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The article examines whether or not Rousseau in Discours sur l’inégalité leaves a place for popular resistance as being legitimate and efficient when up against constituted powers. Taking on board the underlying tensions of Rousseau’s conception of the people, it first highlights the dual conception of politics which is conveyed throughout the Discours, at once calamity and salvation. Then it turns to passages that apparently subsume rebellion under the first of these conceptions as a means to deepen corruption. Lastly it shows how a reintegration of these passages within their context allows for a questioning of such reductive thinking. Thus, the article shows that the possibility of a legitimate and victorious revolt is problematically but intensely present in the Discours.