Leader who took the SFIO majority into the Comintern at Tours in 1920, founding the French Communist Party, and ran L’Humanité
At the 1920 Tours Congress, he backed SFIO affiliation with the Comintern, led the majority split, and helped found the French Communist Party. Arrested in 1923 for opposing France’s Ruhr occupation, he was cleared by the Senate sitting as a High Court.
Born in Paimpol in Brittany, he joined Guesde’s French Workers’ Party in 1891 and the unified SFIO in 1905, and from 1918 ran L’Humanité for the rest of his life. As his supporters swung towards the October Revolution after the war, he led the vote to join the Comintern at the Tours congress of 1920 and became a founder of the French Communist Party. He was jailed in 1923 for denouncing the French occupation of the Ruhr. A deputy and senator, he remained the party’s elder statesman until his death in 1958.
Career timeline
- 1892Joined the Gironde section of the French Workers’ Party, founded by Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue.
- 1905Took part in the founding congress of the unified Socialist Party (SFIO) and became its propaganda delegate.
- 1918Elected director of L’Humanité, which he led until his death in 1958.
- 1920At the Tours Congress, supported SFIO affiliation with the Comintern and helped found the French Section of the Communist International (SFIC), predecessor of the French Communist Party.
- 1923Arrested for opposing France’s Ruhr occupation and brought before the Senate sitting as a High Court; it ruled there was no case to answer.
- 1936Elected senator for the Seine, becoming the first senator from the French Communist Party.
Stalin's first secretary, keeper of his archive and author of his first biography
Bazhanov recalled Tovstukha matching ballot handwriting against registration forms: who crossed out Stalin's name? "He had only half a lung, but Stalin had complete confidence in him."
Stalin's first personal secretary (1918–1935) and head of the CC Secret Department (1926–1930), Tovstukha ran Stalin's private secretariat and controlled access to the Lenin Institute archive. He authored the first official biography of Stalin for the Granat Encyclopedia (1922) and directed the first edition of Lenin's Collected Works. As an émigré he joined the French Socialist Party and worked as a labourer; after returning he became secretary at the People's Commissariat for Nationalities, where his lifelong attachment to Stalin began. His management of the documentary record, above all selective access to Lenin's and Trotsky's papers, was a decisive ideological tool for the Stalin faction.
Career timeline
- 1905–1909Revolutionary activity in Chernigov Social-Democratic organisation
- 1909–1911Arrested for possession of banned books; exiled to Siberia
- 1912–1917Fled abroad; labourer in Austria and France; joined French Socialist Party and Paris RSDLP(b) section
- 1917–1918Secretary, Inspectorate Department, Central Staff of the Red Guard
- 1918–1921Secretary and collegium member, People's Commissariat for Nationalities; attached to Stalin
- 1921–1924Responsible worker in CC apparatus; organized and ran Stalin's personal secretariat
- 1922Wrote the first official biography of Stalin for the Granat Encyclopedia
- 1924–1926Assistant director, Lenin Institute; prepared the first edition of Lenin's Collected Works
- 1926–1930Head of the CC Secret Department and First Assistant to the General Secretary
- 1930–1931Deputy director, Lenin Institute; editorial board of Proletarian Revolution
- 1931–1935Deputy director and head of archives, Marx–Engels–Lenin Institute
- 1934–1935Candidate member, CC VKP(b); member, Central Executive Committee of the USSR
He took on France, Japan and America in turn to win Vietnam's independence
“Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.” — wartime radio address, 1966
Vietnamese revolutionary. After three decades of exile, including helping found the French Communist Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam, he led the Viet Minh to declare Vietnam's independence in 1945. He led North Vietnam through wars against France and the United States, becoming the symbol of Vietnamese independence.
Career timeline
- 1911–1920Wanders the world as sailor and laborer; founding member of the French Communist Party
- 1925Published French Colonialism on Trial
- 1927Published the revolutionary training text The Revolutionary Path
- 1930Founds the Communist Party of Vietnam
- 1941–1945Founds the Viet Minh against Japanese and French rule
- 1945.09Declares independence; first President of the DRV
- 1946–1954First Indochina War; victory at Dien Bien Phu
- 1955–1969Leads the unification war as North Vietnam's president
A miner's son who built the Popular Front and led the French Communist Party for 34 years
'The French people will never make war against the Soviet Union' — address to the PCF Central Committee, February 1949, as France prepared to join NATO (reported by The New York Times, 23 Feb. 1949)
A coal miner's son who led the French Communist Party for 34 years (1930–1964). He designed the 1936 Popular Front and pioneered the 'French road to socialism' after the war, becoming a forerunner of Eurocommunism.
Career timeline
- 1912Begins work as a coal miner at age 12
- 1919–1920Joins the SFIO; helps found the PCF at the Tours Congress
- 1930–1964PCF general secretary; leads the party for 34 years
- 1936Architect of the Popular Front; supports Blum's social reforms
- 1939–1944Deserts the French army, exiled in Moscow; PCF runs the Resistance
- 1945–1947Minister of state under de Gaulle; deputy prime minister (1946–1947)
- 1950–1953Stroke; medical treatment in the USSR; Jacques Duclos runs the party
- 1964Resigns as secretary-general; dies on a Black Sea cruise ship
