by Gracchus Babeuf (1795)
Babeuf's editorial manifesto for his newspaper Le Tribun du Peuple ("The Tribune of the People"), written in 1795 after his release from prison following the events of 13 Vendemiaire. The prospectus is at once a political programme, a call to revolution, and a declaration of journalistic principle. Babeuf announces himself as "the apostle" of a doctrine of common happiness, promises to "tear all the veils," and declares that in a people's state "the truth must always stand clear and naked." The prose blazes with revolutionary fury: "My quiver and arrows have been returned to me and we'll yet again see thunder and lightning fly from them."
Translated by Mitchell Abidor for marxists.org from the original prospectus. Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike).
The goal of society is the common happiness.
This was my motto before the government of a free people gave me a forever memorable proof of its respect for the sacred right of the press. This goal of society, this fundamental maxim, mother of all the principles of the just, will still be the only lamp by whose light I will continue to march, since the cannons of 13th Vendemiaire, which broke my irons, allowed the rearmament of my truthful and plebian pen.
The goal of the French Revolution is also the common happiness. The honorable task of a tribune, that I had the courage to embrace, imposes upon me the sublime obligation of indicating to the French the path that shall lead them to this greatest of goals. If they follow me they will arrive there, despite the obstacles profusely spread across that route, despite the maneuvers, the intrigues, and the plots of royalists and patricians.
We too know a little bit about what elements are used to move men. The best lever is their own interest. We'll prove to all our fellow citizens that freedom is freedom, that the republic can be not the gathering of all tyrannies, of all evils, that popular government should and can have as a result the ease and happiness of all individuals, the inalterable happiness of all members of the association.
The people are apathetic, pusillanimous, their detractors say; and so, they add, being strangled is their inevitable lot. Be silent, imbecilic dominators! Be silent as well, slaves! The people will prove to you that they are not heedless; they will make you definitively see that they know what to do when their guides have let them know the "why and wherefore" of the revolution, when we will have clearly and demonstratively explained to them what in the last analysis that revolution should be for them, despite all the opposition of the enemies of the common happiness.
This is the doctrine of which I loudly declare myself the apostle.
Frenchmen! Men free and just! Ready yourselves to follow this new gospel: I will call on you to decide whether the morality of it is pure.
My hardy brush will be dipped in the colors of original justice, of first truths.
Republicans of the North and the South, no, no, you will not sink into discouragement. You will not condescend to the reestablishment of a king or any other tyranny. You will not allow the opinion to prevail that subjection is necessary for the good and tranquility of peoples.
Rally with confidence around my coat of arms. My battle-ready lance is not the stiletto of a paid assassin. My quiver and arrows have been returned to me and we'll yet again see thunder and lightning fly from them.
Based on all available examples, my ideas led me to believe that in a people's state the truth must always stand clear and naked. It must always be spoken: make it public, confide in the people all that concerns its major interests. Circumspection, dissimulation, whisperings among exclusive groups of men and so-called regulators only serve to kill energy, to render opinion erroneous, unstable, uncertain, and because of this, heedless and servile.
Eternally persuaded that nothing great can be done without the People, I believe that in order to do anything with them it's always necessary to tell them everything, ceaselessly show them what must be done, and we should fear less the inconveniences of the publicity from which politics profits, than count on the advantages of the colossal force that always undoes politics.
Colophon
Prospectus for Le Tribun du Peuple, by Gracchus Babeuf, 1795.
Note: This is an abridged archival edition preserving the key sections. The full text is available at marxists.org.
Translated from the original French by Mitchell Abidor for the Marxists Internet Archive (marxists.org). Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike).
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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