Saint-Just

The famous Michelet called him the archangel of death. One of the youngest Jacobin leaders was a man full of contradictions. He defended virtue to the extreme, yet shortly before the revolution, he published the cynical poem Organt, which his critics labelled as outright pornography. As one of the few who fought for the abolition of the death penalty, it was he who was the first in the Convention to call for the execution of Louis XVI. His famous parliamentary speech became a revolutionary memento. The words “the king must either reign or die” went down in history. In economic policy, he was a moderate liberal; in social policy, a radical socialist. In this book, Vladimír Vokál debunks the established myths about Saint-Just's political practices. In reality, he was not merely Robespierre's apprentice, a sword that mindlessly carried out the will of 'the Incorruptible'. From the fall of the Bastille, he was an independently thinking and acting politician who had profound ideological disputes with the leader of the Jacobins. Thanks to his three theoretical works, almost unknown in the Czech context, he became an original thinker, ideologue, and philosopher. He was the founder of the modern French army, which in subsequent years, especially during the Bonapartist era, dominated the entire old continent. He loved modern technology and, together with Carnot, built a military laboratory in Paris that churned out one army innovation after another. In his most famous battle at Fleurus, he did not hesitate to use a hot-air balloon for the first time in history, which made it easier for the French to navigate the terrain. He was a brilliant speaker. He was one of the first politicians who wanted to realise the utopian visions of the French Enlightenment thinkers in the form of a modern social state and who attempted to bring the political institutions of a changing France into line with social reality. He rejected ostentatious honours, living a modest, ascetic life. He hated corruption and fought hard against bribes and machinations in the state administration. The author presents the captivating story of a politician who refused to compromise. This seemingly fragile young man became the true bloody demon of the revolution. He had no mercy for his enemies. He dealt with anyone who wanted to return the country to pre-revolutionary order, unfortunately even at the cost of judicial injustices and crimes. Vladimír Vokál offers a portrait of a young, ambitious politician and idealistic dreamer whose strong desire to right historical wrongs led him into the service of terror. It was only at the very end of his life that reflection and a free-thinking conscience awoke in him. But it was too late. The corrupt and crime-stained Thermidorians overthrew him along with Robespierre and created the still-maintained myth of the Montagnards' reign of terror.