Jean-François Varlet
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Jean-François Varlet (; 14 July 1764 – 4 October 1837) was a leader of the Enragés faction during the French Revolution. He was important in the fall of the monarchy and the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793.


Life

Born in Paris on 14 July 1764 into a family of the petty bourgeoisie, Jean-François Varlet studied at the Collège d'Harcourt. He welcomed the Revolution with enthusiasm and wrote patriotic songs. However, at 21 Varlet was too young to be eligible for an elected position, so he turned to popular agitation instead. He was an early supporter of the radical Jacques Hébert. Varlet first rose to prominence through his opposition to the monarchy. When Louis XVI attempted to flee Paris, Varlet circulated petitions in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
and spoke against the king. He helped organize the popular protests that ended in the Champ de Mars massacre. On 10 August 1792, the Legislative Assembly suspended the king and called for the election of a
National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
to write a new constitution. Varlet was elected, and argued for direct
universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
and recall elections. He sought to prevent the wealthy from expanding their profits at the expense of the poor and called for the
nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
of all profits obtained through monopoly and hoarding. Because of these proto-socialist stances, Varlet is considered a member of the Enragés. However, this was not a coherent political party, and another Enragés leader, Jacques Roux, even called for Varlet's arrest. Varlet recognized the importance of women in the revolution, and helped organize poor working women into a semi-cohesive unit.Jeremy D. Popkin (2015). ''A Short History of the French Revolution''. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. p. 68. On 22 February 1793, Jacques Roux and Jean-Francois Varlet emboldened the Parisian working poor to approach the Jacobin Club and persuade them to place price controls on necessary goods. However, the National Convention refused to grant them an audience. Further attempts for the Enragés to communicate their position were denied by the National Convention. Determined to be heard, they responded with revolt. They plundered the homes and businesses of the elite, employing direct action to meet their needs. The Enragés were noted for using legal and extralegal means to achieve their ends. On 24 May 1793 Varlet and other popular leaders were arrested, but this only exacerbated popular discontent. Giving in to the demands of the Commune, the Convention released Varlet and the other radicals three days later. The following day, 28 May, the ''Cite'' section called the other sections to a meeting at the ''Évêché'' (the Bishop's Palace) in order to organize an insurrection. On the 29th the delegates representing thirty-three of the sections formed an insurrectionary committee of nine, including Varlet. This committee would go on to lead the Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793. At the beginning of the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
, Varlet was again arrested. He was released on 29 October 1793, but after the fall of Robespierre he was arrested yet again and spent almost a year in prison. After his release, Varlet settled at Pailly, Yonne, marrying and having three children. He became a Bonapartist after 1800 and lived some time in
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. He returned to Paris for several months in 1830 to participate in the
July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...
. In 1836 he left Nantes to live at Corbeil-Essonnes, where he drowned on 4 October 1837.


Publications

* ''Aux Mânes de Marat'', 1790 - 1830 * ''Déclaration solennelle des droits de l’homme dans l’état social'' *
The Explosion
', 1794 * ''Magnanimité de l’Empereur des Français envers ses ennemis, à l’occasion de la nouvelle déclaration des Puissances'', 1814 * ''Le panthéon français'', 1795 * ''Projet d’une caisse patriotique et parisienne'', 1789 * ''Vœux formés par des Français libres'', 1785 - 1795 * ''Vœux formés par des Français libres'', 1785 - 1795 * ''Vœux formés par des Français libres, ou Pétition manifeste d’une partie du souverain à ses délégués pour être signée sur l’autel de la patrie et présenté icle jour où le peuple se lèvera en masse pour résister à l’oppression avec les seules armes de la raison''


References


Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varlet, Jean-Francois 1764 births 1837 deaths Politicians from Paris Enragés