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List of contents
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Intelligence
Chapter 2. Conflict
Chapter 3. Actors
Chapter 4. Volition
Chapter 5. History
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Philippe Le Goff teaches at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Warwick, UK. He is the co-editor, with Peter Hallward, of The Blanqui Reader (2018).
Summary
Few individuals made such an impact on nineteenth-century French politics as Louis-Auguste Blanqui (1805-1881). Political organiser, leader, propagandist and prisoner, Blanqui was arguably the foremost proponent of popular power to emerge after the French Revolution. Practical engagement in all the major uprisings that spanned the course of his life – 1830, 1848, 1870-71 – was accompanied by theoretical reflections on a broad range of issues, from free will and fatalism to public education and individual development. Since his death, however, Blanqui has not been simply overlooked or neglected; his name has widely become synonymous with theoretical misconception and practical misadventure.
Auguste Blanqui and the Politics of Popular Empowerment offers a major re-evaluation of one the most controversial figures in the history of revolutionary politics. The book draws extensively on Blanqui's manuscripts and published works, as well as writings only recently translated into English for the first time. Through a detailed reconstruction and critical analysis of Blanqui's political thought, it challenges the prevailing image of an unthinking insurrectionist and rediscovers a forceful and compelling theory of collective political action and radical social change. It suggests that some of Blanqui's fundamental assumptions – from the insistence on the primacy of subjective determination to the rejection of historical necessity – are still relevant to politics today.
Foreword
Drawing on a range of his works, this book offers a re-evaluation of the revolutionary politics of Louis-Auguste Blanqui, whilst also demonstrating the continued relevance of his thinking today.
Additional text
Is there a future for radical politics? There is no better way to address this question than by revisiting Auguste Blanqui’s thought. This exciting and scholarly study reappraises Blanqui’s ideas by attending carefully to his arguments on the priority of political action and the ideals of radical democracy and equality.
