Léon Nicole (10 April 1887 in Montcherand,

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

– 28 June 1965 in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

) was a prominent trade unionist, journalist, politician and member of the

Grand Council of Geneva The Grand Council of Geneva (french: Grand Conseil de Genève) is the legislature of the canton of Geneva, in Switzerland. Geneva, styled as a 'Republic and Canton', has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council was established in its prese ...

and the Swiss National Council. In 1933, he was a member of the first Cantonal government in Switzerland with a Socialist majority and the first socialist ever elected to lead a Canton. He was elected the first President of the Swiss Party of Labour in 1944. In 1952 he was expelled from the Party of Labour for expressing sympathy towards Yugoslavia and in 1954 set up a rival communist party called the Progressive Party.

Early life

Nicole attended school in his home village and Orbe before leaving for further education in St. Gallen. He worked in the postal service from 1905 to 1919, stationed in

from 1911 and was a union leader between 1919 and 1921. He was editor of several socialist newspapers including ''Labour'' and ''Workers' Voice''.

Political career

Nicole joined the Swiss Socialist Party in 1909 and was active as a trade unionist. He was one of the leaders of the 1918 general strike in Geneva, was imprisoned and subsequently acquitted by a military court in 1919. In 1919 he was elected to the National Council as a representative of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. He was also elected to the

in 1919. In 1933, he was the first Socialist to be elected leader of a

canton of Switzerland The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Con ...

, when on 3 December he was voted into the Présidence (Presidency) of the Geneva Council of State, the executive body of the

Republic and Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicole, Leon 1887 births 1965 deaths Swiss Party of Labour politicians Canton of Vaud politicians