That simple logic which is always so characteristic of political parties held the principle of “the right to work” responsible for this disastrous experience, and it was definitely condemned. This is quite clear from the constitutional debates in the National Assembly. The constitutional plan laid down by Armand Marrast on June 19, a few days before the riots, recognised “the right to work.” “The Constitution,” says Article 2, “guarantees to every citizen liberty, equality, security, instruction, work, property, and public assistance.” But in the new plan of August 29—after the experience of June—the article disappeared. The right to relief only was recognised. In the discussion on the article an amendment re-establishing “the right to work” was proposed by Mathieu de la Drôme. A memorable debate followed, in which Thiers, Lamartine, and Tocqueville opposed the amendment, while the Radical Republicans Ledru-Rollin, Crémieux, and Mathieu de la Drôme defended it.[656] The socialists had become extinct. Louis Blanc was in exile, Considérant ill, while Proudhon was afraid of startling his opponents and of compromising his friends. Besides, the Assembly had already made up its mind. The amendment was defeated, and Article 8 of the preamble to the Constitution of 1848 runs as follows: “The Republic by means of friendly assistance should provide for its necessitous citizens, either by giving them work as far as it can, or by directly assisting those who are unable to work and have no one to help them.” During the reign of the July Monarchy “the organisation of labour” was another phrase which divided the honours with “the right to work.” With the spread of the Revolution came a similar menacing demand for its realisation. By a strange coincidence the author of this formula was also a member of the Provisional Government. And so when on February 28, three days after the recognition of “the right to work,” the workers came in a body and claimed the creation of a Minister of Progress, the organisation of labour, and the abolition of all exploitation, Louis Blanc immediately seized the opportunity to urge his unwilling colleagues to accede to their demands. He himself had pressed the Government to take the initiative in social reform, and now that the Revolution had made him a member of the Government how could he escape his responsibility? After some difficulty his colleagues succeeded in persuading him to accept the alternative of a Government commission on labour, of which he was to be president. The commission was entrusted with the task of drawing up the proposed reforms, which were afterwards to be submitted to the National Assembly. To mark the contrast between the old and the new _régime_ the commission carried on its deliberations in the Palais du Luxembourg, where the Chambre des Paris formerly sat.