Alexandre Martin

[2] As a young man he moved to Paris, where he served as an apprentice in his uncle's machine shop; later, he worked as a machinist in a button factory.

When the socialists were included into the provisional government, Louis Blanc made Albert – by this time a popular figure among the workers – a secretary.

By this time, Albert had lost faith in the provisional government, and, together with Louis Auguste Blanqui and Armand Barbès, attempted an insurrection of his own.

On 15 May, they led a crowd, demonstrating against the government; the riot was bloodily suppressed by the bourgeois National Guards, and Albert and Barbès were captured at the Hôtel de Ville.

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, became a member of the Commission des Barricades in the Government of National Defense, and stood for election twice in the Third Republic, losing both bids.