would owe him eternal gratitude. But if this act is merely a slanderous attack aimed at sowing distrust towards an administrator who has become the idol of the Kingdom, such an offense cannot be punished too harshly. Mr. Marat will need strong evidence to justify his accusations when the feelings inspired by the person he accuses are such that the French would hesitate to believe he could do harm, as though they saw him committing it. It will not be with epithets like 'foolishly adored minister,' 'ambitious intriguer,' or 'knight of industry,' and other similar terms that he can make an impression; but with the evidence, which prudence requires always to support anyone who dares to act as a denouncer." Moreover, while Marat constantly attacked Necker, he was also opposed to the maximum and the establishment of stable prices in February 1793, according to Daline (a policy favored by the Hébertists, close to Babeuf, such as Chaumette), while Babeuf, according to Daline's excerpt, believed that the only way to solve the supply difficulties was "taxation," the establishment of stable prices. In his correspondence, he wrote: “Until we come to more decisive taxation, we will always be at risk of shortages, and no committee of provisions will stop us from suffering hunger.” The unfinished manuscript also contains interesting observations by Babeuf about the grain market of Santerre in Picardy, France, as he tried to understand why the grain coming from there to Paris was not reaching the capital.

But in 1793, a kind of rupture occurred between Babeuf and Marat. Mathiez claims it was an act of ingratitude on Babeuf's part toward Marat, but Victor Daline sees it differently. It is important to also understand the private context of Babeuf’s life: his wife Marie-Anne Babeuf , who was his political right-hand (a fervent political activist in her own right), had to give up part of their family credit to pay off creditors, even though they had three children (their daughter Sophie would die of famine two years later in February 1795, to their great sorrow). They were helped by a friend of theirs, Claude Fournier, known as "the American" (another revolutionary figure at the time). In a pamphlet, C. Fournier (the American) wrote to Marat: "Marat, you are not the Friend of the People. True friends of the People do not lightly denounce the best patriots. (…) If you are truly the Friend of the People, if you are truly of that unfortunate portion that has done everything and for whom nothing has yet been done for four years, to whom it seems that no one has even thought of helping, be constantly in the tribune, make it a permanent station, and do not leave until you have achieved what Duchosal and Tallien, friends of the sans-culottes, have dared to ask: THE COMFORT OF THE INDIGENT CLASS, etc..." Dommanget points to a contradiction between Babeuf’s praise of Marat and his attack on him. But let us not forget that Babeuf believed that friendship should not spare criticism. As for his critique of Tallien, he was forced to show that Marat was right in my opinion to present Tallien as “a greedy intriguer seeking positions” (Manceron, 1989). According to Eric Walter, later, Babeuf would break with Tallien, seeing him for what he really was, starting in December 1794. He attacked the world of the Directory in his Tribune du Peuple journal, calling it “fakery” and “mercantile,” and the “empire of the frisure” and the “legislation of the wig” (No. 28). He then attacked Theresia Tallien as a “Messalina,” a “Pompadour,” an “Antoinette,” and other “Venus-Dubarry,” while addressing his fellow citizens: “Frenchmen, you have returned under the reign of the courtesans” (No. 29). (This is quite sexist on Babeuf's part, and I say this while not liking Theresia Tallien at all, but he would have done better to attack her on political grounds, where there was so much to criticize, even if the fact that he saw his daughter slowly starving to death while these people lived in corruption without being able to do anything about it may have fueled his anger. This is clearly not his finest moment, which is an understatement). When Marat was alive, he would speak of "creating a great scandal" in such situations, while Babeuf says he will break windows, “the Tribune of the People here breaks the windows and releases all the important truths” (No. 29).

However, Daline explains that while Babeuf was harsh in his critiques, it did not prevent him from having friendship or admiration for those he truly admired; he just expressed his opinion clearly, even if it was unpleasant for the person he considered a friend. At times, Marat was right about Tallien, while other times it was Babeuf who sought to see beyond Necker's record. Moreover, Babeuf, who received a warm welcome in Picardy, liked the nickname "Marat of Picardy" and was popular there.

Babeuf also had political ties with Simone Evrard and especially Albertine Marat. When Guffroy, his former ally (with whom he would sever ties, much like Fouché), betrayed him, Babeuf, in his own words, “went to the refuge of the family of the Friend of the People. I felt the involuntary movement that pushed me in my distress towards the sanctuary of liberty. I told the widow and sister of Marat what had just happened to the one who had tried to follow in his footsteps.” Albertine Marat would form political ties with Gracchus Babeuf. Albertine Marat was a subscriber to Le Tribun du Peuple, and it was Babeuf who published her letter against Fréron. Babeuf would say of Albertine Marat, "The sister of the Friend of the People has taken a truly wise course: it is good, it is useful that one should follow her..." He also paid tribute to all mothers who “dedicate their entire days to prevent us from starving” and said of them, “But beware, women, whom we have degraded, without whom, however, and without their courage on the 5th and 6th of October, we might not have had freedom!”

Sources:

Eric Walter

Jean-Marc Schiappa

Victor Daline

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41926004?read-now=1&seq=20#page_scan_tab_contents

#marat #jean paul marat #albertine marat #babeuf #freron #french revolution #frev #history #france

5 notes · View notes