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 7, first published in 1855, deals with the 'second Revolution' led by the new revolutionary Commune on 10 August 1792. It explores the aftermath of this insurrection, including the September massacres in the Paris prisons, and concludes with an account of Louis XVI's trial.