What is Jacobinism? The Birth of the Radical Left (S1E3)

Jacobinism promised equality, enforced virtue, and left a legacy the left has wrestled with ever since.Emerging from the French Revolution, Jacobinism was the first modern attempt to make politics absolute—reshaping society in the name of equality, virtue, and popular sovereignty itself. Under leaders like Maximilien Robespierre, the Jacobins fused Enlightenment ideals with mass politics, revolutionary discipline, and terror, leaving behind one of the most contested legacies in history.This episode explores the Jacobins as both a political movement and an ideology: their roots in Rousseau’s philosophy, their obsession with civic virtue and the general will, and their belief that corruption had to be eliminated for freedom to survive. From the Jacobin Club and the sans-culottes to the Reign of Terror and Thermidor, we trace how revolutionary ideals hardened into coercive power.Because this season examines the birth of socialism in revolutionary Paris, we also follow the Jacobin afterlife—through Babeuf’s egalitarian conspiracies, Marx’s reading of the French Revolution, Lenin’s admiration for Jacobin resolve, and modern debates about revolutionary violence and emancipation.This is Season One: The Origins of Socialism: Paris and the Making of Modern RevolutionNext: Paris 1848: The Red Flag in Spring (Part I: The Volcano)Written and produced by Matt Payne.Support, Subscribe, Read on Substack: https://ismhistorypodcast.substack.com/Original Musical Compositions by Ian Payne: https://www.jamesianpayne.com/Support the Show: PayPalContact: [email protected] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ismhistorypodcast.substack.com