From the Trial at Vendome, February–May 1797
Gracchus Babeuf's defence speech at his trial before the High Court of Vendome in 1797 is one of the founding documents of modern socialism. Facing execution for leading the Conspiracy of the Equals, Babeuf used the dock not to plead for mercy but to deliver a comprehensive philosophical justification of communism — tracing the argument from Rousseau through the French Revolution to his own doctrine that "the purpose of society is the common welfare." He quotes extensively from the Analysis of the Doctrine, presents his own economic arguments against private property, heredity, and wage inequality, and declares himself the disciple of Rousseau, Mably, Helvetius, and Diderot. The speech ends with a challenge to the jury: "When you condemn me, citizen jurors, for all the maxims that I have just admitted stating, it is these great men whom you are putting on trial."
Source: Socialist Thought: A Documentary History, edited by Albert Fried and Ronald Sanders, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 1964. Transcribed by Andy Blunden for marxists.org.
After the 13th of Vendemiaire, I observed that the majority of the people, tired of a Revolution whose every fluctuation and movement had only brought death, had been — one can only say — royalized. I saw that in Paris the simple and uninstructed multitude had actually been led by the enemies of the people into a cordial contempt for the Republic. This multitude, who are capable of judging things only by their sensations, had been easily persuaded to make a comparison that goes something like this: What were we under royal domination, what are we under the Republic? The answer was entirely to the detriment of the latter.
I said to myself: the Republic is lost, barring some stroke of genius that could save it; surely monarchism will not hesitate to regain its hold upon us.
I gave words to these feelings in my Tribune of the People. I said to everyone: Listen: Those among you who have apparently come around to feeling, as a result of a long series of public calamities, that the Republic is worthless and that the Monarchy might be preferable — you people are right, I swear it. I spelled it out in capital letters: WE WERE BETTER OFF UNDER THE KINGS THAN WE ARE UNDER THE REPUBLIC. But you must understand which Republic I mean by that. A Republic such as the one we see is totally worthless, without a doubt. But this, my friends, is not the true Republic. The true Republic is something that you do not yet even know about. All right then, if you wish, I will try to tell you something about it, and I am almost certain that you will idolize it.
The purpose of society is the common welfare.
It is this formula, comprised within the first article of the covenant of the Year 1 of the Republic, that I have always held to as my own, and I will continue to do so. The aim of the revolution also is the well-being of the greatest number; therefore, if this goal has not been achieved, if the people have not found the better life that they were seeking, then the revolution is not over, even though those who want only to substitute their own rule for somebody else's say that it is over, as you would expect them to.
If the revolution is really over, then it has been nothing but a great crime.
"If the land does not belong to anyone; if its fruits are for all; if possession by a small number of men is the result of only a few institutions that abuse and violate the fundamental law, it follows that this possession by a few is an usurpation. It follows that, at all times, whatever an individual hoards of the land and its fruits beyond what he needs for his own nourishment has been stolen from society."
"This form of government will bring about the disappearance of all boundary lines, fences, walls, locks on doors, trials, thefts, and assassinations; of all crimes, tribunals, prisons, gibbets, and punishments; of the despair that causes all calamity; and of greed, jealousy, insatiability, pride, deception, and duplicity — in short, of all vices. Furthermore, it will put an end to the gnawing worm of perpetual inquietude, whether throughout society as a whole, or privately within each of us, about what tomorrow will bring, or at least what next year will bring, for our old age, for our children and for their children."
When you condemn me, citizen jurors, for all the maxims that I have just admitted stating, it is these great men whom you are putting on trial. They were my masters, my sources of inspiration — my doctrine is only theirs. From their lessons I have derived these maxims of "pillage," these principles that have been called "destructive."
It is good to perish for the sake of virtue.
Colophon
Babeuf's Defence, from the Trial at Vendome, February–May 1797. Babeuf was convicted and executed by guillotine on May 27, 1797.
Note: This is an abridged archival edition preserving the key philosophical arguments. The full defence, including the complete Analysis of the Doctrine and detailed citations from Rousseau, Mably, and other philosophers, is available at marxists.org.
Source: Socialist Thought: A Documentary History, edited by Albert Fried and Ronald Sanders, Aldine Publishing Company, Chicago, 1964. Transcribed by Andy Blunden for the Marxists Internet Archive (marxists.org).
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
🌲