Blanqui

(Louis Auguste), French politician, b. near Nice, 7 Feb. 1805, a younger brother of Jerome Adolphe Blanqui, the economist. Becoming a Communist, his life was spent in conspiracy and imprisonment under succe ive governments. In ’39 he was condemned to death, but his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life, and was subject to brutal treatment till the revolution of ’48 set him at liberty. He was soon again imprisoned. In ’65 he wrote some remarkable articles on Monotheism in Le Candide . After the revolution of 4 Sept. ’70, Blanqui demanded the suppre ion of worship. He was again imprisoned, but was liberated and elected member of the Commune, and arrested by Thiers. In his last imprisonment he wrote a curious book, Eternity and the Stars , in which he argues from the eternity and infinity of matter. Died Paris, 31 Dec. 1880. Blanqui took as his motto “ Ni Dieu ni maître ”—Neither God nor master.