Proudhonist industrialist, the oldest member of the Commune, who as its delegate to the Bank of France kept the bank untouched
Born at Dinan in 1795, an engineer, he was elected deputy in 1831 and again in 1834. He founded a steam engine factory in Paris and tried to apply his friend Proudhon's ideas on the association of capital and labour. In 1848 he was commissioner of the Republic in the Morbihan and, in the Constituent Assembly, backed the repression of the June insurgents. Under the Second Empire he ruined himself founding a Proudhonian exchange bank, and in 1866 he joined the International Workingmen's Association. Elected to the Commune council for the 6th arrondissement on 26 March 1871, its oldest member, he sat on the finance commission and as the Commune's delegate to the Bank of France chose to protect the bank and its funds. At the end of May a pass from Thiers's government let him reach Switzerland, and in December 1872 the court-martial dropped the case against him.
Also known as: Charles Victor Beslay
Activities and affiliations
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1831–1834
Legislature and state representation
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1848–1849
Legislature and state representation
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1866–1871
International Workingmen's Association (First International)
Social movements and organizing -
1870–1871
Republican Central Committee of the Twenty Arrondissements
Social movements and organizing -
1871
Paris Commune (1871)Commune member and delegate to the Bank of FranceMain
Economy, finance and planning
Career Timeline
- 1831Deputy for Pontivy (re-elected 1834)
- 1848Commissioner of the Republic in the Morbihan; Constituent Assembly
- 1866Joined the International
- 1871Commune member for the 6th; delegate to the Bank of France
- 1871–1878Exile in Switzerland