France state institutions Early socialism France France 1811–1882 ○ Natural causes

Socialist of the "right to work", member of the 1848 Provisional Government and president of the Luxembourg Commission

Born in Madrid in 1811, he studied law in Paris and worked as a journalist. In The Organisation of Labour (1839) he traced social evils to competition and proposed state-financed "social workshops", and in 1841 his History of Ten Years, 1830–1840 attacked the July Monarchy. The February Revolution of 1848 made him a member of the Provisional Government; on his motion the government undertook on 25 February "to guarantee the existence of the workmen by work", and when his demand for a ministry of labour was refused he presided over the government labour commission at the Luxembourg Palace. After the June Days he escaped through Belgium to London and was condemned to deportation in absentia by the special tribunal at Bourges. He returned in 1870, was elected to the National Assembly in 1871 and in 1879 carried the amnesty of the Communards.

Also known as: Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc

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