Dufourny De Villiers, Louis Pierre

Born 1739; died 1796. Publicist. Figure in the Great French Revolution.

In April 1789, Dufourny de Villiers issued the pamphlet Instructions of the Fourth Estate, in which he spoke for the working people. Pointing to the contradictions between rich and poor and between employers and workers, Dufourny de Villiers in this and subsequent works demanded that society defend “the weak against the mighty, the poor against the rich and against poverty.” He proposed various measures to assist the poor. In a 1793 pamphlet, Dufourny de Villiers set up the principle of public property in land as the basis of a solution to the food problem and of social equality. Dufourny de Villiers was an active member of the Jacobin Club and the Cordelier Club, and after the uprising of Aug. 10, 1792, he became a member of the Directory and then president of the Paris department. In 1793 he took part in organizing the uprising of May 31-June 2. Dufourny de Villiers was arrested in April 1794 on a charge of sympathizing with followers of Danton. He was freed after the coup of 9 Thermidor but was then arrested again. He was pardoned a short time before his death.