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Summary The Influence of Robespierre + Committee of Public Safety
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Notes on the influence of Robespierre + the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution
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The Influence of Robespierre + the CPSThe influence of Robespierre + the Committee of Public Safety:
By the end of 1793 the Federalist Revolt was under control and the war situation and
economy (thanks to a good harvest that year) were improving; might’ve seemed an
appropriate time to relax the Terror
Instead a new law was passed which increased the powers of the CPS + CGS
The argument put forward by Robespierre + his Montagnard supporters was that France
needed a more ordered system of government since too many conflicting bodies had
emerged
In reality was also a way of curbing the activities of the sans-culottes both in Paris +
other towns, whose demands for a share of power + property were incompatible with
the need to keep the support of farmers, merchants + other taxpayers and end the
social disruption caused by dechristianisation
The Law of Frimaire II - 4th December 1793:
Gave the CPS direct power over ministers, generals, the répresentants-en-mission + local gov
The départements were to be left responsible only for the collection of taxes + provision of
public works
All other authorities would take orders directly from the CPS
From March 1794: The armées revolutionnaires were disbanded (that in Paris remained
until Sept)
Popular societies and local patriotic committees were closed down
This law provided for a highly centralised structure + chain of authority in which the CPS was
supreme
It also opened the way to the destruction of sans-culotte influence by removing their
most important channels for activity
January + March 1794: 2 laws of Ventose passed which promised needy patriots a share of
the property + land seized from the counter-revolutionaries
Whilst may seem to pander to the sans-culottes, more of a product of Montagnard
idealism + hopes of creating a new kind of egalitarian society
Like the enforcement of the Law of Maximum, these were either carried out with little
enthusiasm or ignored
The elimination of rival factions to June 1794
In the first months of 1794 the CPS found new enemies to attack
At one extreme were the followers of popular radical leader + pamphleteer Hebert
These complained that Robespierre was setting up a dictatorship + called on the sans-
culottes to rise against ‘those who oppress us’
At the other extreme were the ‘Indulgents’- Danton, Desmoulins and their associates
These men were very popular in Paris but their political views, suggesting that it was
time for the Terror to be scaled back, had become at odds with Robespierre
Robespierre drew attention to the need to eliminate the vices of the Ancien Regime which
he saw as corruption, extravagance + excess
He argued that there had to be a self-sacrifice to achieve a ‘Republic of Virtue’ + that
concern for good living, fashionable clothing + sensual pleasures were incompatible with
revolutionary goals
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