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Social movements and organizing · Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP/FTPF) people 1

Social movements and organizing × Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP/FTPF) ×

Charles Tillon

Charles Tillon
Social movements and organizing Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP/FTPF) French French 1897–1993 ○ Natural causes

A communist who carried working-class militancy into armed resistance

“They have numbers; united, they will have strength.”

A metalworker and trade-union organizer, Charles Tillon entered the French Communist Party after leading a 1919 naval mutiny and rose through the CGTU and party leadership. In 1940 he called for national liberation joined to working-class unity, then organized and led the communist armed resistance by consolidating the FTP from 1941. After Liberation he served as a minister and deputy in reconstruction, but conflicts with the party leadership removed him from power in 1952 and ended in his expulsion in 1970.

Career timeline
  • 1916–1921French Navy mechanic; led the 1919 mutiny aboard Guichen and was imprisoned
  • 1921–1931Joined the French Communist Party; led CGTU unions in Ille-et-Vilaine and Nantes
  • 1931–1936CGTU national leadership; Communist Party Central Committee member and alternate Politburo member
  • 1936–1940Deputy in the Chamber of Deputies; assisted Republican refugees in Spain
  • 1940–1944Clandestine Communist leadership; founded and commanded the National Military Committee and FTP
  • 1944–1947Minister of Air, Armaments, and Reconstruction; mayor of Aubervilliers and deputy
  • 1952–1970Removed from the Communist leadership, rehabilitated in 1957, and expelled in 1970