International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Philippe Buonarroti has been called the first professional revolutionist. A Florentine noble, Buonarroti abandoned home, family, and country to support the French Revolution in its Jacobin and Robespierreist guise. A leader with Babeuf of the Conspiracy of Equals , Buonarroti survived prison and exile to found secret societies dedicated to restoring the Jacobin republic in France and fostering revolution throughout Europe. His history of the conspiracy led to renewed interest in Babeuf and his ideas of communal property and radical egalitarianism. Buonarroti's combination of secret political organization and public pronouncements influenced generations of European radicals, including Louis Blanc , August Blanqui , Giuseppi Mazzini , Karl Marx , and Mikhail Bakunin . Buonarroti preached Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideals of popular sovereignty and individual equality well before the French Revolution. During the Revolution Buonarroti moved to Corsica, where he became a bureaucrat in Pasquale Paoli's government. In time, he became an ardent Jacobin and a friend of the Bonaparte family. These twin connections led him to oppose Paoli and prompted his move to Paris in 1793. There he became a French citizen, frequented the Jacobin club, and came to know Robespierre. Buonarroti was sent by the National Convention to administer territory near Menton conquered in 1794. He retained ... log in or subscribe to read full text