Chapter 9. Louis Blanc

¹ Henri Baudrillart's comments on Blanc as a historian are so pleasingly acid, that they deserve not to be wholly forgotten: ‘L'auteur a beaucoup lu, non pas sans doute comme lit un historien impartial, mais comme lit un avocat donc la thème est fait d'avance.... Plusieurs de ces récits rapellent la manière dont Tacite, qu'il semble vouloir imiter et avec lequel je ne le compare pas, dépeint la revolte des légions de Pannonie et de Germanie. Sa concision piquante se plait aux portraits et y réussit. Je parle de l'effet et non de la justesse’ (Baudrillart: Publicistes Modernes, 1863, p. 305). The reader who feels that it may be unjust to Blanc to judge him solely by L'Organisation du Travail, as is now almost universally done, may read the first (of the twelve!) volumes of the Histoire de la Révolution Française. This volume is devoted to the history of Europe viewed as a preparation for the French Revolution. All history is regarded as the record of the conflict and inter-reactions of three principles, Authority, Individualism and Fraternity. The Bourgeoisie is identified with individualism. The whole volume is a rather curious example of carrying current antipathies and nomenclature into the narration of the past.

¹ P. 14 (for convenience, references to Sir John Marriott's edition).

² P. 17.

¹ P. 30.

² Pp. 47–48.

¹ P. 57.

² P. 58.

³ It may be irrelevant, but it is not without interest to note that Savings Banks in their early days had a somewhat rough passage at the hands of socialist criticisms and suspicions. Almost contemporaneously with Louis Blanc's outrageous comments, a somewhat minor Scots poet, Alexander Rodger, wrote a quite diverting satire entitled, Shaving Banks; or, Matthew's Call to the Worthless, to come and be shaved o' their siller:

For we've established SHAVING BANKS,
For shaving o’ the lower ranks,
For which we claim the gratefu’ thanks,
Withouten flattery,
Of you, wha are but useless blanks
In life's great lottery.

But Rodger, though more amusing, lacked the bright ideas of Louis Blanc. For him the Shaving Bank was merely a device for the swindling of the poor, and the better observance of the Iron Law of Wages. As a mere Scot, it would not occur to him to bring in ‘la courtisane qui a vendu sa beauté.’

¹ Pp. 59–60.

² Pp. 61, 67.

³ Pp. 67–68.

⁴ P. 69.

¹ P. 70.

² Pp. 76–77.

³ P. 102.

⁴ P. 103.

¹ P. 104.

² P. 105.

¹ Pp. 108–110.

² P. 115.

³ Pp. 148–149, 165.

⁴ P. 191.

¹ P. 111.

² P. 138.

¹ Pp. 141–142.