François Marie Tanguy Prigent (11 October 1909 – 20 January 1970) was a French Socialist politician who became a resistance fighter during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(1939–45). He was Minister of Agriculture from September 1944 to October 1947 and was Minister of Veterans and War Victims from February 1956 to June 1957.

Early years

François Tanguy-Prigent was born to a farming family on 11 October 1909 in the small town of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt, in the

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

department of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. He worked on the land from the age of 12 to 26, when he was elected to the legislature. He joined the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) in 1926. He undertook his military service in Paris in 1930–31, and on return became an active SFIO militant. In 1933–34 he played a major role in creation of the Fédération paysanne du Finistère, an agricultural union affiliated with the CNP, of which he became a national director.In 1933 he founded a cooperative in

Morlaix Morlaix (; br, Montroulez) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Leisure and tourism The old quarter of the town has winding streets of cobbled stones and overha ...

. In 1934 Tanguy-Prigent was elected councilor general for the canton of

Lanmeur Lanmeur (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. A hamlet in the commune called Kerouac () has been established as the source of the name of the American writer Jack Kerouac. A street in Lanmeur has be ...

, but was not yet 25 so was unable to take his seat. He was reelected in March 1935. That year he became municipal councilor and then mayor of Saint-Jean-du-Doigt. He would hold these positions until his death, except during the

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

period. On 3 May 1936 Tanguy-Prigent was elected deputy to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

for the 1st district of Morlaix in the second round of voting. He joined the Socialists in the chamber. For the next four years Tanguy-Prigent was particularly involved in agricultural issues. He attended agricultural conferences in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

(1937),

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

(1938) and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

(1939). He was strongly opposed to the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

, and in May 1940 volunteered to fight with the 31st regiment of dragoons. He was one of the 80 deputies who refused to vote to give full powers to Marshal Pétain on 10 July 1940.

World War II Resistance

Tanguy-Prigent returned to farming in Saint-Jean-du-Doigt. He was arrested by the Germans from 6–23 September 1940. Tanguy-Prigent opposed the policies of Vichy by all legal means. At the same time he joined the Resistance, notably in Libération Nord” under the resistance name of "Jacques Le Ru". He narrowly escaped arrest in the summer of 1943 and went into hiding with his wife. He also directed the newspaper and the Resistance Paysanne movement. For many months he helped put in place the structure of Armée secrète (the secret army) for the 19 departments in the northwest of France. In summer 1944 he personally fought with the

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (french: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation ...

to liberate the

region. In August that year, he participated in the arrest of peasant populist and former Vichy official Henry Dorgères.

Later career

Tanguy-Prigent represented Finistère as a member of the first and second National Constituent Assemblies, and was a deputy for Finistère from 1946 to 1958. He was named

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

by General Charles de Gaulle, holding office from September 1944 to October 1947. He was Minister of Supplies from November 1945 to January 1946. He dissolved the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

's Peasant Corporation in September 1944, but the unity of agricultural organizations that it had established persisted. He replaced the Corporation with a national union of working farmers rather than landowners, the General Confederation of Agriculture (GCA). In March 1946 the CGA became the Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles (FNSEA). Many of the former Peasant Corporation leaders became leaders of the FNSEA. Tanguy-Prigent was Minister of Veterans and War Victims from February 1956 to June 1957. He was again deputy for Finistère from 1962 to 1967. Tanguy-Prigent died on 20 January 1970 in

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanguy-Prigent, Francois 1909 births 1970 deaths French Section of the Workers' International politicians Autonomous Socialist Party (France) politicians Unified Socialist Party (France) politicians French Ministers of Agriculture French Ministers of Veterans Affairs Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Finistère MEPs for France 1958–1979 The Vichy 80 French military personnel of World War II French Resistance members French people of the First Indochina War French people of the Algerian War