Charles Victor Beslay (1795,

Dinan Dinan (; ) is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan. Geography Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead of n ...

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor (, ; ; br, Aodoù-an-Arvor, ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord ( br, Aodoù-an-Hanternoz, link=no, ), are a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.

– 1878,

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

) was the oldest member of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

. An engineer, he was councillor general of

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastli ...

in 1830. Later, in Paris, he founded a steam machine factory, and tried to apply the ideas of his friend

Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Social ...

on the association of capital to work. After the 1848 Revolution the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

named him Commissioner of the Republic in

. He was a moderate republican member of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

where he suppressed the insurgents of the insurgency of June 1848. He did not sit in the legislative assembly. In the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

, he was bankrupted creating a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

which exchanged and discounted using Proudhonian ideas. in 1866, he joined the

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

. During the siege of Paris by the Germans (September 1870 – March 1871), he was delegate to the Comité central républicain des Vingt arrondissements with title of the 6th arrondissement. On 26 March he was elected to the Conseil de la Commune of the 6th arrondissement. On 29 March he became a member of the Finance Commission and became delegate of the Commune for the

Banque de France The Bank of France ( French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the F ...

. At the end of May 1871, due to a free pass from the Thiers government, he became a refugee in Switzerland after the failure of the Commune. In December 1872, the war council made no case against him.

Sources

*Bernard Noël, ''Dictionnaire de la Commune'', Flammarion, collection Champs, 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beslay, Charles 1795 births 1878 deaths People from Dinan Politicians from Brittany Moderate Republicans (France) Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly French refugees Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Prefects of Morbihan Communards Members of the International Workingmen's Association