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 6, first published in 1864, deals with the elections of 1791 and the ensuing period of constitutional crisis. It describes the months leading up to the war with Austria, and culminates with the invasion of the Tuileries Palace by the people on 20 June 1892.