Louis Blanc

From Philosopedia

Blanc, (Jean Joseph Charles) Louis (20 October 1811 - 6 December 1882)

Blanc, a French socialist politician, journalist, and historian, wrote Organisation du travail (1840), which outlined his ideal of a new social order based on the principle “Let each produce according to his aptitudes . . . let each consume according to his need.”

The first stage in achieving his goal was to have a system of national workshops controlled by working men with the support of the state. As a member of the provisional government of 1848 he insisted on the establishment of these workshops, but his plan was sabotaged by other leaders of the government and he fled to England, remaining there until 1871.

Blanc wrote a thirteen-volume Histoire de la Révolution française (1847-1862) which showed his admiration of Jacobinism. Upon his return to France, he became a member of the National Assembly in 1871 and later was a leader of the left in the chamber of deputies.

Marx labeled Blanc’s ideas “utopian socialism.” Blanc was an atheist who often expressed his complete rejection of religion. {CE; JM; RAT}