Hélène Brion (27 January 1882 – 31 August 1962) was a French teacher, feminist, socialist and communist. She was one of the leaders of the French teachers' union. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(1914–18) she was arrested for distributing pacifist propaganda, given a suspended sentence and dismissed from her job as a teacher. She visited Russia soon after the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, and wrote a book on her experiences. It was never published. She devoted much of her effort in later years to preparing a feminist encyclopedia, which was never completed or published.
Early years
Hélène Brion was born in
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
, Auvergne on 27 January 1882.
Her family were teachers.
She was orphaned when very young, and spent her childhood in the
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Ã…rdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
with her grandmother. She studied at the Ecole Primaire Supérieure Sophie Germain in Paris to become a teacher.
Unions had been authorized in 1884, but state employees could not belong to them. They could however join friendly societies.
Brion was working as a teacher in 1905 when she enrolled in the new federation of school teachers and in the Socialist Party (
SFIO
The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...
).
Brion never married, but around 1905–07 she had two children by a Russian immigrant.
She taught at a nursery school (''école maternelle'') in
Pantin, on the outskirts of Paris.
Brion was active in various feminist organizations for most of her life, fighting for equal legal rights for women and for the vote.
These would include ''Le Suffrage des Femmes'', ''L’Union fraternelle des Femmes'', ''La Fédération féminine universitaire'', ''La Ligue pour le droit des femmes'', ''L’Union française pour le suffrage des femmes'' and ''La Ligue nationale du vote''.
In 1907 the International Socialist Conference of Stuttgart forbade socialist women from collaborating with "bourgeois" feminists. Brion,
Marthe Bigot
Marthe Bigot (1878–1962) was a French primary schoolteacher, feminist, pacifist and communist.
Early years
Marthe Bigot was born in 1878, the daughter of a baker.
She became a primary schoolteacher in Paris.
In 1907 the International Socialist ...
and
Madeleine Pelletier
Madeleine Pelletier (18 May 1874 – 29 December 1939) was a French psychiatrist, first-wave feminist, and political activist. Born in Paris, Pelletier frequented socialist and anarchist groups in her adolescence. She became a doctor in her twe ...
resisted this decision. While belonging to the extreme left, they tried to maintain radical feminism.
Union leader and pacifist
After the Congress of Chambéry in 1912 Hélène Brion joined the Confederal Committee of the
Confédération Générale du Travail
The General Confederation of Labour (french: Confédération Générale du Travail, CGT) is a national trade union center, founded in 1895 in the city of Limoges. It is the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.
It is t ...
(CGT: General Confederation of Labor).
She became assistant secretary of the teacher's union in January 1914.
With the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in July 1914 the teacher's union office was reduced to Brion as acting secretary general and
Fernand Loriot
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
Loriot was ...
as treasurer.
Loriot was appointed treasurer of the Federation of Teachers' Unions in 1915, and was appointed by Brion to the central committee. He devoted much effort to fighting the nationalist unions that supported the war, along with
Alphonse Merrheim
Alphonse Adolphe Merrheim (7 May 1871 – 23 October 1923) was a French copper smith and trade union leader.
Early years
Alphonse Adolphe Merrheim was born on 7 May 1871 in La Madeleine, Nord, a suburb of Lille.
He became a coppersmith, and adopt ...
,
Albert Bourderon
Albert Henri Bourderon (26 November 1858 – 2 April 1930) was a French cooper (barrel maker) and syndicalist who became a leading socialist. During World War I he supported a pacifist position in line with internationalist principles.
Early year ...
and
Raymond Péricat
Raymond Péricat (23 January 1873 – 13 July 1958) was a militant French trade unionist and communist. During World War I (1914–18) he took an internationalist and pacifist position. After the war he tried to establish a radical Communist party ...
.
At the start of the war Brion accepted the
union sacrée, where the unions would not work against the war.
She opened a soup kitchen in Pantin.
Many teachers were mobilized and others supported the war effort, but later a strong pacifist movement developed among them.
Marie Mayoux
Marie Mayoux (24 April 1878 – 16 June 1969) was a French teacher, revolutionary syndicalist, pacifist and libertarian. She and her husband François Mayoux were imprisoned during World War I (1914–18) for her pacifist activities.
Life Early ...
called a pacifist meeting at the union office in June 1915.
On 15 August 1915 a pacifist resolution was presented at the CGT's national congress at the initiative of
Albert Bourderon
Albert Henri Bourderon (26 November 1858 – 2 April 1930) was a French cooper (barrel maker) and syndicalist who became a leading socialist. During World War I he supported a pacifist position in line with internationalist principles.
Early year ...
and
Alphonse Merrheim
Alphonse Adolphe Merrheim (7 May 1871 – 23 October 1923) was a French copper smith and trade union leader.
Early years
Alphonse Adolphe Merrheim was born on 7 May 1871 in La Madeleine, Nord, a suburb of Lille.
He became a coppersmith, and adopt ...
, signed by several militants of the federation of teacher's unions including
Louis Bouët
Louis Bouët (6 April 1880 - 9 July 1969) was a French teacher and anarcho-syndicalist.
He played a leading role in the National Federation of Teachers' Unions and in the socialist party.
He was briefly a member of the steering committee of the ...
,
Fernand Loriot
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
Loriot was ...
,
Marie Guillot
Marie Guillot (9 September 1880 – 5 March 1934) was a teacher in Saône-et-Loire and a pioneer of trade unionism in primary education.
She associated the social emancipation that syndicalism would bring with the empowerment of women.
An anarch ...
, Marie Mayoux,
Marthe Bigot
Marthe Bigot (1878–1962) was a French primary schoolteacher, feminist, pacifist and communist.
Early years
Marthe Bigot was born in 1878, the daughter of a baker.
She became a primary schoolteacher in Paris.
In 1907 the International Socialist ...
and Hélène Brion. The resolution said "this war is not our war" and laid responsibility on the leaders of the belligerent states. The resolution denounced the ''
union sacrée'' and called for the restoration of liberty.
A major international conference of pacifists was held in 1915 in
Zimmerwald
Zimmerwald was an independent municipality in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland until 31 December 2003. It is located on a hill in the proximity of the city of Bern in the Bernese Mittelland. On 1 January 2004 Zimmerwald united with the municipality ...
, Switzerland, and another in Kienthal, Switzerland.
The French activists were prevented from attending, but kept in contact by letters.
They circulated banned publications and attended meetings, sometimes in private apartments to avoid informers.
Louis Malvy, Minister of the Interior, received the reports of spies and all the letters addressed to Brion.
In 1917,
Louise Bodin
Louise Bodin (1877 – 3 February 1929) was a French feminist and journalist who became a member of the steering committee of the French Communist Party.
Early years
Louise Charlotte Bodin was born in 1877.
Her father was a communard, but otherwi ...
and
Colette Reynaud
Colette Reynaud (1872–1965) was a French feminist, socialist and pacifist journalist. In 1917, she was the co-founder and director of the weekly newspaper ''La Voix des femmes (France, 1917), La Voix des femmes'' (Women's voice).
Career
Togethe ...
founded the journal ''
La Voix des femmes'', to which the major feminists contributed including
Nelly Roussel
Nelly Roussel (5 January 1878 – 18 December 1922) was a French free thinker, anarchist, and feminist. As a Neo-Malthusian feminist, she advocated for birth-control in European as well as a number of other pro-women and motherhood positions w ...
and Hélène Brion.
The first issue of ''La Voix des Femmes'' appeared on 31 August 1917.
Contributors included men such as
Boris Souvarine
Boris Souvarine (1 November 1895 – 1 November 1984), also known as Varine, was a French Marxist, communist activist, essayist and journalist.
A founding member of the French Communist Party, Souvarine is noted for being the only non-Russian com ...
and
Georges Pioch
Georges Jules Charles Pioch (9 October 1873 – 27 March 1953) was a French poet, journalist, pacifist and socialist intellectual. He was president of the International League for Peace from 1930 to 1937.
Early years
Georges Pioch was born in Pa ...
as well as women such as Colette Reynaud.
A police report in 1917 described "the activist Hélène Brion, public school teacher in
Pantin, general secretary of the National Federation of public school teachers (''Fédération Nationale des instituteurs et institutrices publics''), a member of the Committee for the resumption of international relations (''Comité pour la reprise des relations internationales'') and a member of union defense committee (''Comité de défense syndicaliste''). Her correspondents included
Léon Bronstein-Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...
, a Russian journalist.
Describing a meeting of trade unionists and anarchists the reporter said about 40 women were present, about half of them from the Russian-Polish colony. There were a few from
Louise Saumoneau
Louise Saumoneau (17 December 1875 – 23 February 1950) was a French feminist who later renounced feminism as being irrelevant to the class struggle.
She became a union leader and a prominent socialist. During World War I she was active in the int ...
's socialist women and Hélène Brion's teachers, and the rest of the women were militant socialists or French trade unionists.
Arrest and trial
![Hélène Brion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_Brion.jpg)
Brion's home was searched on 26 July 1917. Little was found apart from some pacifist writings and leaflets.
However, her position in the CGT and her militancy made her a natural target.
Georges Clemenceau, who would become President of the Council in November 1917, wanted examples.
Brion was arrested on 17 November 1917 and sent to the women's prison of
Saint Lazare
Lazarus of Bethany (Latinised from Lazar, ultimately from Hebrew Eleazar, "God helped"), also venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the subject of a prominent sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John, ...
.
A smear campaign was started in newspapers such as ''
le Petit Parisien'' and ''
le Matin''.
Among other things she was accused of wearing trousers.
The
national syndicalist
National syndicalism is a far-right adaptation of syndicalism to suit the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is generall ...
journalist
Émile Janvion
Émile Janvion (10 April 1866 – 21 July 1927) was a French teacher, an anarcho-syndicalist leader, a founder of the ''Confédération générale du travail'' (CGT) and a leader of the anti-militarist movement. He came to hold national syndicalis ...
published an undated pamphlet, probably in late 1917, titled ''Le féminisme défaitiste'' (Defeatist Feminism). He identified pro-peace feminist leaders such as Hélène Brion,
Séverine,
Marguerite Durand,
Hubertine Auclert
Hubertine Auclert (; 10 April 1848 – 4 August 1914) was a leading French feminist and a campaigner for women's suffrage.
Early life
Born in the Allier ''département'' in the Auvergne area of France into a middle-class family, Hubertine Aucle ...
and
Nelly Roussel
Nelly Roussel (5 January 1878 – 18 December 1922) was a French free thinker, anarchist, and feminist. As a Neo-Malthusian feminist, she advocated for birth-control in European as well as a number of other pro-women and motherhood positions w ...
, and wrote, "the history of defeatism, when it is known, will demonstrate superabundantly that feminism will there merit, I dare say, the place of honor."
Madeleine Vernet
Madeleine Vernet (3 September 1878 – 5 October 1949) was a French teacher, writer, libertarian and pacifist. She attacked abuses in the state system of foster homes, where children were often used for their labor. In 1906 she founded ''l'Avenir s ...
organized a defense committee for Hélène Brion, who was secretary of the board of her workers' orphanage ''L'Avenir social'' at
Épône
Épône () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is situated on the left bank of the River Seine west of Paris. Together with ...
.
Two weeks after Brion had been arrested, Vernet produced a 30-page pamphlet that presented the case as another Dreyfus affair. She wrote, "From this tissue of infamies it came out that Hélène Brion was a dangerous and suspicious character—Anarchist, revolutionary, Malthusian, anti-militarist, defeatist. ... The word spy, which was not directly pronounced, was visible between the lines." Vernet presented a very different picture of a dedicated and generous person devoted to helping children, women and workers.
A general assembly of militants was held on 17 December 1917, which issued a manifesto in Brion's favor and raised a subscription.
Brion was the first woman in France to be tried by a military tribunal during World War I.
Her trial became a cause célèbre, reported on the front pages of the national newspapers.
The trial took place in March 1918. The charges were based on a law of 5 August 1914 that prohibited publications that would give information to the enemy or would exercise a bad influence on the mind of the army and the people. Brion was co-accused with Mouflard, a soldier who was her godson and was suspected of having circulated pacifist propaganda at the front.
The debates lasted several days, and many witnesses were brought for the defense. Character witnesses included
Séverine,
Jean Longuet
Jean-Laurent-Frederick Longuet (5 October 1876 – 11 September 1938) was a French socialist politician and journalist. He was Karl Marx's grandson.
Early years
Jean, often called 'Johnny' as a boy by his family, was born in London on October 5 ...
, deputy and grandson of Marx,
Marthe Bigot
Marthe Bigot (1878–1962) was a French primary schoolteacher, feminist, pacifist and communist.
Early years
Marthe Bigot was born in 1878, the daughter of a baker.
She became a primary schoolteacher in Paris.
In 1907 the International Socialist ...
, a teacher who said she had distributed the same material as Brion and therefore deserved the same punishment,
Nelly Roussel
Nelly Roussel (5 January 1878 – 18 December 1922) was a French free thinker, anarchist, and feminist. As a Neo-Malthusian feminist, she advocated for birth-control in European as well as a number of other pro-women and motherhood positions w ...
, vice president of the ''Union fraternelle des femmes'' and others.
The defense stated that the offending leaflets were not illegal and had been openly circulated for a long time without the authorities taking any action.
Brion questioned the validity of the trial, saying,
She went on to say "I am first and foremost a feminist. And it is because of my feminism that I am an enemy of war. ... War represents the triumph of brute strength, while feminism can only triumph through moral strength and intellectual values."
The prosecution said "it pleases me to state that Helene Brion has a generous heart, no one disputes that."
But he reminded the court that Brion's actions were to be judged, not her moral character, and insisted that blind pacifism is defeatism. Brion's lawyer asked that if the court found her guilty, it should be lenient: "if she made a mistake, she did it without personal interest, she was mistaken out of goodness, the nobility of her soul." He also said she had "endured four months of harsh imprisonment in St. Lazare, prison of thieves and prostitutes ... she has weathered them courageously, gently. She has now largely expiated the little of wrong that you reproach her with.
The outcome was that Mouflard was given a six months suspended sentence and Brion a three years suspended sentence.
Later years
On 31 March 1918, ''Le Petit Parisien'' noted that Brion's certificate to teach had been revoked.
She worked at the workers' orphanage that she had created with Madeleine Vernet, and was not reinstated as a teacher until 1925 under the
Cartel des Gauches.
The men returned to the CGT after demobilization and Brion accepted a subordinate place.
She launched the review ''La Lutte Féministe'' (The Feminist Struggle), which was published for three years.
She became increasingly interested in spiritualism.
Around 1920, Brion joined the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...
. She was one of the few Frenchwomen who were able to visit revolutionary Russia in 1919–22, with
Madeleine Pelletier
Madeleine Pelletier (18 May 1874 – 29 December 1939) was a French psychiatrist, first-wave feminist, and political activist. Born in Paris, Pelletier frequented socialist and anarchist groups in her adolescence. She became a doctor in her twe ...
and
Magdeleine Marx.
Records of French travel to Russia are sketchy for the period before 1924 when the French government recognized the regime, and the journeys were often clandestine. Hélène Brion does not seem to have attended the Second Congress of the Comintern in June–July 1920, but arrived before the end of the summer of 1920 and returned to France in late January or early February 1921.
As a relatively minor figure, she was somewhat isolated from the main political players and events in Russia, but was able to obtain a brief interview with Lenin in the Kremlin.
She made a second visit in 1922 as an active member of the French Committee for assistance to the Russian people, and perhaps a third visit.
She recorded her first visit to Russia in a school notebook, along with articles cut out and pasted into the notebook.
Although never published, the work had reached a relatively complete stage before being abandoned.
''Choses et gens de Russie Rouge'' is a naive work of propaganda. Some passages appeared in ''La Lutte Féministe'' and other journals.
Hélène Brion became disillusioned with the lack of interest in feminism among the Russian and French communists. She left public life in the 1920s.
She devoted a huge amount of effort to preparing a feminist encyclopedia, never finished. The many boxes of material, including biographical notes, newspaper clippings, postcards, poorly organized and without citations, is held in the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand.
Little is known of Brion's later life. She continued to live in Pantin, and 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 opposin ...
(1939–45) moved to Vosges, where she continued work on her encyclopedia.
A letter survives from November 1944 in which she asks a member of the newly elected Constituent Assembly to support women's rights.
In the winter of 1944–45, Brion wrote a "Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt" in the name of the ''Femmes de la Libération Nationale'' (FLN: Women of the National Liberation) of the 12th arrondissement and thanked
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
for expressing her admiration of the women of the Resistance. She said she was proud of her fellow citizenesses, who could not be equalled in the war, and that the FLN would work to rebuild the country and establish world peace.
For this purpose women as well as men should be represented in the assemblies that defined the statutes of world peace.
This appeal to the wife of a political leader was somewhat anachronistic.
Hélène Brion died in
Ennery, Val-d'Oise
Ennery () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in ÃŽle-de-France in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Val-d'Oise department
The following is a list of the 184 communes of the Val-d'Oise department of France.
The c ...
on 31 August 1962 at the age of eighty.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brion, Helene
1882 births
1962 deaths
French communists
French educators
French feminists
French pacifists
French socialists
French socialist feminists
Politicians from Clermont-Ferrand