Marcel Cachin

Marcel Cachin
French MP
In office 1914–1936
Constituency	Seine
French MP
In office 1945–1958
Constituency	Seine
Senator
In office 1936–1940
Constituency	Seine
Personal details
Born	(1869-09-20)20 September 1869 Plourivo, Côtes d'Armor
Died	12 February 1958(1958-02-12) (aged 88) Choisy-le-Roi
Political party	PCF
Other political affiliations	SFIO (1914–1921)

Marcel Cachin (20 September 1869 – 12 February 1958) was a French Communist politician and the first editor of the daily newspaper L'Humanite.

In 1891, Cachin joined Jules Guesde's French Workers' Party (POF). In 1905, he joined the new French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and won election to the Chamber of Deputies representing the Seine in 1914. He rallied the Union sacrée during the First World War and was sent to Russia in a mission in 1917. On that occasion he strongly supported Kerensky's Provisional Government, which was pledged to continue Russia's participation in World War I, and denounced Lenin and the Bolsheviks. In 1918, he was one of the speakers at a patriotic rally held at Strasbourg, to celebrate the city's return to French rule.

However, following the end of the war, there was a leftward shift among Cachin's grassroots supporters and a growing sympathy for the October revolution. In 1920 at the Tours Congress, Cachin became one of the founders of the French Communist Party (SFIC) and joined the Third International. In 1923, he was jailed for denouncing the French occupation of the Ruhr and Morocco. As a strong supporter of the pro-Soviet Communist Party, he refused to disavow the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and was removed from elected office in 1940. After the Liberation of France, he returned to the National Assembly until his death in 1958.

He was the editor of the newspaper L'Humanité from 1918 to 1958.

At the age of 88, he was the first foreigner to receive the Order of Lenin. In the later part of his life, he was nicknamed "Grandfather of the Communist Party".

His granddaughter, Françoise Cachin, was an art historian.

Electoral results

Cachin was the candidate for President of France of the French Communist Party in four elections: Third Republic:

• 1931: 1.11% in the first round, 1.23% in the second round
• 1932: 0.97% in the first round
• 1939: 8.13% in the first round

Fourth Republic:

• 1953: 12.18% in the first round

References

• (in French) Biography on the French Senate website

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Marcel Cachin in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW