Blanc, Louis

(1811-1882)

   socialist and historian

   Born in Madrid, spain, the son of the inspector general of finances for the king, Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Blanc was educated in Paris, where he soon became an advocate of socialism and socialist reform. A contributor to various political journals, he established, in 1839, Revue du Progrès, which served as an organ for his socialist doctrines. Blanc's concept of the social order anticipated a number of later thinkers in that it declared that revolutionary action was the only feasible path for the working classes. He also formulated, in L'Organisation du travail (1839), the social principle, "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," which was later adopted by Marx. Blanc believed that this could be achieved through the creation of "social workshops"—the "ateliers" that were associations of workers financed by the state. In 1841, he published a violent pamphlet, "Histoire de dix ans," against the July Monarchy and, during the revolution of 1848, became a leader of the provisional republican government that came to power after the abdication of louis-philippe i. But after the brutal suppression of the worker's uprising in Paris in June 1848, he was forced to flee and lived in exile in England for 22 years. There, he wrote his 12-volume Histoire de la Revolution française (1847-62). After the fall of the Second Empire in 1870, he returned to France and was elected to the National Assembly (February 1871), but he opposed the extremism of the commune, which was then in power. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1876 until his death.