Henri Tolain

After the Act of March 1852 of the new Second French Empire of Louis Napoleon, he participated in the revival of mutual societies.

His call for strikes to be legalized was partially met by the Ollivier act of May 25, 1864, but only under strict limitations of not causing violence, and not infringing the 'freedom to work'.

In 1862, during the Universal Exhibition of London, Henri Tolain was part of a delegation of French trade unionists whose attendance had been subsidised by Napoleon III[2] for the purposes of studying British products, inventions and industrial processes.

He initially became the most influential person in the Paris section of the IWA which opened an office in January 1865, at rue Gravilliers.

His influence on the movement was at its peak when he wrote the "Memorandum for the French delegates" at the Geneva congress of the International.

But under the pressure of the wave strikes of 1867, he was unable to restrict the "Gravilliers" to the role of a mutual study circle.

Tolain continues to defend mutualism and private property during the 1868 Brussels congress where the Belgian socialist César de Paepe led the collectivist majority to defeat the Proudhonians over the land question.

He is criticizes for his closeness to the Royal Palace and for having abandoned "the smock and chisel," because since 1867 he worked on the books for the tinsmith Chavagnat.

On 12 April he was expelled for "having deserted his cause in the most cowardly and shameful manner" by the Federal Council of the Parisian sections of the International.