Text of a poster written in that most dramatic month of August, 1792 which saw the Republican insurrection in Paris on August 10 followed the invasion of France by Prussian-led monarchist army on the 19th. In response to the threat to revolutionary Paris, Marat issued this appeal to total war, that every sharp weapon in the city be gathered and put them into the hands of a mass of citizen-soldiers. One month later and the armies of reaction were turned back by those citoyens at Valmy.
‘Marat, The People’s Friend, to the Brave Parisians’ (1792) from Voices of Revolt. Vol. 2. International Publishers, 1927.
On August 10, Marat had become a member of the Revolutionary Communal Council. He was put forth as a candidate for the National Assembly. His periodical, L’Ami du Peuple, was changed by him to the Journal de la Republique franqaise. His hand-bills, moreover, which were printed independently of his paper, succeeded in mobilizing the citizens of Paris and in inspiring them to a struggle against the European coalition that was taking the field against France. The poster reprinted here was to be seen on every wall in the city on August 26, 1792.
THE countless bands of the conspiring despot are advancing against us; the Fatherland will soon fall under their blows; in fourteen days, it will no longer exist; we ourselves shall have been eliminated from the living, unless we at once abandon our mutual hatreds, postpone our subjects of discord, and command the silence of all petty passions. Let us unite against the common enemy! Let us finally adopt energetic measures to protect our houses from plunder, our wives and daughters from the brutality of savage soldiers, our children from the shameful yoke of slavery, and our lives from the daggers of murderers.
Do not doubt that our cause is lost forever if all the friends of liberty, all the National Guards, all the brave Sans-culottes who are able to bear arms, will not inscribe themselves at once in the public squares for service against the enemy; unless all those who refuse to join in the campaign will hand over their arms to their brothers who are ready to fight; unless all the horses available in the Capital are at once requisitioned for the organization of light cavalry; unless the entire gendarmerie is ordered to the front; unless the Minister of War at once occupies and adequately fortifies the heights that dominate Paris; unless he at once sends forth specialists to construct fortifications that will be strong enough to hold back the enemy’s advance.
From to-night on, all citizens must be summoned by the commune, under pain of death, to deliver up all arms which are not a part of their own personal equipment; from to-night on, commissaires must be appointed to conduct house searches in all houses that are suspected; this very day the commune must appoint three enlightened and reliable commissaires whose duty it shall be to watch over the general welfare; from to-night on every armorer, cutler and locksmith must be ordered to engage in a public and unceasing manufacture of pikes and daggers.
In the name of liberty, of our country, of humanity, and in the interest of the welfare of your wives, of your children, of the unborn generations of the human race, and of yourselves, my dear fellow-citizens, lend your ear to the voice of your true friend; unite to save the State!
Those among you whom fortune has favored will try to segregate themselves, to conceal themselves, and to remain inactive, but their attempts will be fruitless. Paris will be handed over to be plundered, and their houses particularly will be devastated. Their concern for the preservation of their possessions and their lives will permit them to choose no other course than that of uniting with their brothers and fighting by their side. From to-day on, every citizen who is ready to fight for his country must be supported at the Nation’s expense.
Shall I tell you, my dear friends, that you may be obliged finally, in order to save the people, to elect a triumvirate of the most intelligent, most upright, and undaunted men, who will be instructed to adopt all their measures in a council to consist of the most resolute and unsullied friends of our country?
Be not terrified at these words. It is only by force that we can come to the point of securing a victory for Liberty and safeguarding the public weal.
As a guarantee of their good conduct, it will be a sufficient precaution to have the trustees of the national authority permitted to make use of their power only for the purpose of destroying the enemies of the Revolution and not for that of oppressing their fellow-citizens, and to have their office terminate at such moment at which the enemy may no longer be able to raise his head. For so many centuries you have been suffering from the fact that unscrupulous rulers have exercised an arbitrary dominion over you in order to destroy you; will you refuse to hand over to the most virtuous of your brothers the same power, when it is for the purpose of saving you? In order to keep in check the enemies within, if will be sufficient to show them your daggers!
Writings and Speeches of Jean Paul Marat. Voices of Revolt No. 2. International Publishers, New York. 1927.
Contents: Biographical Sketch by Paul Friedlander, A Fiendish Attempt by the Foes of the Revolution (July, 1790), Our We Undone? (July 26, 1790), A Fair Dream and a Rude Awakening (August 25, 1790), Nothing Has Changed! (July, 1792), The Friend of the People to the French Patriots (August, 1792),Marat the People’s Friend to the Brave Parisians (August 26, 1792), Marat the People’s Friend to the Faithful Parisians (August 28, 1792), Guard Against Profiteers! (February 25, I793), Letter from Marat to Camille Desmoulins (June 24, 1790), Letter from Marat to Camille Desmoulins (August, 1790), Explanatory Notes. 78 pages.
The second in the Voices of Revolt series begun by the Communist Party’s International Publishers under the direction of Alexander Trachtenberg in 1927.
PDF of original book: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/parties/cpusa/voices-of-revolt/02-Jean-Paul-Marat-VOR-ocr.pdf
