Blanqui, Louis-Auguste

(1805-1881)

   revolutionary, socialist

   Born in Puget-Théniers, Alpes-Maritimes, Louis-Auguste Blanqui studied law and medicine in Paris. shortly afterward, he became a republican and joined the French Carbonari, participating in the antimonarchist uprisings of 1827. By then, he had become familiar with the ideas of henri de saint-simon, charles fourier, and above all, GRACCHUS babeuf. He took part in the july revolution of 1830, and was a supporter of King louis-philippe i during his early reign. But after 1831, Blanqui was involved in organizing several secret republican and socialist societies, as well as numerous conspiracies against the government. He was arrested and, in his defense statement, gave a strong denunciation of bourgeois capitalist society. Arrested again in 1839 for conspiracy, he was sentenced to life in prison. Pardoned in 1847, he participated in the overthrow of Louis-Philippe's regime the next year, but was again imprisoned for 10 years for his part in the failed leftist uprising of May 1848. During his years in prison, he developed several theories within socialism, among them the concept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat." While believing in the necessity of revolution, he also favored gradual economic evolution from capitalism to communism. upon returning from exile in Belgium in 1870, he attempted another uprising, but the fall of the second empire of napoléon III occurred shortly after (September 1870). By this time, Blanqui had founded the journal La Patrie en danger. He briefly led a provisional government (october 1870), and his followers formed the majority of the members of the comMuNE of Paris, which would end with the slaughter of more than 20,000 communards in May 1871. Blanqui was then again imprisoned but released in 1879. He subsequently published the journal Ni Dieu ni Maître, in which he criticized the utopian socialist movement. Blanqui's own doctrine, "blanquisme," is considered the necessary link between French socialism and Marxism. His most important work, Critique sociale, was published posthumously in 1885.