1894–1955
→ Died in hiding
Neo-socialist who left the SFIO under the slogan 'Order, Authority, Nation' and founded the collaborationist National Popular Rally
In L'Œuvre on 4 May 1939 he wrote that fighting beside "our Polish friends" for the common defence of French territory was a prospect one could bravely consider, and then closed: "But to die for Danzig, no!"
Born in Guérigny, he entered the École Normale Supérieure and joined the SFIO in 1914, ended the First World War a captain and qualified in philosophy. Elected deputy for the 20th arrondissement of Paris in 1932 against Jacques Duclos, he was expelled from the party in November 1933 for a neo-socialism that put class collaboration and an authoritarian planning state in place of class struggle. He was Minister of Air in the Sarraut cabinet early in 1936, and in May 1939 won national fame with an article refusing to die for Danzig. Under the Occupation he founded the collaborationist National Popular Rally (RNP) in February 1941 and became Laval's Minister of Labour in March 1944. Sentenced to death in absentia after the Liberation, he lived hidden in an Italian convent until his death in 1955.
Activities and affiliations
- 1941–1944 Political and party leadership · National Popular Rally (RNP)
- 1914–1933 Political and party leadership · French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO)
- 1933–1935 Political and party leadership · Socialist Party of France – Jean Jaurès Union (PSdF)
- 1935– Political and party leadership · Socialist Republican Union (USR)
Career Timeline
- 1894Born at Guérigny in the Nièvre
- 1914Enters the École Normale Supérieure; joins the SFIO
- 1914–1919Serves through the First World War; demobilised as a captain
- 1926.02–1928Deputy, elected at a by-election in Reims
- 1932–1936Deputy for the 20th arrondissement of Paris
- 1933.11Expelled from the SFIO; joins the Socialist Party of France – Jean Jaurès Union
- 1935Takes part in forming the Socialist Republican Union
- 1936Minister of Air in the Sarraut cabinet
- 1939Elected deputy for Angoulême; the Danzig article in May
- 1940.12Briefly arrested by the Vichy police
- 1941.02–1944Founds and leads the National Popular Rally
- 1941.08Wounded at Versailles in Paul Collette's assassination attempt
- 1944.03–08Minister of Labour and National Solidarity in the Laval government
- 1945.06Sentenced to death in absentia
- 1955Dies in hiding in a convent near Turin