Today in Labor History February 8, 1805: Louis-Auguste Blanqui was born. He was a French revolutionary and participant in the Paris Commune. Blanqui took an active role in most republican conspiracies of the early to mid-1800s, both in France, and in Italy with the Carbonari society, including the July Revolution of 1830. In 1840, the authorities condemned him to death for his role in a violent rebellion led by the Société des Saisons. However, they commuted it to life in prison and then ended up releasing him during the revolution of 1848. Needless to say, he promptly resumed his attacks. In 1849, they again imprisoned him, but he escaped and led two more armed uprisings. Just prior to the Paris Commune, they arrested him again. While in prison, the Communards elected him president of the commune. The Communards offered to release all of their prisoners if the government released Blanqui. In 1872, along with other leaders of the Commune, the authorities sentenced him to deportation. But because of poor health, they commuted his sentence to local imprisonment. He died in 1881.
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