Conspiracy of Equals

Babeuf's secret revolutionary organization (1795-96) that conspired to overthrow the French Directory and establish a proto-communist regime — the first explicitly communist revolutionary conspiracy in modern history.

First communist conspiracy: The Conspiracy of Equals was the first organized attempt to establish a government based on the common ownership of property. Its program went beyond the French Revolution to demand: the abolition of private property in land, common ownership and distribution of all goods, and government by a committee representing the 'common people.' The conspiracy had genuine mass support in Paris among workers, soldiers, and radical Jacobins. It was betrayed to the Directory; Babeuf and fellow conspirator Augustin Darthé were guillotined in May 1797. Filippo Buonarroti's account (1828) inspired later revolutionary movements including Blanquism.