View source for Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

{{Short description|French revolutionary politician (1767–1794)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
| image = Saint-Just-French anon-MBA Lyon 1955-2-IMG 0450.jpg
| alt = A portrait painting of Saint-Just
| caption = '''''Saint-Just''''' by [[Pierre-Paul Prud'hon|Prud'hon]], 1793 ([[Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon]])
| office = Member of the [[National Convention]]
| term_start = 20 September 1792
| term_end = 27 July 1794
| constituency = [[Aisne]]
| office2 = 36th [[List of Presidents of the National Convention|President of the National Convention]]
| term_start2 = 19 February 1794
| term_end2 = 6 March 1794
| predecessor2 = [[Joseph-Nicolas Barbeau du Barran]]
| successor2 = [[Philippe Rühl]]
| office3 = Member of the [[Committee of Public Safety]]
| term_start3 = 30 May 1793
| term_end3 = 27 July 1794
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1767|08|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Decize]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1794|07|28|1767|08|25|df=y}}
| death_place = Paris, [[First French Republic|French Republic]]
| death_cause         = [[Guillotine|Execution by guillotine]]
| party = [[The Mountain]]
| signature = Signatur Louis Antoine de Saint-Just.PNG
}}
{{Radicalism sidebar|people}}
{{Socialism sidebar|intellectuals}}
'''Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just'''{{efn|Traditional usage is by the ''nom de terre'' ("[[fee (feudal tenure)|name of land]]") without using the [[nobiliary particle]].}} ({{IPA|fr|sɛ̃ʒyst}}; 25 August 1767{{snd}}10 Thermidor, Year II [28 July 1794]), sometimes nicknamed the '''Archangel of Terror''',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Domine |first=Jean-François |date=1995 |title=La Rhétorique Des Conventionnels a Travers Une Étude D'ensemble: Les Discours Et Rapports De Saint-Just |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41916001 |journal=Annales historiques de la Révolution française |volume=300 |issue=300 |pages=313–315 |doi=10.3406/ahrf.1995.3420 |jstor=41916001 |issn=0003-4436 |access-date=23 October 2023 |archive-date=17 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117191612/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41916001 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kociubińska |first=Edyta |url=https://brill.com/view/title/64476 |title=L'Artiste de la vie moderne: Le dandy entre littérature et histoire |date=2023 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-54933-3 |doi=10.1163/9789004549333_012 |access-date=23 October 2023 |archive-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527070201/https://brill.com/display/title/64476 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Belissa, Marc, et al. « Saint-Just, mémoires et histoire », ''Annales historiques de la Révolution française'', vol. 390, no. 4, 2017, pp. 175–202.</ref> was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the [[National Convention|French National Convention]], a [[Jacobin]] club leader, and a major figure of the [[French Revolution]]. As the youngest member elected to the National Convention, Saint-Just belonged to [[The Mountain|the Mountain faction]]. A steadfast supporter and close friend of [[Maximilien Robespierre|Robespierre]], he was swept away in his [[Fall of Maximilien Robespierre|downfall during 9th Thermidor]].
Renowned for his eloquence, he stood out for the uncompromising nature and inflexibility of his principles advocating equality and virtue, as well as for the effectiveness of his missions during which he rectified the situation of the [[Army of the Rhine (1791–1795)|Army of the Rhine]] and contributed to the [[Battle of Fleurus (1794)|victory of the republican armies at Fleurus]]. Politically combating the [[Girondins]], the [[Hébertists|Hebertists]], and then the [[Indulgents]], he pushed for the confiscation of the property of the enemies of the Republic for the benefit of poor patriots. He was the designated speaker for the Robespierrists in their conflicts with other political parties in the National Convention, launching accusations and requisitions against figures like [[Georges Danton|Danton]] or [[Jacques Hébert|Hébert]]. To prevent the massacres for which the sans-culottes were responsible in the departments, particularly in [[Vendée]], or to centralize repression (a point still unclear), he had the departmental revolutionary tribunals abolished and consolidated all procedures at the [[Revolutionary Tribunal|Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris]].
He was also a political theorist, and notably inspired the [[French Constitution of 1793|Constitution of Year I]],<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jean-Michel Montet |chapter=La Déclaration des droits de l'homme de 1793 : apports de la lexicologie quantitative aux problèmes de sa genèse |date=1995 |page=281 et foll |publisher=éd. ENS |title=Langages de la Révolution (1770–1815) : actes du 4e Colloque international de lexicologie politique}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.</ref> and the attached [[Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1793]]. He also authored works on the principles of the French Revolution.
On the [[Fall of Maximilien Robespierre|9th Thermidor]], he defended Robespierre against accusations made by [[Bertrand Barère|Barère]] and [[Jean-Lambert Tallien|Tallien]]. Arrested alongside him, he remained silent until his death the following day, when he was guillotined on the [[Place de la Concorde|Place de la Révolution]] with the 104 Robespierrists executed, at the age of 26. His body and head were then thrown into a mass grave.
The dark legend surrounding this figure, and Robespierrists in general, persisted in historical research until the second half of the 20th century, before gradually being reassessed from that period onward by more recent historians. Until then, he was perceived as cruel, bloodthirsty, and having a wild and violent sexuality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boulant |first=Antoine |title=Saint-Just: l'archange de la révolution |date=2020 |publisher=Passés composés |isbn=978-2-37933-030-8 |edition=1re  |location=Paris |page=349}}</ref>
==Early life==
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just was born at [[Decize]] in the former [[Nivernais]] province of central France.<ref name=Brink105/> He was the eldest child of Louis Jean de Saint-Just de Richebourg (1716–1777), a retired French cavalry officer (and knight of the [[Order of Saint Louis]]),<ref>Vinot (edition Fayard), p. 16.</ref> and Marie-Anne Robinot (1736–1811), the daughter of a [[notary]].<ref>Vinot (edition Fayard), p. 17.</ref> He had two younger sisters, born in 1768 and 1769. The family later moved north and in 1776 settled in the village of [[Blérancourt]] in the former [[Picardy]] province, establishing themselves as a countryside noble family living off the rents from their land. A year after the move, Louis Antoine's father died leaving his mother with their three children. She saved diligently for her only son's education, and in 1779 he was sent to the [[Oratory of Jesus|Oratorian]] school at [[Soissons]]. After a promising start, his teachers soon viewed Saint-Just as a troublemaker—a reputation later compounded by infamous stories (almost certainly apocryphal) of how he led a students' rebellion and tried to burn down the school.<ref>Vinot (edition Fayard), p. 41.</ref> Nonetheless, he graduated in 1786.<ref>Hampson, p. 4.</ref>
His restive nature, however, did not diminish. As a young man, Saint-Just was "wild, handsome [and] transgressive".<ref name=Scurr132>Scurr, p. 132.</ref> He reportedly showed a special affection towards a young woman of Blérancourt, Thérèse Gellé. She was the daughter of a wealthy notary, a powerful and autocratic figure in the town; he was still an undistinguished adolescent. He is said to have proposed marriage to her, which she is said to have desired.<ref>Hampson, p. 5.</ref> Though no evidence of their relationship exists, official records show that on 25 July 1786, Thérèse was married to Emmanuel Thorin, the scion of a prominent local family. Saint-Just was out of town and unaware of the event, and tradition portrays him as brokenhearted. Whatever his true state, it is known that a few weeks after the marriage he abruptly left home for Paris unannounced, having gathered up a pair of pistols and a good quantity of his mother's silver.<ref>Hampson, pp. 5–6.</ref> His venture ended when his mother had him seized by police and sent to a reformatory (''maison de correction'') where he stayed from September 1786 to March 1787. Upon returning, Saint-Just attempted to begin anew: he enrolled as a student at [[Reims University|Reims University's]] School of Law.<ref>Vinot (edition Fayard), pp. 57–58.</ref> After a year, however, he drifted away from law school and returned to his mother's home in Blérancourt penniless, without any occupational prospects.<ref>Hampson, pp.6–9.</ref>
===''Organt''===
[[File:Coucy château (tour d'angle) 1a.jpg|thumb|in 1785 Saint-Just wrote a monograph about [[Château de Coucy]], a mediaeval castle with a [[donjon]]]]
Contemporaries regarded ''Organt'' as a salacious novelty and it was quickly banned. Nevertheless, censors who tried to confiscate copies discovered that few were available anywhere. It did not sell well and resulted in a financial loss for its author.<ref>Vinot, p. 61.</ref> The public's taste for literature had shifted in the prelude to the Revolution, and Saint-Just's taste shifted along with it: he devoted his future writing almost entirely to unadorned essays of sociopolitical theory, aside from a few pages of an unfinished novel found amidst his papers at the end of his life. With his previous ambitions of literary and lawyerly fame unfulfilled, Saint-Just directed his focus on the single goal of revolutionary command.<ref>Hampson, p. 18.
</ref>
==Early revolutionary career==
[[File:Blérancourt2.JPG|thumb|right|alt=A rustic country house|Saint-Just's home in [[Blérancourt]] is now a museum and tourist center.]]
The rapid development of the Revolution in 1789 upended Blérancourt's traditional power structure. The notary Gellé, previously an undisputed town leader, was challenged by a group of reformists who were led by several of Saint-Just's friends, including the husband of his sister Louise.<ref>Hampson, pp. 22–23.</ref> Their attempts were unsuccessful until 1790 when Blérancourt held its first open municipal elections. Mandated by the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]], the new electoral structure allowed Saint-Just's friends to assume authority in the village as mayor, secretary, and, in the case of his brother-in-law, head of the local [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]]. Despite not meeting the legal age and tax qualifications, the jobless Saint-Just was allowed to join the Guard.<ref>Hampson, pp. 21–24.</ref>
He immediately exhibited the ruthless discipline for which he would be famous. Within a few months he was the commanding officer, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.<ref>Hampson, p. 24.</ref> At local meetings he moved attendees with his patriotic zeal and flair: in one much-repeated story, Saint-Just brought the town council to tears by thrusting his hand into the flame of a burning anti-revolutionary pamphlet, swearing his devotion to the Republic.<ref>Hampson, p. 26.</ref> He had powerful allies when he sought to become a member of his district’s electoral assembly. He initiated correspondence with well-known leaders of the Revolution like [[Camille Desmoulins]].<ref>Hampson, p. 27.</ref> Mid August 1790, he wrote to Robespierre for the first time, expressing his admiration and asking him to consider a local petition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amis-robespierre.org/La-premiere-lettre-de-Saint-Just-a|title=La première lettre de Saint-Just à Robespierre le 19 août 1790 (...) – L'ARBR- Les Amis de Robespierre|website=www.amis-robespierre.org|access-date=14 February 2023|archive-date=14 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214212746/https://www.amis-robespierre.org/La-premiere-lettre-de-Saint-Just-a|url-status=live}}</ref>  The letter was filled with the highest of praise, beginning: "You, who uphold our tottering country against the torrent of despotism and intrigue; you whom I know, as I know God, only through his miracles...."<ref>Thompson, p. 109.</ref>
===''L'Esprit de la Revolution''===
While Saint-Just waited for the next election, he composed an extensive work, ''L'Esprit de la Revolution et de la constitution de France'', published in the spring of 1791.<ref name=Hamp3031>Hampson, pp. 30–31.</ref> His writing style had shed all satire and now reflected the stern and moralizing tone of classical [[Roman republic|Romans]] so adored by French revolutionaries.<ref>Hampson, p. 37.</ref> It presented a set of principles deeply influenced by [[Montesquieu]], and remained fully confined to a paradigm of [[constitutional monarchy]].<ref name=Hamp3031/> He expressed abhorrence at the violence in the Revolution thus far, and he disdained the character of those who partook in it as little more than "riotous slaves."<ref>Hampson, p. 39.</ref> Instead, he heaped his praise upon the people's representatives in the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]], whose sober [[virtue]] would guide the Revolution best.<ref>Hampson, pp. 40–43.</ref> Spread out over five books, ''L'Esprit de la Revolution'' is inconsistent in many of its assertions but still shows clearly that Saint-Just no longer saw government as oppressive to man's nature but necessary to its success: its ultimate object was to "edge society in the direction of the distant ideal."<ref>Hampson, p. 56.</ref>
The new work, like its predecessor, attracted minimal readership. On 21 June 1791, just days after it was published, all attention became focused on [[King Louis XVI]]'s ill-fated [[flight to Varennes]]. Saint-Just's theories about constitutional monarchy were suddenly outdated. The episode fostered public anger toward the King which simmered all year until a Parisian mob finally attacked the [[Tuileries Palace]] on [[10 August (French Revolution)|10 August]] 1792. In response, the Assembly declared itself ready to step down ahead of schedule and called for [[1792 French National Convention election|a new election]], this one under [[universal male suffrage]]. The timing was excellent for Saint-Just, who turned the legal age of 25 before the end of the month.<ref>Jordan, p. 46.</ref><ref>Hampson, pp. 34–35.</ref> The fear inspired by the invasion of the Tuileries made most of his opponents retire from the scene.<ref>Hampson, p. 35.</ref> Guard commander Saint-Just was able to win election as one of the deputies for the ''[[département in France|département]]'' of [[Aisne]].<ref>Bruun, p. 24.</ref> He left for Paris to join the [[National Convention]] as the youngest of its 749 members.<ref name="Hazani113"/><ref name="LintonHT">Linton, ''History Today''</ref>
==Deputy to the Convention==
Among the deputies, Saint-Just was watchful but interacted little at first. He joined the Parisian [[Jacobin Club]], but he remained aloof from [[Girondins]] and [[Montagnard (French Revolution)|Montagnards]] alike.<ref>Hampson, pp. 78–79.</ref> He waited until 13 November 1792 to give his first speech to the Convention, but when he did the effect was spectacular. What brought him to the lectern was the discussion over how to treat the deposed King.<ref>Hampson, p. 82.</ref><ref>Jordan, p. 67.</ref> In dramatic contrast to the earlier speakers, Saint-Just delivered a blazing condemnation of him. He demanded "Louis Capet should be judged not as a king or even a citizen, but as a traitor, an enemy who deserves death.<ref name="Walzer">Walzer, pp. 121–130.</ref><ref>Hampson, p. 84.</ref> "As for me," he declared, "I see no middle ground: this man must reign or die! He oppressed a free nation; he declared himself its enemy; he abused the laws: he must die to assure the repose of the people, since it was in his mind to crush the people to assure his own."<ref>Curtis, p. 38.</ref> Towards the end of his speech, he uttered an ominous observation: "No one can reign innocently."<ref name=Scurr221>Scurr, p. 221.</ref>
The young deputy's speech electrified the Convention.<ref>Hampson, p. 85.</ref><ref>Schama, p. 651.</ref> Saint-Just was interrupted frequently by bursts of applause.<ref>Hampson, p. 86.</ref> Robespierre was particularly impressed—he spoke from the lectern the next day in terms almost identical to those of Saint-Just,<ref>Scurr, pp. 221–222.</ref> and their views became the official position of the Jacobins.<ref name="Walzer"/> By December, that position had become law: the King was taken to a [[Trial of Louis XVI|trial before the Convention]], [[Execution of Louis XVI|sentenced to death]], and executed by [[guillotine]] on 21 January 1793.<ref>Hampson, p. 87.</ref>
On 29/30 May 1793 Saint-Just was added to the Committee of Public Safety; Couthon became secretary, which was one day before the [[Insurrection of 31 May - 2 June 1793|Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June]].<ref name=Hampson111/>
==Constitution of 1793==
[[File:CommitteePublicSafetyEntrance.jpg|thumb|right|alt=An illustration of the Committee's guarded doorway|Entrance to the [[Committee of Public Safety]]. ]]
Because the [[French Constitution of 1791|first French Constitution]] had included a role for the king, it was long since invalid and needed to be updated for [[French First Republic|the Republic]]. Many drafts had circulated within the Convention since Louis XVI's execution, and Saint-Just submitted his own lengthy proposal on 24 April 1793.<ref>Hampson, pp. 100–101.</ref> His draft incorporated the most common assertions of the others: the right to vote, the right to [[petition]], and equal eligibility for employment were among the basic principles that made his draft tenable. He stood out from the pack, however, on the issue of elections: Saint-Just argued against all complex voting systems, and supported only the classical style of a simple majority of citizens in a nationwide vote.<ref>Hampson, p. 102.</ref> Amid a flurry of proposals by other deputies, Saint-Just held inflexibly to his "[[one man one vote]]" plan, and this conspicuous homage to Greco-Roman traditions (which were particularly prized and idealized in French culture during the Revolution) enhanced his political cachet. When no plan gained enough votes to pass, a compromise was made which tasked a small body of deputies as official constitutional draftsmen. Saint-Just was among the five elected members. In recognition of the importance of their mission, the draftsmen were all added to the powerful new [[Committee of Public Safety]].<ref name=Hampson111>Hampson, p. 111.</ref>
The Convention had given the Committee extraordinary authority to provide for state security since the outbreak of the [[French Revolutionary War]] in early 1793. Committee members were originally intended to serve for periods of only thirty days before replacements were elected, so they needed to work quickly. Saint-Just took charge of the issue and led the development of the [[French Constitution of 1793]]. Before the end of his first term the new document was completed, submitted to the Convention, and ratified as law on 24 June 1793.<ref>Hampson, p. 113.</ref>
The new constitution was never implemented. Emergency measures for wartime were in effect, and those measures called for a moratorium on constitutional democracy. Wartime gave supreme power to the sitting Convention, with the Committee of Public Safety at the top of its subordinate administrative pyramid. Robespierre, with Saint-Just's assistance, fought vigorously to ensure that the government would remain under emergency measures—"revolutionary"—until victory.<ref>Soboul (1975), p. 327.</ref>
==Arrest of the Girondins==
During the time that Saint-Just was working on the constitution, dramatic political warfare was taking place. The ''[[sans-culottes]]''—deemed "the people" by many radicals, and represented by the [[Paris Commune (French Revolution)|Paris Commune]]—had grown antipathetic to the moderate Girondins. On 2 June 1793, in a mass action supported by National Guardsmen, they surrounded the Convention and arrested the Girondin deputies. The other deputies—even the Montagnards, who had long enjoyed an informal alliance with the ''sans-culottes''—resented the action but felt compelled politically to permit it.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} The Girondin leader, [[Jacques Pierre Brissot]], was indicted for treason and scheduled for trial, but the other ''Brissotins'' were imprisoned (or pursued) without formal charges. The Convention debated their fate and the political disorder lasted for weeks. Saint-Just had previously remained silent about the Girondins, but now clearly stood with Robespierre who had been thoroughly opposed to most of them for a long time. When the initial indictment by the Committee was served, it was Saint-Just who delivered the report to the Convention.<ref name=Schama803>Schama, p. 803.</ref>
In its secret negotiations, the Committee of Public Safety was initially unable to form a consensus concerning the jailed deputies, but as some Girondins fled to the provinces and attempted to incite an insurrection, its opinion hardened.<ref>Hampson, p. 117.</ref> By early July, Saint-Just was able to address the Convention with a lengthy report in the name of the Committee. His damning attack left no room for any further conciliation. The Girondins' trials must proceed, he said, and any verdicts must be severe. The proceedings dragged on for months, but Brissot and twenty of his allies were eventually condemned and sent to the guillotine on 31 October 1793.<ref>Doyle, p. 253.</ref> Saint-Just used their situation to gain approval for intimidating new laws, culminating in the [[Law of Suspects]] (17 September 1793) which gave the Committee vast new powers of arrest and influence.<ref name=Schama766>Schama, p. 766.</ref>
==Military commissar==
On 10 October the Convention decreed to recognize the Committee of Public Safety as the supreme "[[National Convention#Revolutionary government|Revolutionary Government]]",<ref name="auto8">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/deeprepublicanis0000hodg|url-access=registration|title=Deep Republicanism: Prelude to Professionalism|first=Donald Clark|last=Hodges|date=2003|publisher=Lexington Books|via=Internet Archive|page=[https://archive.org/details/deeprepublicanis0000hodg/page/94 94]|isbn=978-0739105535}}</ref> (which was consolidated on 4 December).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://britannica.com/place/France/The-Jacobin-dictatorship |title=Britannica.com |access-date=18 September 2023 |archive-date=22 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322105202/https://www.britannica.com/place/France/The-Jacobin-dictatorship |url-status=live }}</ref> The provisional government would be revolutionary until peace according to Saint-Just. Saint-Just proposed that deputies from the Convention should directly oversee all military efforts, a proposal which was approved on 10 October 1793.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Saint-Just, Antoine Louis Léon de Richebourg de|volume=24|pages=20–21}}</ref> Amid worsening conditions at the front in the fall of that year, several deputies were designated ''[[représentant en mission]]'' and sent to the critical area of [[Alsace]] to shore up the disintegrating [[Army of the Rhine]]. Results were not sufficiently forthcoming, so at the end of the month Saint-Just was sent there along with an ally from the Convention, [[Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas]].<ref name=Palmer180181>Palmer, pp. 180–181.</ref> The mission lasted from November through December 1793.<ref name="Gough52">Gough, p. 52.</ref> The two men were charged with "extraordinary powers" to impose discipline and reorganize the troops.<ref name=Palmer180181/>
{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | ''"<!--We have arrived, and we swear in the name of the Army that the enemy will be vanquished. If there are among you any who are traitors to the cause of the people, we are armed with powers to strike them down.--> Soldiers, we have come to avenge you, and to give you leaders who will marshal you to victory. We have resolved to seek out, to reward, and to promote the deserving; and to track down all the guilty, whoever they may be... <!--Courage, brave Army of the Rhine! Henceforward you will be happy in the triumph of liberty—happy and victorious! -->All commanders, officers, and agents of the government are hereby ordered to satisfy within three days the just grievances of the soldiers. After that interval we will ourselves hear any complaints, and we will offer such examples of justice and severity as the Army has not yet witnessed."''<ref name=Bruun75>Bruun, p. 75.</ref>
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | – Saint-Just's first proclamation to the [[Army of the Rhine]], 1793
|}
From the start, Saint-Just dominated the mission.<ref name=Palmer180181/><ref>Béraud, pp. 102–103.</ref> He was relentless in demanding results from the commanders as well as sympathetic to the complaints of common soldiers.<ref name="EB1911"/> On his first day at the front, he issued a proclamation promising "examples of justice and severity as the Army has not yet witnessed."<ref name=Bruun75/><ref>Palmer, pp. 182–183.</ref> The entire army was placed immediately under the harshest discipline. Within a short time, many officers were dismissed and many more, including at least one general, were executed by firing squad.<ref>Palmer, pp. 183–184.</ref>
Among soldiers and civilians alike, Saint-Just repressed opponents of the Revolution, but he did not agree to the mass executions ordered by some of the other deputies on the mission.<ref name="EB1911"/> He vetoed much of the deputies' work and had many of them recalled to Paris.<ref name=Palmer180181/> Local politicians were just as vulnerable to him: even [[Eulogius Schneider]], the powerful leader of Alsace's largest city, [[Strasbourg]], was arrested on Saint-Just's order,<ref name=Stephens470>Stephens, p. 470.</ref> and much equipment was commandeered for the army.<ref>Gough, p. 47.</ref> Saint-Just worked closely only with General [[Charles Pichegru]], a reliable Jacobin whom he respected.{{efn|Pichegru ultimately turned his back on Saint-Just and Jacobinism, becoming a Royalist supporter after Thermidor. He died while imprisoned during the [[Coup of 18 Fructidor]] (1797).<ref>Rudé, p. 32; Hibbert, p. 315.</ref>}} Under Saint-Just's unblinking surveillance, Pichegru and General [[Lazare Hoche]] ably [[Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793)|secured the frontier]] and began an invasion of the German [[Rhineland]].<ref name="EB1911"/>
With the army revitalized, Saint-Just returned briefly to Paris where his success was applauded. However, there was little time to celebrate. He was quickly sent back to the front lines, this time in [[Belgium]] where the [[Army of the North (France)|Army of the North]] was experiencing the same problems of discipline and organization.<ref name="Loomis285">Loomis, p. 285.</ref> During January and February 1794,<ref name="Gough52"/> he again delivered results ruthlessly and effectively, but after less than a month the mission was cut short. As Paris convulsed in political violence, Robespierre required his assistance.<ref name="Loomis285"/>
==President of the Convention==
With the republican army advancing and the Girondins destroyed, the left-wing Montagnards, led by the Jacobins and Robespierre, controlled the Convention. In these circumstances, on the first day of [[Ventôse]] in [[French Republican Calendar|Year II]] of the Revolution (19 February 1794), Saint-Just was elected [[List of Presidents of the National Convention|President of the National Convention]] for the next two weeks.<ref name="Stephens470" />
With this new power he persuaded the chamber to pass the radical [[Ventôse Decrees]], under which the régime would confiscate aristocratic ''[[émigré]]'' property and distribute it to needy ''sans-culottes'' (commoners).<ref name=Soboul396>Soboul, p. 396.</ref> But these acts of [[wealth redistribution]], arguably the most revolutionary of the French Revolution,<ref>Rudé, pp. 99–100.</ref> never went into operation. The Committee faltered in creating procedures for their enforcement,<ref name=Soboul396/> and the frantic pace of unfolding political events left them behind.<ref>Schama, p. 840.</ref>
Opponents of the Jacobins saw the Ventôse Decrees as a cynical ploy to appeal to the militant extreme left.<ref name=Mason>Mason, Rizzo, pp. 258–262.</ref> Sincere or not, Saint-Just made impassioned arguments for them. One week after their adoption, he urged that the Decrees be exercised vigorously and hailed them for ushering in a new era: "Eliminate the poverty that dishonors a free state; the property of patriots is sacred but the goods of conspirators are there for the wretched. The wretched are the powerful of the earth; they have the right to speak as masters to the governments who neglect them."<ref name=Mason/>
==Arrest of the Hébertists==
As the spring of 1794 approached, the Committee of Public Safety, led by Robespierre, Saint-Just, and [[Georges Couthon]], exercised near complete control over the government.<ref>Bax, p. 84.</ref> Despite the vast reach of their powers, however, rivals and enemies remained. One of the thorniest problems, at least to Robespierre, was populist agitator [[Jacques Hébert]], who discharged torrents of criticism against perceived [[bourgeois]] Jacobinism in his newspaper, ''[[Le Père Duchesne]]''. Ultra-radical [[Hébertists]] in the [[Cordeliers|Cordeliers Club]] undermined Jacobin efforts to court and manage the ''sans-culottes'', and the most extreme Hébertists even called openly for insurrection.<ref>Hampson, p. 182.</ref>
[[File:HebertistsOrderExecution.jpg|thumb|alt=A vintage printed document|Order of the Revolutionary Tribunal condemning the [[Hébertists]]]]
Saint-Just, in his role as president of the Convention, announced unequivocally that "whoever vilified or attacked the dignity of the revolutionary government should be condemned to death". The Convention agreed in a vote on 13 Ventôse Year II (3 March 1794). Robespierre joined Saint-Just in his attacks on Hébert. Hébert and his closest associates were arrested the following day.<ref name="Stephens470"/> A little over a week later, Saint-Just told the Convention that the Hébertists' activities were part of a foreign plot against the government. The accused were sent to face the [[Revolutionary Tribunal]].<ref>Gough, p. 61.</ref> Saint-Just vowed, "No more pity, no weakness towards the guilty... Henceforth the government will pardon no more crimes."<ref>Hampson, p. 185.</ref> On 4 [[Germinal (French Republican Calendar)|Germinal]] (24 March 1794), the Tribunal sent Hébert, [[Charles-Philippe Ronsin]], [[François-Nicolas Vincent]], and most other prominent Hébertists to the guillotine.<ref>Doyle, p. 270.</ref>
==Arrest of the Dantonists==
The ongoing political combat—bloody enough since at least the time of the arrest of the Girondins to be known as the [[Reign of Terror]]—spread inexorably. After the Hébertists fell, attention turned on the Indulgents, starting with [[Fabre d'Églantine]] and Robespierre's once-close friend [[Georges Danton]].<ref name=Doyle272ff>Doyle, pp. 272–274.</ref> Danton was among the most vocal of the moderates who opposed the Committee. He was especially opposed to Saint Just’s fanaticism and "extravagant" use of violence.<ref name="Hazani113">Hazani, p. 113.</ref> On 30 March the two committees decided to arrest Danton and the Indulgents after Saint-Just became uncharacteristically angry.{{sfn|Schama|1989|pp=816–817}} On 31 March Saint-Just publicly attacked both. In the Convention criticism was voiced against the arrests, which Robespierre silenced with "...whoever trembles at this moment is guilty."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFQPAAAAYAAJ&dq=whoever+trembles+at+this+moment+is+guilty+Robespierre&pg=RA1-PA426|title=History of the French Revolution|first=Adolphe|last=Thiers|date=1845|publisher=Vickers|via=Google Books|access-date=14 March 2023|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408013332/https://books.google.com/books?id=mFQPAAAAYAAJ&dq=whoever+trembles+at+this+moment+is+guilty+Robespierre&pg=RA1-PA426|url-status=live}}</ref>
Danton’s criticism of the Terror won him some support,<ref name="Hazani113" /> but a financial scandal involving the [[French East India Company#Liquidation scandal|French East India Company]] provided a pretext for his downfall.<ref name="Doyle272ff" /> Robespierre again sent Saint-Just to the Convention to deliver a Committee report (31 March 1794) in which he announced the arrest of Danton and "the last partisans of royalism".<ref name="Doyle272ff" /> In addition to charges of corruption related to the trading company, Saint-Just accused Danton of conspiring to restore the monarchy. He denounced him as a "bad citizen", a "false friend", and a "wicked man".<ref name="Hazani124">Hazani1, p. 124.</ref> Danton continued to demand the right to call witnesses. Saint-Just went to the Convention and told them that the prisoners were fomenting insurrection against the court.<ref>S. Schama (1989) Citizens, p. 820</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFQPAAAAYAAJ&q=decree+proposed+by+Saint-Just&pg=RA1-PA426|title=History of the French Revolution|first=Adolphe|last=Thiers|date=1845|publisher=Vickers|via=Google Books|access-date=14 March 2023|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928235202/https://books.google.com/books?id=mFQPAAAAYAAJ&q=decree+proposed+by+Saint-Just&pg=RA1-PA426|url-status=live}}</ref> After a tumultuous trial, described by some as a [[show-trial]], Fabre, Desmoulins, and other top supporters of Danton went to the scaffold with their leader on 16 Germinal (5 April 1794). In his report, Saint-Just had promised that this would be a "final cleansing" of the Republic's enemies.<ref name="Doyle272ff" /> However, there is evidence to suggest that Saint-Just was becoming uneasy about the progressions of these events. He privately wrote that “The Revolution is frozen; all principles are weakened."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/jaures/1901/history/st-just.htm|title=Review of 'Reality of the Algerian Nation' by M. Egretaud 1957|website=www.marxists.org|access-date=16 January 2021|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122042532/https://www.marxists.org/archive/jaures/1901/history/st-just.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
The violent removal of the Hébertists and Dantonists provided only a mirage of stability. Their deaths caused deep resentment in the Convention, and their absence only made it more difficult for the Jacobins to influence the dangerously unpredictable masses of ''sans-culottes''.<ref>Soboul (1980), p. 256.</ref> The elimination of popular demagogues and the consequent loss of support in the streets would prove disastrous for Saint-Just, Robespierre, and other Jacobins during the events of [[9 Thermidor (Fall of Robespierre)|Thermidor]].<ref>Doyle, p. 281.</ref>
As the deliverer of Committee reports, Saint-Just served as the public face of the Terror, and later writers dubbed him the "Angel of Death".<ref name=Loomis284/> On 23 April Saint-Just helped create a new bureau of "general police" for the Committee of Public Safety which matched—and usurped—the powers that had been given officially to the [[Committee of General Security]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://coggle.it/diagram/WkuNXbpn_gABEF3f/t/to-what-extent-was-robespierre-the-driving-the-great-terror|title=To What Extent Was Robespierre the Driving Force of the Great Terror?...|website=coggle.it|access-date=13 September 2022|archive-date=17 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017195247/https://coggle.it/diagram/WkuNXbpn_gABEF3f/t/to-what-extent-was-robespierre-the-driving-the-great-terror|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lWNCwAAQBAJ&q=Robespierre&pg=PR14-IA87|title=The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny|first=Ian|last=Davidson|date=2016|publisher=Profile Books|isbn=9781847659361|via=Google Books|access-date=14 March 2023|archive-date=7 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407151545/https://books.google.com/books?id=9lWNCwAAQBAJ&q=Robespierre&pg=PR14-IA87|url-status=live}}</ref> Shortly after its establishment, however, administration of the new bureau passed to Robespierre when Saint-Just left Paris once more for the front lines.<ref>Aulard, p. 253.</ref><ref>Andress, p. 292.</ref>
==Last days==
[[File:Triumvirate Robespierre Couthon Saint Just.jpg|thumb|[[Triumvirate#Early modern and modern France|Triumvirate]] of : (L-R) Saint-Just, Robespierre, and Couthon]]
[[File:Bataille de Fleurus 1794.JPG|thumb|right|alt=A painting of soldiers in battle|[[Battle of Fleurus (1794)]] by [[Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse]]. Saint-Just is visible on the left of [[Jean-Baptiste Jourdan]]. Oil painting, [[Château de Versailles]].]]
The Revolutionary army was still in a defensive posture, and Saint-Just was sent back to Belgium to help prepare for the coming conflict.<ref name="LintonHT"/> From April through June 1794,<ref name="Gough52"/> he again took supreme oversight of the Army of the North and contributed to the victory at [[Fleurus]].<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Hampson205">Hampson, p. 205.</ref> This hotly contested battle on 26 June 1794 saw Saint-Just apply his most draconian measures, ordering all French soldiers who turned away from the enemy to be summarily shot.<ref name="Hampson205"/> He felt vindicated when the victory sent the Austrians and their allies into a full retreat from all the [[Southern Netherlands]].<ref name="Hampson205"/> Fleurus marked the turning point in the [[War of the First Coalition]]: France remained on the offensive until its eventual victory in 1797.<ref>Doyle, pp. 206–207.</ref> After his return from the battle, Saint-Just was treated as a hero and "cheered from all sides".<ref>Ten-Brink, p. 107.</ref>
After returning to Paris, Saint-Just discovered that Robespierre's political position had degraded significantly. As the Terror reached its apogee—the so-called "Great Terror"—the danger of a counter strike by his enemies became almost inevitable.<ref>Ten-Brink, pp. 308–309.</ref><ref>Hampson, p. 207.</ref> Carnot described Saint-Just and Robespierre as "ridiculous dictators".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lazare-Carnot|title=Lazare Carnot, French military engineer|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=12 January 2021|archive-date=12 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312150428/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lazare-Carnot|url-status=live}}</ref> Saint-Just, however, remained unshakable in his alliance with Robespierre.<ref>Ten-Brink, p. 309.</ref> The French victory at Fleurus and others which followed, reduced (in the eyes of some) the need for national security during the war, which originally had been predicated as a justification for the Terror. "The excuse for the Terror was at an end".<ref>Bruun, p. 119.</ref> Opponents of the Terror used Saint-Just's own words against him by demanding a full implementation of the constitution of 1793.<ref>Scurr, p.  340.</ref><ref>Hampson, pp. 207–209.</ref>
With political combat reaching a fever pitch, the Committee introduced a bill to establish a newer version of the "Law of Suspects"—the [[Law of 22 Prairial]]. The law established a new category of "enemies of the people" in terms so vague that virtually anyone could be accused and convicted. Defendants were not permitted legal counsel, and the Revolutionary Tribunal was instructed to impose no sentence other than death. Robespierre swiftly shepherded the bill into law, and although Saint-Just was not directly involved in its composition, he was almost certainly supportive.<ref>Hampson, pp. 214–215.</ref> Vastly expanding the Tribunal’s power, the new statutes catalyzed the Great Terror: in the first month they were in effect, the number of executions in Paris rose from an average of five daily to seventeen daily, soaring in the following month to twenty-six.<ref name=Schama837>Schama, p. 837.</ref>
The Law of Prairial was the breaking point for opponents of the Committee.<ref>Doyle, pp. 277–278.</ref> For the second time, Carnot described Saint-Just and Robespierre as "ridiculous dictators".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lazare-Carnot|title=Lazare Carnot, French military engineer|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=12 January 2021|archive-date=12 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312150428/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lazare-Carnot|url-status=live}}</ref><!--<ref>Moore, Barrington. "Misgivings About Revolution: Robespierre, Carnot, Saint-Just". French Politics and Society, vol. 16, no. 4, 1998, pp. 17–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42844797. Accessed 6 July 2021.</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/josephfoucheduke01fouciala Memoirs by Joseph Fouché (1824)]</ref>--> Carnot and [[Pierre-Joseph Cambon|Cambon]] proposed to end the terror. On 22 and 23 July, <!--4 and 5 Thermidor--> the two committees met in a [[plenary session]]. The Commune published a new maximum, limiting the wages of employees (in some cases halving them) which provoked a sharp protest in the sections.<ref>Rude, George (1967) The crowd in the French Revolution, p. 136. Princeton: Princeton University Press.</ref> Almost all the workers in Paris were on strike.<ref>Walter, G. (1961) "Le vaincu du neuf Thermidor", p. 17. In: ''L'œuvre'', vol. II, part III. Gallimard.</ref>
Resistance to the Terror spread throughout the Convention, and Saint-Just was compelled to address the division. Saint-Just declared in negotiations with Barère that he was prepared to make concessions on the subordinate position of the [[Committee of General Security]].<ref>Albert Soboul (1974) ''The French Revolution, 1787–1799: From the Storming of the Bastille to Napoleon'', pp. ?</ref>{{sfn | Linton | 2013 }} [[Bertrand Barère]] and other Thermidorians claimed that he was trying to propose that Robespierre and those aligned with him have dictatorial authority.<ref>Vinot, p. 311.</ref> In return, Saint-Just supported Carnot's decision to send companies of gunners out of Paris.  However, for a time some of the Thermidorians nevertheless considered Saint-Just to be redeemable, or at the very least useful for their own ambitions. Their attitude toward him shifted later when he delivered an uncompromising public defense of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794).<ref>Doyle, pp. 279–280.</ref>
They set off to the Committee of Public Safety, where they found Saint-Just working. They asked him if he was drawing up their bill of indictment. Saint-Just promised to show them his speech before the session began.{{sfn|Hampson|1974|p=298}}<ref>R.R. Palmer (1970), p. 375</ref> He replied he sent the beginning to a friend and refused to show them his notes. Collot d'Herbois, who chaired the Convention, decided not to let him speak and to make sure he could not be heard on the next day.<ref>Cobb, R. & C. Jones (1988) ''The French Revolution. Voices from a momentous epoch 1789–1795'', p. 230</ref> According to Barère: "We never deceived ourselves that Saint-Just, cut out as a more dictatorial boss, would have ended up overthrowing him to put himself in his place; we also knew that we stood in the way of his projects and that he would have us guillotined; we had him stopped".<ref>{{cite book|last=Barère|first=Bertrand|title=Mémoires de B. Barère: membre de la Constituante, de la Convention, du Comité de salut public, et de la Chambre des représentants|url=https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdebbar01bar|year=1842|publisher=J. Labitte|page=[https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdebbar01bar/page/118 118]}}</ref>
===Thermidor===
{{main|Fall of Maximilien Robespierre}}
[[File:La nuit du 9 au 10 thermidor an II.jpg|thumb|Saint-Just and Robespierre at the Hôtel de Ville on the night of 9 to 10 Thermidor Year II. Painting by Jean-Joseph Weerts]]
At noon, Saint-Just went straight to the convention, likely prepared to place blame on Billaud, Collot d'Herbois and Carnot.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/mathiez_albert/revolution_francaise/revolution_francaise_extraits.html|title=Albert Mathiez (1874–1932), La Révolution française : La chute de la Royauté; La Gironde et la Montagne; La Terreur|first=Jean-Marie|last=Tremblay|date=2 February 2005|website=texte|access-date=12 January 2021|archive-date=14 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114050144/http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/mathiez_albert/revolution_francaise/revolution_francaise_extraits.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He began: "I am from no faction; I will contend against them all".<ref name="romantic-circles.org">{{Cite web|url=https://romantic-circles.org/editions/robespierre/moniteur_comp.html|title=Side-by Side Comparison of Passages from The Morning Chronicle (18 August) and Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel (29 Ju|date=1 March 2008|website=romantic-circles.org|access-date=13 March 2021|archive-date=4 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704143217/https://romantic-circles.org/editions/robespierre/moniteur_comp.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Billaud-Varennes complained about how he was treated in the Jacobin club on the evening before and that Saint-Just had not kept his promise to show his speech before the meeting. As the accusations began to pile up, Saint-Just remained silent. During the ensuing debate he was accused by his fellow deputy [[Louis-Marie Stanislas Fréron|Fréron]] of forming a [[triumvirate]] with Robespierre and Couthon, a reference to the [[first triumvirate]] of [[Julius Caesar]], [[Pompey]], and [[Marcus Licinius Crassus|Crassus]] which led to the end of the [[Roman Republic]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Colin Jones|title=The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4k4EAAAQBAJ&dq=triumvirate++robespierre++couthon&pg=PA223|year=2021|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-871595-5|page=223|access-date=30 September 2022|archive-date=31 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531002128/https://books.google.com/books?id=N4k4EAAAQBAJ&dq=triumvirate++robespierre++couthon&pg=PA223|url-status=live}}</ref> <!--On the dais, Saint-Just declared the absolute necessity of current law, and conspiring deputies buzzed angrily as he spoke.--> Finally, several of them physically shoved him away from the lectern, and each started his own address in which they called for the removal of Robespierre and all his supporters. Amid the uproar, recalled [[Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras|Barras]], Saint-Just "did not leave the platform, in spite of the interruptions which would have driven any one else away. He only came down a few steps, then mounted again, to continue his discourse proudly.... Motionless, unmoved, he seemed to defy everyone with his calm".<ref>Béraud, pp. 111–112.</ref>
Saint-Just saved his dignity at the lectern but not his life. Rising in his support, Robespierre sputtered and lost his voice; his brother [[Augustin Robespierre|Augustin]], [[Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas|Philippe Lebas]], and other key allies all tried swaying the deputies, but failed.<ref>Ten-Brink, pp. 372–374.</ref> The meeting ended with an order for their arrest. <!--Saint-Just, still on the platform, remained unmoved and "looked on contemptuously" at the scene.<ref>Ten-Brink, p. 374.</ref>--> Saint-Just was taken to the [[Scots College (Paris)|"Écossais"]]. <!--His confidence seemed validated when troops from the Paris Commune under [[François Hanriot|Hanriot]] arrived to liberate them.-->  After several hours, however, the five were invited to take refuge in the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] by the mayor. At around 11 p.m., Saint-Just was delivered<!-- by a "municipal"-->.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blanc|first=Louis Jean Joseph|title=Histoire de la Révolution française|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MQ7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA77|year=1869|publisher=Libr. Internationale|page=77|access-date=12 January 2021|archive-date=27 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527070157/https://books.google.com/books?id=9MQ7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> At around 2 a.m., Barras and [[Léonard Bourdon|Bourdon]], accompanied by several members of the Convention, arrived in two columns.  When [[Grenadiers]] broke inside, a number of the defeated Jacobins tried to commit suicide. The unperturbed Saint-Just gave himself up without a word.{{sfn | Linton | 2013 | p=283}} <!--Any contemplation of his own suicide is unclear, but he alone emerged unruffled from the wild, violent final arrest.<ref>Bax, 92.</ref>--> Among the captured, "only St. Just, his hands bound but his head held high, was able to walk".<ref name=Loomis399>Loomis, p. 399.</ref> Robespierre, Saint-Just, and twenty of their associates were guillotined the next day, and Saint-Just reputedly accepted his death with coolness and pride. As a last formality of identification, he gestured to a copy of the Constitution of 1793 and said, "I am the one who made that".<ref name=Hampson227>Hampson, p. 227.</ref> Saint-Just and his guillotined associates were buried in the [[Errancis Cemetery]], a common place of interment for those executed during the Revolution. In the mid-19th century, their skeletal remains were transferred to the [[Catacombs of Paris]].<ref>Beyern, B., ''Guide des tombes d'hommes célèbres'', Le Cherche Midi, 2008, 377p, {{ISBN|978-2-7491-1350-0}}</ref>
==Legacy==
[[File:Saint-Just - Œuvres complètes, éd. Vellay, I, 1908.djvu|thumb|page=7|alt=The cover page of a vintage book|''Œuvres complètes'' ("Complete Works"), edited by Charles Vellay. First edition, Paris, 1908]]
===Other writings===
Throughout his political career, Saint-Just continued to work on books and essays about the meaning of the Revolution, but he did not survive to see any of them published. In later years, these drafts and notes were put together in various collections along with ''Organt'', ''Arlequin Diogène'', ''L'Esprit de la Revolution'', public speeches, military orders, and private correspondence.<ref name=Hampson237238>Hampson, pp. 237–238.</ref>
Many of Saint-Just's legislative proposals were compiled after his death to form an outline for a communal and egalitarian society. They were published as a single volume, ''Fragments sur les institutions républicaines.'' The proposals were far more radical than the Constitution of 1793, and identify closely with the legendarily fearsome traditions of ancient [[Sparta]]. Saint-Just proposed the electoral system now known as [[Single non-transferable voting]] in 1793 in a proposal to the French National Convention. His suggestion was to have the whole country as one multi-seat district and each voter having just one vote. It was not adopted in France at that time.<ref>Hoag and Hallet, Proportional Representation, p. 163</ref>
Many of his proposals are interpreted as proto-socialist precepts:{{efn|In the twentieth century, "Saint-Just" was used as a pseudonym by some socialist writers, such as in the political pamphlet ''Full speed ahead: towards a socialist society'' (London, 1950).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Full speed ahead: towards a socialist society |last=Saint-Just |first=(pseudonym) |year=1950 |publisher=Tribune Publications |location=London |oclc=30188028 }}</ref>}} the overarching theme is equality, which Saint-Just at one point summarizes as: "Man must be independent... There should be neither rich nor poor".<ref>Soboul (1980), p. 61.</ref>
====''De la Nature''====
Saint-Just also composed a lengthy draft of his philosophical views, ''De la Nature'', which remained hidden in obscurity until its transcription by [[Albert Soboul]] in 1951.<ref name=Hampson57>Hampson, p. 57.</ref> He first published this work in 1951 under the title "Un manuscrit oublié de Saint-Just" in the ''Annales historiques de la révolution française'', No. 124.<ref name=Hampson57/> Alain Liénard's ''Saint-Just, théorie politique'' and later collections include an expanded version.<ref name=Hampson237238/> ''De la Nature'' outlines Saint-Just's ideas on the nature of society; the actual date it was written is disputed, but the most agreed upon range is between 1791 and 1792.<ref>Hampson, p. 58.</ref>
Based on the assumption that man is a social animal, Saint-Just argues that in nature there is no need for contracts, legislation, or acts of force.<ref>Hampson, p. 71.</ref> These constructs only become necessary when a society is in need of moral regeneration and serve merely as unsatisfactory substitutes for the natural bonds of free people.<ref>Hampson, pp. 71–72.</ref> Such constructs permit small groups to assume unwarranted powers which, according to Saint-Just, leads to corruption within society.<ref>Fehér, p. 136.</ref> Because a return to the natural state is impossible, Saint-Just argues for a government composed of the most educated members of society, who could be expected to share an understanding of the larger social good.<ref>Fehér, pp. 137–138.</ref> Outside the government itself, Saint-Just asserts there must be full equality between all men, including equal security in material possessions and personal independence. Property must be protected by the state but, to secure universal independence, all citizens (including women) must own property.<ref>Hampson, p. 65.</ref>
====Complete collections====
* [https://archive.org/details/oeuvresdesaintj00saingoog Oeuvres de Saint-Just, représentant du peuple a la Convention Nationale] ''Œuvres de Saint-Just, précédés d'une notice historique sur sa vie]'' edited by Adolphe Havard, Paris, 1834. {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=kTmVmDuZhMEC ''Œuvres complètes de Saint-Just''] in two volumes edited by Charles Vellay, Paris, 1908. {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=1NBnAAAAMAAJ ''Œuvres complètes''], edited by Michèle Duval, Paris, 1984. {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=CHUjAQAAIAAJ ''Œuvres complètes''], edited by Anne Kupiec and Miguel Abensour, Paris, 2004. {{in lang|fr}}
===Character===
[[File:Saint-Just musée Lambinet.jpg|thumb|alt=refer to caption|Terracotta bust of Saint-Just at the [[Musée Lambinet]] in [[Versailles]].]]
Ambitious and active-minded,<ref>Béraud, pp. 92, 96.</ref> Saint-Just worked urgently and tirelessly towards his goals: he wrote that "For Revolutionists there is no rest but in the tomb".<ref>Carlyle, p. 357.</ref> He was repeatedly described by contemporaries as arrogant, believing himself to be a skilled leader and orator as well as having proper revolutionary character.<ref name=Hampson34>Hampson, p. 34.</ref>  Detractors claimed he had a superiority complex and always "made it clear… that he considered himself to be in charge and that his will was law".<ref name=Hampson147>Hampson, p. 147.</ref> Camille Desmoulins wrote of Saint-Just, "He carries his head like a [[Sacramental bread|sacred host]]".<ref name=Scurr221/>{{efn|Legendarily, Saint-Just responded: "I'll make him carry his like [[Saint Denis of Paris|Saint Denis]]."  This line is found in Büchner's play, ''Danton's Death''.<ref>Büchner, Price, p. 25.</ref>}}
Saint-Just's rise to prominence wrought a remarkable change in his personality.<ref>Andress, p. 137.</ref> Freewheeling and passionate in his youth, Saint-Just quickly became focused on the revolutionary cause, described by one author "tyrannical and pitilessly thorough".<ref name="EB1911"/> He became "the ice-cold ideologist of republican purity",<ref>Andress, p. 222.</ref> "as inaccessible as stone to all the warm passions".<ref name=Loomis284>Loomis, p. 284.</ref> A measure of his change can be inferred from the experience of his former love interest Thérèse, who is known to have left her husband and taken up residence in a Parisian neighborhood near Saint-Just in late 1793. Saint-Just—who had already developed something of a relationship, tepid but potentially expedient, with the sister of his colleague Le Bas{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}—refused to see her. Thérèse stayed there for over a year, returning to Blérancourt only after Saint-Just was dead. No record exists of any exchanges they might have had, but Saint-Just is known to have written to a friend complaining impatiently about the rumors connecting him to "citizen Thorin".<ref>Hampson, p. 129.</ref>
In his public speaking, Saint-Just was even more daring and outspoken than his mentor Robespierre. Regarding France's internal strife, he spared few: "You have to punish not only the traitors, but even those who are indifferent; you have to punish whoever is passive in the republic, and who does nothing for it".<ref>Baker, p. 355.</ref> He thought the only way to create a true republic was to rid it of enemies, to enforce the "complete destruction of its opposite".<ref>Higonnet, p. 229.</ref> Regarding the war, he declared without regret to the Convention, "The vessel of the Revolution can arrive in port only on a sea reddened with torrents of blood".<ref name=Loomis284/> He urged the deputies to embrace the notion that "a nation generates itself only upon heaps of corpses".<ref>Hazani, p. 114.</ref>
Despite his flaws, Saint-Just is often accorded respect for the strength of his convictions. Although his words and actions may be viewed by some as reprehensible, his commitment to them is rarely questioned: he was "implacable but sincere".<ref>{{Cite magazine |year=1851 |title=Literary Notices |magazine=[[Harper's]] |publisher=[[Harper & Brothers]] |location=New York |volume=III |page=858 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYwCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA858 |access-date=20 August 2011 |archive-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527070214/https://books.google.com/books?id=OYwCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA858#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Like Robespierre, he was incorruptible in the sense that he exhibited no attraction to material benefits but devoted himself entirely to the advancement of a political agenda.<ref>Monar, p. 585.</ref><ref>Béraud, p. 92.</ref>
====Camus and Saint-Just====
In [[Albert Camus]]'s ''[[The Rebel (book)|The Rebel]]'' (1951), Saint-Just is discussed extensively in the context of an analysis of rebellion and man's progression towards enlightenment and freedom. Camus identifies Saint-Just's successful argument for the execution of Louis XVI as the moment of death for monarchical [[Divine right of kings|divine right]], a [[Nietzschean]] ''[[Twilight of the Idols]]''.<ref>Camus, pp. 118–121, 130–131.</ref> Saint-Just's dedication to "the sovereignty of the people and the sacred power of laws" is described as "a source of absolutism" and indeed "the new God".<ref name=Knee>Knee, pp. 107–108.</ref> His kind of "deification of the political"<ref name=Knee/> is examined as the source of the creeping totalitarianism which grew so powerfully in Camus' own lifetime.<ref>Camus, pp. 131–132.</ref> Camus also references Saint-Just in ''[[The Plague (novel)|The Plague]]'' (1947).
====In popular culture====
Representations of Saint-Just include those found in the novels ''Stello'' (1832) by [[Alfred de Vigny]],<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April–August 1838 |title=Poems and romances of Alfred de Vigny |journal=[[London and Westminster Review]] |publisher=H. Hooper |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=37–39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hAbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA38 |access-date=16 January 2015 |archive-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527070157/https://books.google.com/books?id=6hAbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[A Place of Greater Safety]]'' by [[Hilary Mantel]], and [[The Sandman (comic book)|The Sandman]] comic "Thermidor" by [[Neil Gaiman]]; as well as in the plays ''[[Danton's Death]]'' (1835, by [[Georg Büchner]])<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772067,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826094235/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772067,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 August 2010 |title=The Theater: ''Danton's Death'' |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=3 August 2011 |date=14 November 1938 }}</ref> and ''Poor Bitos'' (''Pauvre Bitos, ou Le dîner de têtes'', 1956, by [[Jean Anouilh]]).<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,871432,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214003612/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,871432,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 December 2011 |title=Theater: The Guillotine Complex |magazine=Time |access-date=25 August 2011 |date=27 November 1964}}</ref>  Saint-Just’s quote, “Nobody can rule guiltlessly,” appears as an epigraph before chapter one in [[Arthur Koestler]]’s 1941 anti-totalitarian novel ''[[Darkness At Noon]]''. In film, Saint-Just has been portrayed by [[Abel Gance]] in [[Napoléon (1927 film)|''Napoléon'']] (1927);<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018192/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm |title=Napoleon (1927) Full Cast & Crew |date=2019 |website=[[IMDb]] |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026012836/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018192/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Jess Barker]] in ''[[Reign of Terror (film)|Reign of Terror]]'' (1949);<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25854 |title=Reign of Terror (1949) |date=2019 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]] |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025160758/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25854 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Patrice Alexsandre]] in ''[[Saint-Just ou La force des choses (film)|Saint-Just and the Force of Things]]'' (1975);<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379970/ |title=Saint-Just ou La force des choses (1975) |website=[[IMDb]] |date=1975 }}</ref>[[Bogusław Linda]] in ''[[Danton (1983 film)|Danton]]'' (1983);<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=28 September 1983 |title=Wajda's 'Danton', Inside the French Revolution |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/28/movies/wajda-s-danton-inside-the-french-revolution.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=C19 |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=4 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704093842/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/28/movies/wajda-s-danton-inside-the-french-revolution.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Christopher Thompson (actor)|Christopher Thompson]] in ''[[La Révolution française (film)|La Révolution française]]'' (1989).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.avoir-alire.com/la-revolution-francaise-2eme-partie-les-annees-terribles-la-critique |title=La Révolution française, 2ème partie: Les années terribles – la critique |author=Dumez, Virgile |date=25 September 2010 |website=Avoire-Alire.com |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=1 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201065812/https://www.avoir-alire.com/la-revolution-francaise-2eme-partie-les-annees-terribles-la-critique |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]] plays a farcical caricature of Saint-Just in [[Jean-Luc Godard]]'s ''[[Week End (1967 film)|Week End]]'' (1967).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://easyreadernews.com/godard-weekend/ |title=The never ending "Weekend" from Hell |author=Swanson, Neely |date=24 November 2011 |website=[[Easy Reader|EasyReaderNews.com]] |access-date=29 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204225702/https://easyreadernews.com/godard-weekend/ |archive-date=4 December 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}
==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book|last=Abensour|first=Miguel|title="Saint-Just and the Problem of Heroism in the French Revolution." ''In'' The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity ''edited by Feher Ferenc''|year=1990|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-07120-9 }}
* {{Cite book |title=The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France |last=Andress |first=David |year=2006 |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |location=New York |isbn=0-374-53073-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G21uPAhnQQ0C }}
* {{Cite book |title=The French Revolution: A Political History, 1789–1804 |last=Aulard |first=François |author-link=François Victor Alphonse Aulard |year=1910  |volume=II |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |location=New York |oclc= 25917606 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJMJAQAAIAAJ }}
* {{Cite book|last=Baker|first=Keith Michael |title=The Old Regime and the French Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/oldregimefr07bake |url-access=registration|year=1987|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-06950-0 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Bax |first=Ernest Belfort |author-link=Ernest Belfort Bax |title=The Story of the French Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/storyoffrenchrev00baxeuoft |year=1890|publisher=Swan Sonnenschein |location=London|oclc= 6024337 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Béraud |first=Henri |author-link=Henri Béraud |title=Twelve Portraits of the French Revolution |year=1968 |orig-year=1928 |publisher= Books for Libraries Press |location=Freeport, NY |oclc=427303 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Boulant |first1=Antoine |title=Saint-Just: l'archange de la Révolution |date=2023 |orig-year=2020 |publisher=Alpha histoire |location=Paris |isbn=978-2-3838-8051-6}}
* {{Cite book |title=Saint-Just: Apostle of the Terror |last=Bruun |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Bruun |year=1966 |publisher=Archon Books |location=Hamden, CT |oclc=1142850 }}
* {{Cite book|last1=Büchner |first1=Georg |last2=Price|first2=Victor |title=The Plays of Georg Büchner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mE67mNxg00EC |year=1971 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-281120-2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Camus |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Camus |title=The Rebel: an essay on man in revolt |year=1991 |orig-year=1951 |publisher=[[Vintage International]] |location=New York |isbn=0-679-73384-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/rebelessayonmani00camu_0 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Carlyle |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Carlyle |title=The French Revolution: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUYQAAAAYAAJ |volume=II |year=1860 |orig-year=1837 |publisher=Harper & Bros |location=New York |oclc= 14208955 }}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Saint-Just, Antoine Louis Léon de Richebourg de|volume=24|pages=20–21 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Curtis |first=Eugene Newton |title=Saint-Just, Colleague of Robespierre |year=1973 |publisher=[[Octagon Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-374-92010-9 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=William |author-link=William Doyle (historian) |title=The Oxford History of the French Revolution |edition=2nd |year=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford; New York |isbn=978-0-19-925298-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoff00doyl }}
* {{Cite book |last=Gough |first=Hugh |year=2010 |title=The Terror in the French Revolution |location=New York |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-230-20181-1 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Hampson |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Hampson |title=Saint-Just |year=1991 |publisher=[[Basil Blackwell & Mott|Basil Blackwell]], Ltd. |location=Oxford |isbn=0-631-16233-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/saintjust0000hamp }}
* {{Cite book |last=Hampson |first=Norman |title=The Life and Opinions of Maximilien Robespierre |publisher=Gerald Duckworth and co. |year=1974 |location=London}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Hazani|first=Moshe|year=1989|title=The Duel That Never Was|jstor=3791590|journal=Political Psychology |volume=10|issue=1 |pages=111–133|oclc=482537177 |doi=10.2307/3791590 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Higonnet |first=Patrice |title=Goodness Beyond Virtue: Jacobins During the French Revolution |year=1998 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-674-47061-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vk8v9yD7rwgC }}
* {{Cite book |last=Jordan |first=David P. |title=The King's Trial: Louis XVI vs. the French Revolution |year=1979 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn= 0-520-03684-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/kingstrial00davi |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |last=Knee |first=Philip |contribution=An Ethics of Measure: Camus and Rousseau |editor-last=Daigle |editor-first=Christine |title=Existentialist Thinkers and Ethics |year=2006 |publisher=[[McGill-Queen's University Press]] |location= Montreal |isbn=978-0-7735-3138-3 |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Be1HgAPAzF4C&pg=PA107 }}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Linton |first=Marisa |author-link=Marisa Linton |date=January 2015 |volume=65 |issue=1 |title=Saint-Just: The French Revolution's 'Angel of Death' |url=http://www.historytoday.com/marisa-linton/saint-just-french-revolutions-angel-death |magazine=[[History Today]] }}
* {{cite book |last=Linton |first=Marisa |date=2013 |title=Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship and Authenticity in the French Revolution |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-957630-2}}
* {{Cite book|last=Loomis |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Loomis |title=Paris in the Terror |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7dHm9JEiEgC |year=1986 |publisher=Richardson & Steirman |isbn=978-0-931933-18-9 }}
* {{Cite book |editor1-first=L. |editor1-last=Mason |editor2-first=T. |editor2-last=Rizzo |title=The French Revolution: A Document Collection |year=1999 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |location=Boston |isbn=0-669-41780-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchrevolution00maso }}
* {{Cite book |last=Monar |first=Jörg |title=Saint-Just: Sohn, Denker und Protagonist der Revolution |language=de |year=1993 |publisher=Bouvier |location=Bonn |isbn=3-416-02466-4 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=R.R. |author-link=Robert Roswell Palmer |title=Twelve Who Ruled |year=1969 |orig-year=1941 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=0-691-05119-4 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Rudé |first=George |author-link=George Rudé |title=The French Revolution |year=1988 |publisher=[[Grove Weidenfeld]] |location=New York |isbn=0-8021-3272-3 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Schama |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Schama |title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution |year=1989 |publisher=Vintage |location=New York |isbn=0-679-72610-1 |title-link=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution }}
* {{Cite book |last=Scurr |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Scurr |title=Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution |year=1989 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-09-945898-2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Soboul |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Soboul |title=The French Revolution 1787–1799 |year=1975 |publisher=Vintage |location=New York |isbn=0-394-71220-X |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchrevolution00sobo }}
* {{Cite book |last=Soboul |first=Albert |title=The Sans-culottes |year=1980 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=0-691-00782-9 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Stephens |first=Henry Morse |author-link=Henry Morse Stephens| title=The Principal Speeches of the Statesmen and Orators of the French Revolution, 1789–1795 |year=1892|publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]|location=Oxford |oclc= 759870 |url=https://archive.org/details/principalspeech03stepgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/principalspeech03stepgoog/page/n482 470] }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ten Brink |first=Jan |author-link=Jan ten Brink |title=Robespierre and the Red Terror |year=1899 |publisher=[[Hutchinson & Co]]. |location=London |oclc=2988851|url=https://archive.org/details/robespierreandr01bringoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/robespierreandr01bringoog/page/n129 105] |quote=Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Organt. }}
* {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=James Matthew |title=Robespierre |volume=1 |year=1968 |orig-year=1935 |publisher=Howard Fertig |location=New York |oclc=401482 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Vinot |first=Bernard |title=Saint-Just |language=fr |year=2002 |orig-year=1985 |publisher=Grand livre du mois |location=Paris |isbn=2-7028-8040-1 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Vinot |first=Bernard |title=Saint-Just |language=fr |year=1985 |publisher=[[Fayard]] |location=Paris |isbn=978-2-213-01386-2 }}
* {{Cite book |title=Regicide and Revolution: Speeches at the Trial of Louis XVI |editor=Walzer, Michael |year=1974 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=London |isbn=0-521-20370-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/regiciderevoluti00walz }}
* {{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Leigh Ann |year=2000 |title=Radicals: Politics and Republicanism in the French Revolution |publisher=[[Sutton Publishing]] |isbn=0-7509-2238-9 }}
==Further reading==
* François Aulard: ''[http://www.worldcat.org/title/orateurs-de-la-legislative-et-de-la-convention/oclc/489580271/editions?start_edition=1 Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la Convention]'' (1883) {{in lang|fr}}
* Édouard Fleury: ''[http://www.worldcat.org/title/saint-just-et-la-terreur/oclc/17405436/editions?start_edition=1 Saint-Just et la terreur]'' (1852) {{in lang|fr}}
* Ernest Hamel: ''[http://www.worldcat.org/title/histoire-de-saint-just-depute-a-la-convention-nationale/oclc/3125275/editions?start_edition=1 Histoire de Saint-Just]'' (1859) {{in lang|fr}}
* Marisa Linton: "The Man of Virtue: The Role of Antiquity in the Political Trajectory of L. A. Saint-Just", ''[[French History (journal)|French History]]'' 24, 3 (2010): pp.&nbsp;393–419
* Albert Soboul: [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4892689161 "Robespierre and the Popular Movement of 1793–4"], ''Past and Present'' (May 1954) {{in lang|en}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Louis Antoine de Saint-Just}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://antoine-saint-just.fr/association.html Association Saint-Just] {{in lang|fr}}
{{French Revolution navbox}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Good article}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Just, Louis De}}
[[Category:1767 births]]
[[Category:1794 deaths]]
[[Category:Anti-monarchists]]
[[Category:Deputies to the French National Convention]]
[[Category:Executed regicides of Louis XVI]]
[[Category:Executed revolutionaries]]
[[Category:French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution]]
[[Category:French political writers]]
[[Category:French radicals]]
[[Category:French revolutionaries]]
[[Category:French socialists]]
[[Category:Jacobins]]
[[Category:Montagnards]]
[[Category:People from Decize]]
[[Category:People imprisoned by lettre de cachet]]
[[Category:People of the Reign of Terror]]
[[Category:People of the War of the First Coalition]]
[[Category:People on the Committee of Public Safety]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté]]
[[Category:Presidents of the National Convention]]
[[Category:Regicides of Louis XVI]]
[[Category:Représentants en mission]]