Law of maximum

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The maximum laws are two laws that were enacted in 1793 during the French Revolution and set maximum prices for everyday goods and maximum wages . They are to be understood as an attempt by the ruling Jacobins to eliminate or at least alleviate the greatest social grievances.

history

The laws on the maximum were an integral part of social legislation during the Welfare Committee's reign . With the "Small Maximum" of May 4, 1793, a maximum price for grain was set, with the "Large Maximum" or maximum général of September 29, 1793, maximum prices were set for everyday goods, e.g. B. bread, oil, fabrics, candles, and firewood set. Furthermore, wages were set at one and a half times the wages of 1790. A hoarding ban for basic necessities had already been decided on July 26, 1793.

The laws came about in the face of the massive, famine-linked economic crisis under pressure from the sans-culottes , the Parisian lower class, who did not benefit from the revolution and whose living conditions had not improved, although they had largely supported the revolution. The economic and social program of the sans-culottes, however, was far more radical than the measures decided in September 1793: Among other things, it provided for a maximum of property. In addition, they had made numerous political demands, such as the public at all parliamentary meetings, the possibility of dismissal and the fight against corruption. In the face of economic hardship and pressure from the starving lower classes, the Jacobins, and with them the majority of the convention, who supported liberal economic theories, gave up their resistance to state intervention in the economy, reminiscent of the hated ancien régime . Robespierre argued that the right to exist was more important than the right to property. Attempts to socialize consumer goods were associated with this, for example confiscations. The death penalty should apply to usurers.

The implementation of the maximum was difficult because the strongly differing local prices and wages had to be determined. The initially regional maxima were later adjusted nationwide (14 livres per quintal of bread wheat, 20 livres for wheat flour, etc.). State control as a prerequisite for the implementation of the law was hardly possible.

On July 23, 1794, the maximum wages were renewed, which led to a break between the sans-culottes and the Jacobins, who lost their support in the Parisian population and their mass base. Immediately after the fall of the Jacobins, the Maximum Laws were repealed by the new rulers on December 24, 1794, and the measures for state control of the economy were abandoned.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Décret relatif aux subsistances of May 4, 1793, In: Jean-Baptiste Duvergier : Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglements, et avis du Conseil d'Etat . Paris: Guyot / Scribe / Charles-Béchet 1825. Volume 5, page 332 ff. Digitized
  2. ↑ Décret qui fixe le maximum des denrées et marchandises de premieère nécessité of September 29, 1793, In: Jean-Baptiste Duvergier: Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglements, et avis du Conseil d'Etat . Paris: Guyot / Scribe / Charles-Béchet 1825. Volume 6, page 239 ff. Digital copy , carried out in the Décret relatif à une fixation des denrées et marchandises soumises à la loi du maximum [1] February 24, 1794 (= 6. Ventôse 2 ).
  3. ↑ Decrét contre les accapareurs of July 26, 1793, In: Jean-Baptiste Duvergier: Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglements, et avis du Conseil d'Etat . Paris: Guyot / Scribe / Charles-Béchet 1825. Volume 6, page 68 f. Digitized
  4. ↑ Décret qui fixe un maximum du prix des grains, farines et fourrages, et prononce des peines contre l'exportation of September 1, 1793, In: Jean-Baptiste Duvergier: Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglements, et avis du Conseil d'Etat . Paris: Guyot / Scribe / Charles-Béchet 1825. Volume 6, page 197 ff. Digitized
  5. ↑ Décret qui supprime tous ceux portant fixation d'un maximum sur le prix des denrées et marchandises of December 24, 1794 (= 4th level 3), In: Jean-Baptiste Duvergier: Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglements, et avis du Conseil d'Etat . Paris: Guyot / Scribe / Charles-Béchet 1825. Volume 7, page 444 f. Digitized

literature

  • Albert Soboul : The Great French Revolution. An outline of their history. (1789-1799). Edited and translated by Joachim Heilmann and Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar . With a bibliographical afterword by Frauke Stübig. 5th revised edition. Athenaeum, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-610-08518-5 .
  • Albert Soboul: French Revolution and Popular Movement: the Sans-culottes. The sections of Paris in the year II (= Edition suhrkamp . 960). Edited and edited by Walter Markov . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-518-10960-X .
  • Walter Markov, Albert Soboul: 1789. The Great Revolution of the French. 4th edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000894-6 .