Roux, Jacques

Roux, Jacques

(zhäk ro͞o), d. 1794, French revolutionary. A priest in Paris, he abandoned the priesthood at the start of the French Revolution. Roux was a member of the Commune of Paris of Aug., 1792. As a leader of the enragésenragés
, term applied to a small group of Parisian radical extremists in the French Revolution. Rising prices and food shortages provoked them in Feb.–Mar., 1793, to pillage the city's food stores.
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 in the Paris sections, he helped to instigate (Feb. and Mar., 1793) food riots in Paris. He was arrested in Sept., 1793, was condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and committed suicide (Jan., 1794).

Roux, Jacques

 

Born Aug. 21, 1752, in Pranzac; died Jan. 20, 1794, in Bicêtre. Participant in the French Revolution; one of the leaders of the Enragés.

A teacher of philosophy and physics, Roux became a pastor in 1785. In his sermons, he enthusiastically welcomed the revolution. In 1790 he left his parish of Saint-Thomas-de-Conac and moved to Paris, where he officiated in a church in an area populated by artisans and the poor. He joined the Cordeliers and was elected in 1792 as a member of the Paris Commune. Roux demanded the death penalty for profiteers and denounced the rich. He was an implacable opponent of the Girondins and took part in the insurrection of May 31 to June 2, 1793, which resulted in the establishment of the Jacobin dictatorship.

In June 1793, Roux sharply criticized the Jacobin constitution of 1793 on the grounds that it did not safeguard the interests of the poor. He was expelled from the Cordeliers and, after the assassination of J.-P. Marat, began publishing his own newspaper; he viewed the paper as a continuation of Marat’s Ami du Peuple and used it to disseminate the ideas of the Enragés. Roux was twice arrested for his attacks on the Jacobin government. He committed suicide while in prison.

REFERENCES

Zakher, la. M. “Poslednii period deiatel’nosti Zh. Ru.” In Frantsuzskii ezhegodnik, 1958. Moscow, 1959.
Markov, W. Die Freiheiten des Priesters Roux. Berlin, 1967.
Markov, W. Exkurse zu Jacques Roux. Berlin, 1970. (Bibliography.)