Fernand Loriot

Fernand Loriot
Born	(1870-10-10)10 October 1870 Ceton, Orne, France
Died	12 October 1932(1932-10-12) (aged 62)
Nationality	French
Occupation	Teacher
Known for	Unionism, pacifism

Fernand Loriot (10 October 1870 - 12 October 1932) was a French teacher who was active in forming the teachers' union. He took a pacifist stance during World War I. He was one of the founders of the French Communist Party.

Early years

Fernand Loriot was born on 10 October 1870 in Ceton, Orne. He became a member of the socialist party in 1901. He became an activist in the Teachers' union. He defied the courts and refused to dissolve the union when the government took action after the Congress of Chambéry.^[1]

As Louis Bouët recalled in l'Ecole Emancipée, after the Congress of Chambéry in 1912 teacher's union was in turmoil and was being repressed by the authorities. Loroit took the position of treasurer in the new federal board created by the Seine union. At the Congress of Bourges in 1913 Émile Glay, who had called on Pierre Laval for help as counsel for the Federation, said to Andre Leon Chalopin that nobody would be left in the Seine since their license to teach would be revoked. From the back of the room came the voice of Loriot, who had been paying the delegates their railway allowance, saying "You will not be alone, Chalopin: you can count on me."^[2]

World War I

During World War I (July 1914 - November 1918) Loriot was caught up in the wave of patriotic socialists who joined the union sacrée, pledging to cooperate with the government. However, according to Marie Guillot by January 1915 he had rejected the union sacrée and taken a pacifist position.^[2] In 1915 he was appointed treasurer of the Federation of Teachers' Unions, and was appointed by the secretary Hélène Brion to the central committee. He devoted much effort to fighting the nationalist unions that supported the war, along with Alphonse Merrheim, Albert Bourderon and Raymond Péricat. He was one of the founders of the pacifist Committee for the resumption of international relations, and he and Bourderon were the spokesmen for this committee in the party. In all trade union and socialist congresses he supported the position of the Zimmerwald Conference.^[1] Loriot leaned towards the socialist rather than the syndicalist (union) side in this committee, although towards the end of his life he moved towards syndicalism.^[2]

In February 1917 the Committee for the Resumption of International Relations split, with Jean Raffin-Dugens, Bourderon and Pierre Brizon joining the SFIO minority led by Jean Longuet, while Loriot and fellow-socialists Charles Rappoport, Louise Saumoneau and François Mayoux took control of the committee. Merrheim withdrew to concentrate on union work.^[3] Loriot became secretary of the Committee. During the war he contributed to the Ecole émancipée, La Plèbe and the Journal du Peuple.^[1]

Later career

After the war Loriot contributed to Vie ouvrière, the Bulletin communiste and l'’Humanité. When the Committee for the 3rd International was established in 1919 he was made secretary. His union activity caused him to be subject to "administrative measures" and dismissal from the teaching profession. He was imprisoned in May 1920 for plotting against the security of the state, and was held in prison for ten months. At the Tours Congress in December 1920 he was appointed a member of the Executive Committee of the newly formed Communist Party, and international secretary.^[1]

In 1921 Loriot participated in the Third Congress of the Communist International in Moscow. After returning to France, he left politics for a period for reasons of health. After the "Bolshevisation" of the party in 1924, he became active in opposition to this trend in 1925.^[2] He later left the party and in 1926 joined the revolutionary syndicalist cause. Fernand Loriot died on 12 October 1932 aged sixty-two.^[1]

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