Jacques-René Hébert

Jacques-René Hébert (1757-1794) was a French journalist who wrote political satires and articles during the French Revolution. He was born on November 15, 1757 at Alençon, France. His father was a goldsmith and former judge. He studied law at the College of Alençon and practiced as a clerk in a lawyer’s office. Then, he moved to Paris where he went through a difficult financial period before he began writing pamphlets.

He founded a radical newspaper called “Le Père Duchesne”. As an extremist revolutionary, Hébert was a republican and became an important member of the Cordeliers club. He gained the support of the French working classes through his vitriolic articles and his followers were usually referred to as the Hebertists. Hebert’s influence within the French Revolution due to his publication, Le Père Duchesne, had a strong impact on the outcomes of certain political events. A majority of the political decisions that occurred during the Revolution were a climax of small events over time, so Le Pere Duchesne’s ability to influence the general population of France was indeed notable. Along with his ability to get to the readers and open their minds, making them see what absolute monarchy really meant.

In June 1793, encouraged by the “enragés” (enraged ones) Jacques-René Hebert and Jacques Roux, the Paris sections took over the Convention, calling for administrative and political purges, a low fixed price for bread, and a limitation of the electoral franchise to sans-culottes alone. With the backing of the National Guard, they convinced the Convention to arrest 31 Girondin leaders, including Jacques Pierre Brissot. After these arrests, the Jacobins gained control of the Committee of Public Safety on June 10, installing the revolutionary dictatorship. Hebert’s base of power was the Commune and the influence it wielded on the Committee of Public Safety.

The Committee’s actions in December 1793 in suppressing the Commune did much to arouse the ire of Hebert and the sans-culottes. They began to attack the Committee and its leader Maximilien Robespierre, blaming them for the failure of price controls and for complicity with war profiteers. Finally, on March 4, 1794, Hebert called for an insurrection of the Commune. Nevertheless, his call met with little success. As a result, he was accused of being a counter-revolutionary. On March 14, Jacques-René Hebert was arrested and executed by guillotine on March 24, 1794.