 His book "Extinction du paupérisme" ("Extinction of pauperism"), which he wrote while imprisoned at the Fort of Ham in 1844, contributed to his popularity among the working classes and thus his election in 1848.Throughout his reign, the emperor worked to alleviate the sufferings of the poor, on occasion breaching the 19th-century economic orthodoxy of freedom and laissez-faire and using state resources or interfering in the market.Among other things, the Emperor granted the right to strike to French workers in 1864, despite intense opposition from corporate lobbies.