Moris Thorez Figure in the French and international communist and labor movements Date of Birth: 28.04.1900 Country: France

Biography of Maurice Thorez

Maurice Thorez was a prominent figure in the French and international communist and labor movements. He was born into a miner's family and worked as a laborer and miner until 1920. In March 1919, he joined the Socialist Party and actively participated in the struggle for its affiliation with the Comintern.

Thorez became one of the leading figures in the French Communist Party (FCP) since its formation in December 1920. He served as a member of the Central Committee from 1924 and became a member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Committee in 1925. From 1930 to June 1964, he served as the General Secretary of the FCP, and from June 1964, he became the Chairman of the FCP.

In 1932, Thorez became a deputy in the French parliament. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1928 to 1943 and a member of its Presidium from 1935 to 1943. Throughout his life, Thorez faced persecution and repression due to his revolutionary activities.

Thorez played a crucial role in the creation of a new type of Marxist-Leninist party in France, based on the principles of democratic centralism. He actively fought against right opportunism, revisionism, sectarianism, and dogmatism within both the French labor movement and the FCP. One of Thorez's significant contributions was the development of the strategy and tactics of a united anti-monopoly front of all workers and democratic forces to fight for peace, democracy, and socialism.

In the 1930s, Thorez formulated the slogan of creating a Popular Front, a union of the working class with the peasant and urban middle-class laborers, based on the Marxist-Leninist concept of allies of the proletariat. He played a prominent role in the formation and activities of the Popular Front in France from 1935 to 1938, working for the interests of the working masses.

Before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Thorez called for the fight against fascism and emphasized the need for a strong bond of friendship and alliance between France and the Soviet Union for the interests of security. During the war, the FCP, under Thorez's leadership, organized nationwide resistance against the German fascist occupiers. In the Manifesto of July 10, 1940, signed by Thorez and Jacques Duclos, the Central Committee of the FCP called on the French people to organize and unite with the Resistance Movement to fight against the invaders.

In the post-World War II period, Thorez made significant contributions to the further development of Marxist-Leninist theory and the practice of revolutionary labor and communist movements. He applied Leninist theory of proletarian revolution to the national and state characteristics and traditions of France, indicating the possibility of new, including peaceful, paths to socialism for the country.

Thorez emphasized that the struggle for democracy is an integral part of the fight for socialism. He advocated for unity of action between communists and socialists, placing the common interests that unite democratic forces above their disagreements. Thorez believed that cooperation between the Communist Party and socialist and other democratic organizations is necessary not only to achieve genuine democracy but also to build socialism.

Thorez was a staunch opponent of bourgeois ideology, anti-communism, and anti-Sovietism, viewing them as serious obstacles to progress towards peace, democracy, and socialism. He recognized the pivotal role of the Great October Socialist Revolution and the immense constructive work of the Soviet people in the international labor and communist movement.

Thorez saw the struggle for international détente, peace, and the support of revolutionary and democratic movements in capitalist and colonial countries as an integral part of the struggle for political and social liberation of the working class. He vehemently opposed colonialism and neocolonialism and was against the wars waged by French imperialism in its colonies.