The Maximum Laws imposed price ceilings on bread, grain, oil, candles, firewood and other everyday essentials. They were an attempt to stabilize the Revolution through bread. For anyone in Paris who could not get bread did not merely suspect the baker: he also began to doubt the Republic. These measures of compulsory price stabilization belonged to the emergency social legislation of the National Convention. The goals: secure supplies, push down prices, fight speculation. But these massive interventions in the free economy had counterproductive effects. Farmers and merchants were sometimes forced to supply goods with no real prospect of profit. Stocks disappeared, the black market grew. Hunger sometimes became even worse. And the simultaneous limitation of wages led workers to turn away from the Montagnards. After the fall of Robespierre, the Maximum was abolished.
1793 - 1794
May 4, 1793 · With the Small Maximum, the Convention sets maximum prices for grain.
July 26, 1793 · The law against hoarders makes the hoarding of essential goods a capital crime.
September 29, 1793 · The General Maximum sets maximum prices for numerous everyday consumer goods. Maximum wages are also fixed at 1.5 times the wages of 1790.
June 10, 1794 · The Law of 22 Prairial imposes the death penalty for obstructing the food supply of Paris or causing scarcity in the Republic.
July 23, 1794 · Renewal of the Maximum on wages. This causes discontent among Parisian workers.
July 28, 1794 · Execution of Robespierre. The Revolution has passed its high point. The social idea recedes into the background once again.
December 24, 1794 · Abolition of all laws setting maximum prices for food and goods.
Quotes
If the people have no bread, let them eat cake. Quote mistakenly attributed to Marie Antoinette
Down with the Maximum! Shouts of Parisian workers as Robespierre was taken to the guillotine
Bread and the Constitution of 1793! Demand of the Parisian sans-culottes during the Prairial uprising of 1795.
The Maximum Laws imposed price ceilings on bread, grain, oil, candles, firewood and other everyday essentials. They were an attempt to stabilize the Revolution through bread. For anyone in Paris who could not get bread did not merely suspect the baker: he also began to doubt the Republic. These measures of compulsory price stabilization belonged to the emergency social legislation of the National Convention. The goals: secure supplies, push down prices, fight speculation. But these massive interventions in the free economy had counterproductive effects. Farmers and merchants were sometimes forced to supply goods with no real prospect of profit. Stocks disappeared, the black market grew. Hunger sometimes became even worse. And the simultaneous limitation of wages led workers to turn away from the Montagnards. After the fall of Robespierre, the Maximum was abolished.
