Georges Marchais

Georges René Louis Marchais 7 June 1920 16 November 1997 was the head of the French Communist Party PCF from 1972 to 1994 and a candidate in the French presidential elections of 1981 Born into a Roman Catholic family he became a mechanic just before the beginning of World War II with the Société Nationale dÉtude et de Construction de Moteurs dAviation After the fall of France he went to Nazi Germany to work in the Messerschmitt aircraft manufacturing plant He returned to France in May 1943 with forged documents In 1946 he became secretary of the metalworkers trade union in IssylesMoulineaux and advanced in the Confédération générale du travail in his commune from 1951 becoming secretary of the Seine Metallurgical Workers Union Federation from 1953 to 1956 He joined the French Communist Party in 1947 In 1956 he was appointed a member of the extended Central Committee and lead the SouthSeine PCF local federation in the bastion of Maurice Thorez the historical leader of the Party Three years later he became a full member of the Central Committee and of the Politburo His lightning promotion was explained by his professional origins and his devotion to Thorez Indeed he was part of the young guard of the General Secretary which participated to the strengthening of Maurice Thorezs leadership which was covertly disputed by some members of the Politburo Laurent Casanova and Marcel Servin In 1961 after the ousting of these he was nominated secretary for organization Then he supported the new General Secretary Waldeck Rochet and in his policy of conciliation with the other leftwing parties In reaction to the riots of May 1968 in a controversial article published in the partys paper LHumanité Marchais showed his contempt for Daniel CohnBendit by calling him a German anarchist He accused some students of being false revolutionaries coming from the bourgeoisie From then on he was one of the personalities intervening in the media in the name of the PCF When Rochet fell ill in 1970 he was promoted junior General Secretary In fact he was at this moment the real leader of the PCF In this he cosigned the Common Programme with the Socialist Party PS and the Movement of Left Radicals MRG in June 1972 From 1973 to 1997 he was deputy of Val de Marne département a southern Paris suburb Source Article Georges Marchais from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30