Blanc, Louis

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Louis (1811-1882), a French socialist. He was born at Madrid. He studied at the University of Paris, and took up the work of an attorney's clerk; but wearying of that life, taught for a time and then turned his attention to journalism. He founded the Revue du Progres in 1839 and devoted his energies to the interests of the workingman. His great work, Organization of Labor, appeared serially in the Revue, and was published in book form in 1840. He attacked the government of Louis Philippe bitterly. He was a member of the provisional government of 1848. He was accused of conspiracy and fled to England, where he wrote a History of the French Revolution in twelve volumes, Letters on England, Questions of Today and Tomorrow. At the downfall of Louis Napoleon in 1870 Blanc returned to Paris. His socialistic admirers elected him to the National Assembly. Louis Blanc had no little influence on the thought of his day. He is quoted frequently. His central doctrine may be stated briefly. Society should cease to be a battlefield, man competing with man. Each should contribute according to his ability and each should be compensated according to his needs. 2026 Editor's Note: Blanc gave the world a slogan usually credited elsewhere: "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" appears in his writing years before Marx made it famous. His demand that the state guarantee a right to work produced the National Workshops of 1848 — an early, short-lived experiment in what later became public employment policy. (Ed: BR 2026-07-05)