The Hébertists

The Hébertists were a radical revolutionary faction associated with Jacques Hébert.  It was his journal Le Père Duchesne that led to the factions popularity.  Within the pages of the newspaper a working class furnace maker with a fine line in foul language would give his opinions on issues of the day.  The fictional Pere Duchesne would increasingly condemn the monarchy, aristocracy and hold a particular dislike of the church.  The journal was popular with the sans-culottes and was also distributed amongst the army.

The increasing factional fighting between the Hébertists and the Girondins caused great instability in Paris.  The Commission of Twelve tried to arrest Hébert but the ensuing outcry caused him to be released.  Then on the 31st May sans-culottes and National Guardsmen led by Hanriot surrounded the National Convention and demanded the expulsion of the Girondins.  On the 2nd of June the Girondins were expelled and many were arrested.

The removal of the Girondins did not stabilise Paris.  Instead Hébert sought to take over the Marat’s role of rabble rouser in chief after his assassination.  He called for greater punishment for counter revolutionaries and greater help for the poor in society even limiting the suffrage to the sans-culottes.   Hébert turned his attentions to Danton who he saw as being far too tolerant of supposed counter revolutionaries.  In his journal Hébert demanded more dechristianisation and he personally led the way with celebrations of The Cult of Reason at Notre Dame.  This put him into conflict with Robespierre who was beginning to shape his deistic religion of The Cult of the Supreme Being.

With tensions increasing Hébert tried to launch a new revolution against the Convention. The Hébertists wanted to remove Robespierre and the Jacobins from the Convention.  However the people did not rise up and on the 13th March 1794 Hébert and the leading Hébertists were arrested.  They were quickly found guilty and executed on the 24th March 1794.