Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet - Committee and Terror

Committee and Terror

He became a substitute member of the Committee of Public Safety on April 6, 1793, and soon replaced the ill Jean Antoine Debry. All members of the Committee of Public Safety belonged to bourgeoisie of the ancien regime, were Montagnards, and all had ample experience serving apprenticeships in previous years assemblies or in high offices of state. Lindet was unique in the demographics of the Committee of Public Safety, in that he was forty-six, where the average age of the members was thirty.

Very concerned by the question of food supplies, he showed his administrative talent in coping with the issue. Lindet was the department head, or the "examiner" of the National Food Commission. The National Food Commission was mainly in charge of economic measures and more specifically was responsible for the provision of subsistence, clothing, and transportation. This body consisted of over 500 members at the height of the Reign of Terror, and would often send these members out for tasks and the gathering of intelligence. For one of these missions, Lindet was sent to the districts of Rhône, Eure, Calvados and Finistère, for the purpose of suppressing revolts. He was successful and was able to enact a conciliatory policy. The National Food Commission also functioned to supervise agricultural and industrial production, was given control of the labor force for war effort, put in charge of controlling trade, and most importantly, the enforcement of the Law of Maximum.

Without being formally opposed to Maximilien Robespierre, he did not support him, and he was, with Philippe Rühl, one of the only two members of the Committee who did not sign the order for the execution of Danton and his party. When asked to do so, he had replied to Louis de Saint-Just: "I am here to protect citizens, and not to murder patriots".