Louis Blanc (1811-82) was a French historian and politician whose writings had a considerable influence on the development of French socialism. In his famous Organisation du travail (1839) he called for social reform by action of the State, an unusual position at the time. As a member of the provisional government established after the 1848 Revolution, he campaigned for workers’ rights, advocating the creation of cooperative workshops. His twelve-volume Histoire de la Revolution Francaise (1847-62), most of which he wrote while in exile in England, combines years of thorough research with Blanc’s characteristic socialist and republican enthusiasm. Volume 5, first published in 1864, offers an overview of the French political scene in 1790-1. It describes the creation of political clubs, such as the Jacobin Club, which later became famous for implementing the ‘Reign of Terror’. It also covers Louis XVI’s flight and his arrest in Varennes.