Louis Auguste Blanqui, born on this day in 1805, was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism and being the elected president of the Paris Commune while imprisoned.

Blanqui was a non-Marxist socialist who believed in immediate, violent revolution to overturn the capitalist order. Because of his unrelenting radicalism, he spent 33 years of his life in prison, leading to the nickname "l'enfermé", or "the locked-up one".

Blanquism is more of a revolutionary theory than an economic or social one; his thinking was chiefly concerned with how to achieve revolution. Unlike Karl Marx, Blanqui did not believe in the predominant role of the working class. Instead, he believed that revolution should be carried out by a small group of professional, dedicated revolutionaries who would establish a temporary dictatorship by force.

"He who has iron, has bread. People bow down before bayonets; a disarmed crowd is swept aside. But a France bristling with workers in arms means the advent of socialism. In the presence of armed proletarians, all obstacles, resistances and impossibilities will disappear."

- Louis Blanqui