Gaston Monmousseau

Born Jan. 17, 1883, in Luyens, department of Indre-et-Loire; died July 11, 1960, in Paris. Figure in the French working-class movement; writer.

Monmousseau began work as a railwayman in Paris in 1910. From 1920 to 1921 he was secretary-general of the Federation of Railwaymen, and from 1921 to 1922, secretary-general of the Association of Trade Unions of the Paris district. He became permanent director of the trade union weekly La Vie Ouvriere in 1922. From 1922 to 1936 he was secretary-general of the United General Confederation of Labor. As a delegate to the second congress of the Red International of Trade Unions (Profintern), he met V. I. Lenin in November 1922. He joined the French Communist Party in 1925. From 1926 to 1937 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Profintern. He was frequently subjected to repressive measures for his role in organizing anti-imperialist demonstrations by the working people.

Monmousseau took part in the founding of the reunified General Confederation of Labor in 1936. From 1936 to 1939 he was a deputy in parliament. During World War II he was an organizer of the Resistance Movement. A member of the Central Committee of the French Communist Party from 1926 to 1945 and from 1956 to 1960, he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party from 1932 to 1945. At the Seventh Congress of the Comintern (1935) he was elected to the International Control Commission. He was secretary of the General Confederation of Labor from 1945 to 1960. Humor, love of life, love for his native land, and the wisdom of a staunch fighter for peace are essential characteristics of his prose (the collection of selected texts La Musette de G. Monmousseau, 1963).