BLANQUI, Louis AucusTE (1805-81). A French revolutionist and a member of the Paris Commune. lle was a brother of Je•rOme Adolphe Blanqni (q.v.), and was born at Puget-Theniers, in the Department of Alpes-Maritimes, February 7, 1805. While studying law and medicine in Paris, he became closely identified with the Revolutionary movement, and took an active part in the disturbances which led to the overthrow of Charles X. lie became one of the most promi nent leaders of the Parisian proletariat and an irreconcilable enemy of the bourgeoise govern ment of Louis Philippe. With Barbes (q.v.) he was the instigator of the insurrection of May 12, 1839, and as a result was condemned to death, the sentence- being commuted, however, to im prisonment for life. The February Revolution set him free. He was one of the leaders of the mob which. on May 15, 1848, attempted to storm the hall of the National Assembly, and was eendemned to ten years' imprisonment. Liber ated in 1559, he lived in London for some time, and returning to Paris in 1861, speedily suc ceeded in incurring a sentence of four years' im prisonment as an instigator to riot. In 1871 he took part in the insurrection which led to the establishment of the Paris Commune, and became subsequently a member of the Communal Gov ernment. After the taking of Paris by the troops
from Versailles, Blanqui was sentenced to trans portation to New Caledonia ; but in consideration of his infirmities, the aged man was sent to prison instead. He was pardoned in 1879, and died January 1, 1SSI. With Armand Barbes, whose coadjutor he was in the events of 1839 and 1848, Blanqui stands out as the type of the fanatic reformer engendered by the French Revolution and the democratic movement of the Nineteenth Century. Idealist and fighter in one, with no recognition for the limitations of actuality, he was hut a lineal descendant of the men of 1793, who attempted to regenerate the world through terror. The sincerity of his beliefs was attested by nearly half a lifetime spent in prison. Blan qui was the author of a scientific work entitled L'eternite dans les astres (1872). His writings on economic subjects were published in 1855, under the title of Critique sociale. The name Blanquistes is now borne by the radical wing of the Socialist Party in France.