es Dechristianization as the essence of revolutionary change, noting:
Moreover, if revolution means change, overturn, innovation, then the Dechristianizers of 1793 were the revolutionists, and Robespierre was an exponent of counter-revolution, or at least of orderly change arrived at under the authority of government (Palmer, 1941, 117).
The role of the Jacobins was thus to carry forth the revolutionary fervor that had toppled the monarchy and to press for radical change, even more radical than many wanted. Their efforts were the subject of much argument even within their own confines, as occurred when Robespierre fought against the Dechristianization policy and supported the idea of religious freedom, in which he ultimately prevailed.
Lefebvre (1964) also sees the Jacobins as an instigating force in the development of the Revolution and as a truly revolutionary force thereafter, being so much so that they would produce the Anti-Jacobin reaction. He finds that the Jacobins served in the summer of 1793 to save the Republic:
They re-established national unity,
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