Atlas / Organisations / Conspiracy of Equals

Conspiracy of Equals

Babouvism · 1795–1797 · France · Communist · Movement · coding confidence medium

−10ECcollective
−05CUpluralist
+07AUmonist
+06SCcentral
−06IDuniversal
+10CHcoercive

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Real equality requires abolishing private property; a temporary revolutionary dictatorship will impose it.

Economic model

National community of goods, common storehouses, obligatory labour, abolition of inheritance.

Organisation of powers

Insurrectionary seizure of power by a secret directorate acting for the people.

Reading note

The first fully modern communist programme, and the template for the vanguard idea a century before Lenin.

Check a claim about Conspiracy of Equals. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

Open in the atlas

The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored −10

At the floor: national community of goods.

  • Programme textThe Manifesto of the Equals (1796) demands the disappearance of the distinction between rich and poor.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored −05

Coded −5: absolute levelling including of education and inheritance.

  • Programme textThe programme abolishes inheritance and assigns children to common education.

AU · Organisation of power · scored +07

Coded +7: a secret directorate acting for the people until equality is imposed.

  • Programme textThe insurrectionary committee planned to rule by decree after seizing power.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +06

Coded +6: national storehouses and centrally directed labour.

  • Programme textProduction and distribution are administered nationally in the plan.

ID · Rule of membership · scored −06

Coded −6: universal in address.

  • Programme textThe appeal is to the human race rather than to the French nation.

CH · Method and tempo · scored +10

At the ceiling: insurrection as the sole method.

  • Documented act or statuteBabeuf and Darthé were guillotined in 1797 after the conspiracy was betrayed.

Where it came from, and what came after

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

France

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Conspiracy of Equals. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/babeuf/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.