The Sans-Culottes and the Maximum

The sans-culottes were the militant shopkeepers, artisans and workers of Paris and other cities. Their name, meaning 'without knee-breeches', distinguished them from the elites who wore silk breeches; they wore long trousers. They met in the sections, the city's neighbourhood assemblies, and pressed for cheap bread, harsh measures against hoarders and direct democracy. Under their pressure, the Convention passed the General Maximum in September 1793, capping the prices of many essential goods and also limiting wages.

Revolutionary armies of civilians requisitioned grain in the countryside. The policy kept Paris fed during the crisis but angered farmers and workers alike, and it was abolished in December 1794. The sans-culottes' alliance with the Jacobins was uneasy: once the Committee of Public Safety centralised power, it curbed the sections and executed radical leaders such as Hébert in 1794.