Conspiracy of the Equals (1796)

In April 1796, hundreds of copies of this placard were pasted up across Paris by members of the Conspiracy of the Equals. Though not written by Babeuf himself, it was officially sanctioned by the conspiracy's leadership as their doctrinal platform. It presents the case for communism in fifteen articles with formal proofs, modeled on the structure of Spinoza's Ethics — from the premise that "nature gave every man an equal right to the full enjoyment of his goods" to the conclusion that "property is the greatest of society's plagues." A guerrilla war broke out around the placards: the Equals would paste them up, opponents would tear them down, and the conspirators would put them back again.

Translated by Mitchell Abidor for marxists.org. Source: Ph. Buonarroti, La conspiration pour l'egalite, Editions Sociales, Paris, 1957. Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike).

Proscribed by the Directory for having told the truth

Art 1

Nature gave every man an equal right to the full enjoyment of his goods.

Proofs

Before they were first brought together, all men were equally the masters of the products which nature profusely spread around them. When men were brought together on uncultivated land, what could establish inequality among them? Is it their natural differences? They all have the same organs and the same needs. Is it the dependence of some on others? But no one was strong enough to enslave his like, when the smallest discontent could cause him to move elsewhere; and the advantages of mutual aid and benevolence made it necessary for all of them to respect in others the rights which they felt were invested in them by nature.

Is it the ferocity of their hearts? But compassion is the immediate result of their organization, and ferocity is born of the frustration of the passions.

Is it an innate tendency towards humiliation and servitude? But the mere sight of this is a painful sensation, a source of jealousy and hatred for even the most savage beings.

If families are the first models of society, they are also the most striking proof of the rights of which we speak. Equality is a pledge of the tenderness of fathers, of the union and happiness of children. And if it's broken? Sorrow and jealousy introduce disorder and violence. Everything concerning the love of parents inspires in children the hatred of partiality, which parents themselves cannot apply without risking the introduction of dangerous passions into the family.

The most strict equality had to be consecrated in the first agreements among men, for what could make men who had up to then been enemies of any form of distinction consent to privations and inferiority?

The neglect of equality has introduced among men: false ideas of happiness; the straying of the passions; the dwindling away of the species; violence, troubles, and wars; the tyranny of some and the oppression of others; civic, political and religious institutions which, in consecrating injustice have finally dissolved societies, after having for a long time torn them apart.

Art 2

The goal of society is to defend this equality, often attacked in the state of nature by the strong and the wicked, and to add to common happiness by the working together of all.

Art 3

Nature has imposed on everyone the obligation to work; no one can, without committing a crime, shirk labor.

Art 4

Labor and pleasures should be in common.

Explanation

That is to say that all must put up with an equal amount of work, and draw from it an equal amount of goods.

Art 5

Oppression exists when there is one who wears himself out at work and lacks everything, while another swims in abundance while doing nothing.

Art 6

No one can, without committing a crime, exclusively expropriate the goods of the earth or of industry.

Proofs

Private property was born the moment lands were parceled out. From that point everyone was absolute master of all he could take out of the fields that fell to him and the work he carried out. It is probable that men working in the arts of primary necessity were at the same time excluded from any territorial possession, which they were in any case unable to exploit. Some were thus the masters of the things necessary for existence; others had a right to nothing but the salary the first group was willing to pay them.

But as soon as natural events, the thrift, or the skill of some; the wastefulness or the handicaps of the others, and territorial property having been brought together in the hands of a few families, those receiving salaries became more numerous than those paying salaries, and the former were at the mercy of the latter who, proud of their opulence, reduced the others to a frugal lifestyle.

Since then, we have seen the idler, by a revolting injustice, live by the sweat of the working man, overwhelmed under the weight of fatigues and privations; we have seen the rich as if they were master take control of the state and dictate tyrannical laws to the poor brutalized by need, degraded by ignorance and fooled by religion.

Unhappiness and slavery flow from inequality, and the latter from property. Property is thus the greatest of society's plagues. It is a veritable public offence.

Art 7

In a real society there should be neither rich nor poor.

Art 8

The rich who don't renounce their excess in favor of the indigent are the enemies of the people.

Art 9

No one can, through the accumulation of all means available, deprive another of the instruction necessary for his happiness. Instruction must be for all.

Art 10

The goal of the revolution is to destroy inequality and restore common happiness.

Art 11

The constitution of 1793 is the true constitution of the French, for the people solemnly accepted it.

Art 13

Every citizen is obligated to re-establish and defend in the constitution of 1793 the will and the happiness of the people.

Art 14

All powers emanating from the so-called constitution of 1795 are illegal and counter-revolutionary.

Art 15

Those who raised their hand to the constitution of 1793 are guilty of the crime of lese majeste against the people.

Colophon

Analysis of the Doctrine of Babeuf, 1796. Officially sanctioned platform of the Conspiracy of the Equals, pasted up as placards across Paris in April 1796.

Translated from French by Mitchell Abidor for the Marxists Internet Archive (marxists.org). Source: Ph. Buonarroti, La conspiration pour l'egalite, Editions Sociales, Paris, 1957. Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike).

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲