Léon Blum
Encyclopedia
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France
.
, Blum had little interest in politics until the Dreyfus Affair
of 1894, which had a traumatic effect on him as it did on many French Jews
. Campaigning as a Dreyfusard brought him into contact with the socialist leader Jean Jaurès
, whom he greatly admired. He began contributing to the socialist daily, L'Humanité
, and joined the Socialist Party, then called the SFIO. Soon he was the party's main theoretician.
In July 1914, just as the First World War broke out, Jaurès was assassinated, and Blum became more active in the Socialist party leadership. In August 1914 Blum became assistant to the Socialist Minister of Public Works Marcel Sembat. In 1919 he was chosen as chair of the party's executive committee, and was also elected to the National Assembly
as a representative of Paris. Believing that there was no such thing as a "good dictatorship", he opposed participation in the Comintern
. Therefore, in 1920, he worked to prevent a split between supporters and opponents of the Russian Revolution
, but the radicals seceded, taking L'Humanité
with them, and formed the SFIC
.
Blum led the SFIO through the 1920s and 1930s, and was also editor of the party's new paper, Le Populaire.
in 1929, and was re-elected in 1932 and 1936. In 1933, he expelled Marcel Déat
, Pierre Renaudel, and other neosocialists
from the SFIO. Political circumstances changed in 1934, when the rise of German dictator Adolf Hitler
and fascist riots in Paris caused Stalin
and the French Communists to change their policy. In 1935 all the parties of left and centre formed the Popular Front
, which at the elections of June 1936 won a sweeping victory.
On 13 February 1936, shortly before becoming Prime Minister, Blum was dragged from a car and almost beaten to death by the Camelots du Roi, a group of anti-Semites and royalists. The right-wing Action Française league was dissolved by the government following this incident, not long before the elections that brought Blum to power http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1728229,00.html.
Blum became the first socialist and the first Jew to serve as Prime Minister of France
. As such he was an object of particular hatred to the Catholic and anti-Semitic
right, and was denounced in the National Assembly by Xavier Vallat
, a right-wing Deputy and sympathizer of the Action Française
(later Commissioner for Jewish Affairs in the Vichy
wartime government), who said:
The industrial workers responded to the election of the Popular Front government by occupying their factories, confident that "the revolution" was imminent. For Blum, as a Marxist, this was an agonising moment. He did not believe that socialism could be achieved by parliamentary means. But he could not encourage the workers to launch an attempt at violent revolution to overthrow their native country: he believed that the army would intervene and the poor workers would be massacred again as they had been at the Paris Commune
in 1871. He persuaded the workers to accept pay raises and go back to work.
Similarly, when the Spanish Civil War
broke out, Blum was forced to adopt a policy of neutrality rather than assist his ideological fellows, the Spanish Left-leaning Republicans, for fear of splitting his alliance with the centrist Radicals, or even precipitating a civil war in France like the one already raging against the Republican regime in Catholic Spain. But the policy strained his alliance with Communists, who followed Soviet policy, and urged all-out support for Communist government. The impossible dilemma caused by this issue led Blum to resign in June 1937. He was briefly Prime Minister again in March and April 1938, long enough to ship France's heavy artillery and much needed military equipment to the Communist Regime that had taken over Catholic Spain. Blum was unable to establish a stable ministry in Catholic France. On 10 April 1938, Blum's socialist government fell and he was removed from office.
Despite its short life, the Popular Front government passed much important legislation, including the 40-hour week, paid holidays for the workers, collective bargaining on wage claims and the nationalisation of the arms industry. Blum also passed legislation extending the rights of the Arab population of Algeria
. In foreign policy, his government was divided between the traditional anti-militarism
of the French left and the urgency of the rising threat of Nazi Germany
. Despite the division, the government managed to engage the greatest war effort since the First World War.
When the Germans occupied France in June 1940, Blum made no effort to leave the country, despite the extreme danger he was in as a Jew and a socialist leader; instead of fleeing the country, he escaped to southern France, but the French ordered his arrest. With two others he was tried for betraying his country, and imprisoned in Nazi Germany until 1945. He was among the "The Vichy 80
", a minority of parliamentarians that refused to grant full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain
. He was arrested by the authorities in September and held until 1942, when he was put on trial in the Riom Trial
on charges of treason, for having "weakened France's defenses" by ordering her arsenal shipped to Spain, leaving France's infantry unsupported by heavy artillery on the eastern front against Nazi Germany. He used the courtroom to make a brilliant indictment of the French military and pro-German politicians like Pierre Laval
. The trial was such an embarrassment to the Vichy regime that the Germans ordered it called off.
In April 1943, the occupying Government had Blum imprisoned in Buchenwald
until April 1945. He was imprisoned in the section reserved for high-ranking prisoners. His future wife, Janot Blum, chose to come to the camp voluntarily to live with him inside the camp.
As the Allied armies approached Buchenwald, he was transferred to Dachau, near Munich
, and in late April 1945, together with other notable inmates
, to Tyrol. In the last weeks of the war the Nazi regime gave orders that he was to be executed , but the local authorities decided not to obey them. Blum was rescued by Allied troops in May 1945. While in prison he wrote his best known work, the essay À l'échelle Humaine ("For all mankind").
His brother René, the founder of the Ballet de l'Opéra à Monte Carlo, was arrested in Paris in 1942. He was deported to Auschwitz
where, according to the Vrba-Wetzler report
, he was tortured and killed in April 1943.
against the Gaullists and the Communists. He also served as an ambassador on a government loan mission to the United States, and as head of the French mission to UNESCO
. He continued to write for Le Populaire until his death at Jouy-en-Josas
, near Paris, on 30 March 1950. The kibbutz
of Kfar Blum
in northern Israel
is named after him.
Changes:
Changes:
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
.
First political experiences
While in his youth an avid reader of the works of the nationalist writer Maurice BarrèsMaurice Barrès
Maurice Barrès was a French novelist, journalist, and socialist politician and agitator known for his nationalist and antisemitic views....
, Blum had little interest in politics until the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
of 1894, which had a traumatic effect on him as it did on many French Jews
History of the Jews in France
The history of the Jews of France dates back over 2,000 years. In the early Middle Ages, France was a center of Jewish learning, but persecution increased as the Middle Ages wore on...
. Campaigning as a Dreyfusard brought him into contact with the socialist leader Jean Jaurès
Jean Jaurès
Jean Léon Jaurès was a French Socialist leader. Initially an Opportunist Republican, he evolved into one of the first social democrats, becoming the leader, in 1902, of the French Socialist Party, which opposed Jules Guesde's revolutionary Socialist Party of France. Both parties merged in 1905 in...
, whom he greatly admired. He began contributing to the socialist daily, L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
, and joined the Socialist Party, then called the SFIO. Soon he was the party's main theoretician.
In July 1914, just as the First World War broke out, Jaurès was assassinated, and Blum became more active in the Socialist party leadership. In August 1914 Blum became assistant to the Socialist Minister of Public Works Marcel Sembat. In 1919 he was chosen as chair of the party's executive committee, and was also elected to the National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
as a representative of Paris. Believing that there was no such thing as a "good dictatorship", he opposed participation in the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
. Therefore, in 1920, he worked to prevent a split between supporters and opponents of the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, but the radicals seceded, taking L'Humanité
L'Humanité
L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
with them, and formed the SFIC
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
.
Blum led the SFIO through the 1920s and 1930s, and was also editor of the party's new paper, Le Populaire.
The Popular Front
Blum was elected as Deputy for NarbonneNarbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1929, and was re-elected in 1932 and 1936. In 1933, he expelled Marcel Déat
Marcel Déat
Marcel Déat was a French Socialist until 1933, when he initiated a spin-off from the French Section of the Workers' International along with other right-wing 'Neosocialists'. He then founded the collaborationist National Popular Rally during the Vichy regime...
, Pierre Renaudel, and other neosocialists
Neosocialism
Neosocialism was a political trend of socialism, represented in France during the 1930s and in Belgium, which included several revisionist tendencies in the French Section of the Workers' International...
from the SFIO. Political circumstances changed in 1934, when the rise of German dictator Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and fascist riots in Paris caused Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and the French Communists to change their policy. In 1935 all the parties of left and centre formed the Popular Front
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
, which at the elections of June 1936 won a sweeping victory.
On 13 February 1936, shortly before becoming Prime Minister, Blum was dragged from a car and almost beaten to death by the Camelots du Roi, a group of anti-Semites and royalists. The right-wing Action Française league was dissolved by the government following this incident, not long before the elections that brought Blum to power http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1728229,00.html.
Blum became the first socialist and the first Jew to serve as Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
. As such he was an object of particular hatred to the Catholic and anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
right, and was denounced in the National Assembly by Xavier Vallat
Xavier Vallat
Xavier Vallat , French politician, was Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in the wartime Vichy collaborationist government, and was sentenced after World War II to ten years in prison for his part in the persecution of French Jews.- Until World War II :Vallat was born in the department of...
, a right-wing Deputy and sympathizer of the Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
(later Commissioner for Jewish Affairs in the Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
wartime government), who said:
Your coming to power is undoubtedly a historic event. For the first time this old Gallo-Roman country will be governed by a Jew. I dare say out loud what the country is thinking, deep inside : it is preferable for this country to be led by a man whose origins belong to his soil... than by a cunning talmudTalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ist. http://judaisme.sdv.fr/perso/lblum/lblum.htm
The industrial workers responded to the election of the Popular Front government by occupying their factories, confident that "the revolution" was imminent. For Blum, as a Marxist, this was an agonising moment. He did not believe that socialism could be achieved by parliamentary means. But he could not encourage the workers to launch an attempt at violent revolution to overthrow their native country: he believed that the army would intervene and the poor workers would be massacred again as they had been at the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
in 1871. He persuaded the workers to accept pay raises and go back to work.
Similarly, when the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
broke out, Blum was forced to adopt a policy of neutrality rather than assist his ideological fellows, the Spanish Left-leaning Republicans, for fear of splitting his alliance with the centrist Radicals, or even precipitating a civil war in France like the one already raging against the Republican regime in Catholic Spain. But the policy strained his alliance with Communists, who followed Soviet policy, and urged all-out support for Communist government. The impossible dilemma caused by this issue led Blum to resign in June 1937. He was briefly Prime Minister again in March and April 1938, long enough to ship France's heavy artillery and much needed military equipment to the Communist Regime that had taken over Catholic Spain. Blum was unable to establish a stable ministry in Catholic France. On 10 April 1938, Blum's socialist government fell and he was removed from office.
Despite its short life, the Popular Front government passed much important legislation, including the 40-hour week, paid holidays for the workers, collective bargaining on wage claims and the nationalisation of the arms industry. Blum also passed legislation extending the rights of the Arab population of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. In foreign policy, his government was divided between the traditional anti-militarism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
of the French left and the urgency of the rising threat of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Despite the division, the government managed to engage the greatest war effort since the First World War.
Second World War
The Vichy 80
The Vichy 80 were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that dissolved the Third Republic and established an authoritarian regime known as Vichy France....
", a minority of parliamentarians that refused to grant full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
. He was arrested by the authorities in September and held until 1942, when he was put on trial in the Riom Trial
Riom Trial
The Riom Trial was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940...
on charges of treason, for having "weakened France's defenses" by ordering her arsenal shipped to Spain, leaving France's infantry unsupported by heavy artillery on the eastern front against Nazi Germany. He used the courtroom to make a brilliant indictment of the French military and pro-German politicians like Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
. The trial was such an embarrassment to the Vichy regime that the Germans ordered it called off.
In April 1943, the occupying Government had Blum imprisoned in Buchenwald
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
until April 1945. He was imprisoned in the section reserved for high-ranking prisoners. His future wife, Janot Blum, chose to come to the camp voluntarily to live with him inside the camp.
As the Allied armies approached Buchenwald, he was transferred to Dachau, near Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and in late April 1945, together with other notable inmates
Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol
The Transport of Inmates of German Concentration Camps to Tyrol happened in late April 1945 and led to the only time such prisoners were liberated by German troops.- Transfer and liberation:...
, to Tyrol. In the last weeks of the war the Nazi regime gave orders that he was to be executed , but the local authorities decided not to obey them. Blum was rescued by Allied troops in May 1945. While in prison he wrote his best known work, the essay À l'échelle Humaine ("For all mankind").
His brother René, the founder of the Ballet de l'Opéra à Monte Carlo, was arrested in Paris in 1942. He was deported to Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
where, according to the Vrba-Wetzler report
Vrba-Wetzler report
The Vrba-Wetzler report, also known as the Vrba-Wetzler statement, the Auschwitz Protocols, and the Auschwitz notebook, is a 32-page document about the German Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland during the Holocaust...
, he was tortured and killed in April 1943.
Post-war period
After the war, Léon Blum returned to politics, and was again briefly Prime Minister in the transitional postwar coalition government. He advocated the alliance between the center-left and the center-right parties in order to support the Fourth RepublicFrench Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
against the Gaullists and the Communists. He also served as an ambassador on a government loan mission to the United States, and as head of the French mission to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. He continued to write for Le Populaire until his death at Jouy-en-Josas
Jouy-en-Josas
Jouy-en-Josas is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the center.Jouy-en-Josas is home to the prestigious HEC School of Management.-Geography:...
, near Paris, on 30 March 1950. The kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
of Kfar Blum
Kfar Blum
Kfar Blum is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley part of the Upper Galilee in Israel. Located about southeast of the town of Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 1994 the population was 615.-History:...
in northern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
is named after him.
First ministry (4 June 1936 – 22 June 1937)
- Léon Blum – President of the Council
- Édouard DaladierÉdouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
– Vice President of the Council and Minister of National Defense and War - Yvon DelbosYvon DelbosYvon Delbos was a French Radical-Socialist Party politician and minister.Delbos was born in Thonac, Dordogne, Aquitaine, entered a career as a journalist, and became a member of the Radical-Socialist Party...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Roger SalengroRoger SalengroRoger Henri Charles Salengro was a French politician. He achieved fame as Minister of the Interior during the Popular Front government in 1936...
– Minister of the Interior - Vincent AuriolVincent AuriolVincent Jules Auriol was a French politician who served as the first President of the Fourth Republic from 1947 to 1954. He also served as interim President of the Provisional Government from November to December 1946, making him one of only three people who were heads of state of the French...
– Minister of Finance - Charles SpinasseCharles SpinasseCharles Spinasse was a French politician. He served as mayor of Égletons from 1929 to 1944 and again from 1965 to 1977. He belonged to the French Section of the Workers' International . In 1938, he served as France's minister of budget....
– Minister of National Economy - Jean-Baptiste Lebas – Minister of Labour
- Marc Rucart – Minister of Justice
- Alphonse Gasnier-Duparc – Minister of Marine
- Pierre CotPierre Cot.Pierre Cot , French politician, was a leading figure in the Popular Front government of the 1930s...
– Minister of Air - Jean ZayJean ZayJean Zay is a French politician born in Orléans on 6 August 1904 and assassinated 20 June 1944 by the miliciens in Molles . He was the Minister of National Education and Fine Arts from 1936 until 1939....
– Minister of National Education - Albert Rivière – Minister of Pensions
- Georges MonnetGeorges MonnetNot to be confused with the French wartime foreign minister Georges BonnetGeorges Monnet was a prominent socialist politician in 1930s France and a member of Paul Reynaud's war cabinet as Minister of Blockade. Preceding that, he was Minister of Agriculture in Léon Blum's government...
– Minister of Agriculture - Marius Moutet – Minister of Colonies
- Albert Bedouce – Minister of Public Works
- Henri Sellier – Minister of Public Health
- Robert Jardillier – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
- Paul Bastid – Minister of Commerce
- Camille ChautempsCamille ChautempsCamille Chautemps was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic, three times President of the Council .-Career:Described as "intellectually bereft", Chautemps nevertheless entered politics and became Mayor of Tours in 1912, and a Radical deputy in 1919...
– Minister of State - Paul Faure – Minister of State
- Maurice ViolletteMaurice ViolletteMaurice Viollette was a French statesman.He was chief-of-staff for Alexandre Millerand in the Waldeck-Rousseau government in 1898, and was elected as a député for Eure-et-Loir in 1902 and as mayor of Dreux from 1908–1959.He acted as Transport and Supply Minister in 1917, Governor General of...
– Minister of State - Léo LagrangeLéo LagrangeLéo Lagrange was a French Under-Secretary of State for Sports and for the Organisation of Leisure during the Popular Front...
– Under-Secretary of State for the Organization of the leisure activities and sports -i.e. Minister for the Sports-
Changes:
- 18 November 1936 – Marx DormoyMarx DormoyMarx Dormoy was a French socialist politician, noted for his opposition to the far right.-Early career:Born in Montluçon, he was elected mayor of his native town in 1926, and representative of the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière to the French National Assembly in 1931 for the Allier...
succeeds Roger Salengro as Minister of the Interior, following Salengro's suicide.
Second ministry (13 March – 10 April 1938)
- Léon Blum – President of the Council and Minister of Treasury
- Édouard DaladierÉdouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
– Vice President of the Council and Minister of National Defense and War - Joseph Paul-BoncourJoseph Paul-BoncourAugustin Alfred Joseph Paul-Boncour was a French politician of the Third Republic.-Career:Born in Saint-Aignan, Loir-et-Cher, Paul-Boncour received a law degree from the University of Paris and became active in the labor movement, organizing the legal council of the Bourses du Travail...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Marx DormoyMarx DormoyMarx Dormoy was a French socialist politician, noted for his opposition to the far right.-Early career:Born in Montluçon, he was elected mayor of his native town in 1926, and representative of the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière to the French National Assembly in 1931 for the Allier...
– Minister of the Interior - Charles SpinasseCharles SpinasseCharles Spinasse was a French politician. He served as mayor of Égletons from 1929 to 1944 and again from 1965 to 1977. He belonged to the French Section of the Workers' International . In 1938, he served as France's minister of budget....
– Minister of Budget - Albert Sérol – Minister of Labour
- Marc Rucart – Minister of Justice
- César CampinchiCésar CampinchiCésar Campinchi was a lawyer and French statesman in the beginning of the 20th century....
– Minister of Military Marine - Guy La ChambreGuy La ChambreGuy La Chambre was a French politician.He was born in Paris on 5 June 1898 into a prosperous family with roots in Brittany. His father, Charles La Chambre served in the Chamber of Deputies representing Ille-et-Vilaine from 1902 to 1906, and Guy's grandfather Charles-Emile also served in that...
– Minister of Air - Jean ZayJean ZayJean Zay is a French politician born in Orléans on 6 August 1904 and assassinated 20 June 1944 by the miliciens in Molles . He was the Minister of National Education and Fine Arts from 1936 until 1939....
– Minister of National Education - Albert Rivière – Minister of Pensions
- Georges MonnetGeorges MonnetNot to be confused with the French wartime foreign minister Georges BonnetGeorges Monnet was a prominent socialist politician in 1930s France and a member of Paul Reynaud's war cabinet as Minister of Blockade. Preceding that, he was Minister of Agriculture in Léon Blum's government...
– Minister of Agriculture - Marius Moutet – Minister of Colonies
- Jules MochJules MochJules Salvador Moch was a French politician.-Biography:...
– Minister of Public Works - Fernand Gentin – Minister of Public Health
- Jean-Baptiste Lebas – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
- Ludovic-Oscar FrossardLudovic-Oscar FrossardLudovic-Oscar Frossard was a French socialist and communist politician, a member of six successive French governments between 1935 and 1940.-Early career and PCF:Born into an anti-clerical family opposed to the antisemitical side during the Dreyfus...
– Minister of Propaganda - Vincent AuriolVincent AuriolVincent Jules Auriol was a French politician who served as the first President of the Fourth Republic from 1947 to 1954. He also served as interim President of the Provisional Government from November to December 1946, making him one of only three people who were heads of state of the French...
– Minister of Coordination of Services of the Presidency of the Council - Pierre CotPierre Cot.Pierre Cot , French politician, was a leading figure in the Popular Front government of the 1930s...
– Minister of Commerce - Paul Faure – Minister of State
- Théodore SteegThéodore SteegThéodore Steeg was a French politician of the Third Republic, deputy of the Seine from 1906 to 1914 and senator of the same department from 1914 to 1940....
– Minister of State - Maurice ViolletteMaurice ViolletteMaurice Viollette was a French statesman.He was chief-of-staff for Alexandre Millerand in the Waldeck-Rousseau government in 1898, and was elected as a député for Eure-et-Loir in 1902 and as mayor of Dreux from 1908–1959.He acted as Transport and Supply Minister in 1917, Governor General of...
– Minister of State - Albert SarrautAlbert SarrautAlbert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.Sarraut was born in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1919....
– Minister of State in charge of North African Affairs - Léo LagrangeLéo LagrangeLéo Lagrange was a French Under-Secretary of State for Sports and for the Organisation of Leisure during the Popular Front...
– Under-Secretary of State for the Sports, the Leisure activities and the Physical Education,
Third ministry (16 December 1946 – 22 January 1947)
- Léon Blum – President of the Provisional Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André Le TroquerAndré Le TroquerAndré Le Troquer was a French politician, socialist lawyer, and president of the National Assembly from 12 January 1954 to 10 January 1955, and a second time from 24 January 1956 to 4 October 1958.-Career:...
– Minister of National Defense - Édouard DepreuxÉdouard DepreuxÉdouard Depreux was a French socialist journalist, essayist, and politician of the French Fourth Republic; he was born in Viesly and died in Paris.- Early career :...
– Minister of the Interior - André PhilipAndré PhilipAndré Philip was an SFIO who served as an Interior Minister for the Free French during the war. He also served as a finance minister in 1946 and part of 1947....
– Minister of Familial Economy and Finance - Robert LacosteRobert LacosteRobert Lacoste was French politician. He was a socialist MP of the Dordogne from 1945 to 1958 and from 1962 to 1967, then senator from 1971 to 1980.- Biography :...
– Minister of Industrial Production - Daniel MayerDaniel MayerDaniel William Mayer was a member of the French Section of the Workers' International , a socialist party in France, president of the Ligue des droits de l'homme from 1958 to 1975. He founded the Comité d'Action Socialiste in 1941 and was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistant Socialist group...
– Minister of Labour and Social Security - Paul RamadierPaul RamadierPaul Ramadier was a prominent French politician of the Third and Fourth Republics. Mayor of Decazeville starting in 1919, he served as the first Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic in 1947. On 10 July 1940, he voted against the granting of the full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain, who...
– Minister of Justice - Yves TanguyYves TanguyRaymond Georges Yves Tanguy , known as Yves Tanguy, was a French surrealist painter.-Biography:Tanguy was born in Paris, France, the son of a retired navy captain. His parents were both of Breton origin...
– Minister of Public Utilities - Marcel Edmond Naegelen – Minister of National Education
- Max Lejeune – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
- François Tanguy-PrigentFrançois Tanguy-PrigentFrançois Tanguy-Prigent was a French politician and resistance fighter. ....
– Minister of Agriculture - Marius Moutet – Minister of Overseas France
- Jules MochJules MochJules Salvador Moch was a French politician.-Biography:...
– Minister of Public Works, Transport, Reconstruction, and Town Planning - Pierre Segelle – Minister of Public Health and Population
- Eugène ThomasEugene ThomasEugene Thomas is an African-American martial artist and B-movie actor, who went to Taiwan and Hong Kong in the early 1980s, where he made about a dozen movies, mostly about Ninjas, like Mafia vs. Ninja or USA Ninja, where he frequently collaborated with the tae kwon do specialist Alexander Lou...
– Minister of Posts - Félix GouinFélix GouinFélix Gouin was a French Socialist politician, member of the French Section of the Workers' International .-Personal life:Félix Gouin was born in Peypin, Bouches-du-Rhône, the son of school teachers...
– Minister of Planning - Guy MolletGuy MolletGuy Mollet was a French Socialist politician. He led the French Section of the Workers' International party from 1946 to 1969 and was Prime Minister in 1956–1957.-Early life and World War II:...
– Minister of State - Augustin Laurent – Minister of State
Changes:
- 23 December 1946 – Augustin Laurent succeeds Moutet as Minister of Overseas France.