Michel Zunino (June 12, 1889 – April 26, 1958), Knight of the , was a French wine grower and politician. Zunino was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, representing

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

from 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1956. Additionally, he represented Var in the first and second Constituent National Assemblies after the war. He was also active in the cooperative movement amongst wine growers.

Socialist politician

Zunino served in the

First World War 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 ...

, and achieved the rank of captain in the artillery. He was injured twice in the war. In 1931 Zunino became mayor of La Garde. He became general councilor in 1934. In 1935 he ran for the a seat in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on the list of the

French Section of the Workers International 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 ...

(SFIO), but without getting elected. After the election he became vice president of the General Council. In the 1936 election he was elected 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 repre ...

, with 7,894 votes. He became a member of the Agriculture and Marine commissions. In the National Assembly, he presented a proposal for a law to provide credits for flood victims in Var.

War and resistance

On July 10, 1940, he became one of the

Vichy 80 The Eighty (''Les Quatre-Vingts'') were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that effectively dissolved the Third Republic and established the authoritarian regime of Philippe P ...

, i.e., the eighty parliamentarians that voted against handing over the power of the state to Marshal Philippe Pétain. He was one of four parliamentarians from Var to do so. All four of them participated in the

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

during the war. Zunino joined the National Front (FN), and became a member of Southern Zonal Committee of FN. His son, Roger Zunino, was also a resistance fighter. Michel Zunino was expelled from SFIO in 1944. A few months later he 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 ...

(PCF).
Var 39-45 - Les résistants
'

In the Communist Party

Zunino became honorary president of the United Movement of the French Resistance (MURF). He also became a member of the Federal Bureau of PCF. He was elected mayor of La Garde and member of the National Assembly as a communist candidate.
La Garde, son maire, son mur anticommuniste
' Zunino was the sole former Popular Front parliamentarian from SFIO who later was re-elected to parliament as a communist candidate.
ZUNINO Michel, Jean, Marius
'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zunino, Michel 1889 births 1958 deaths Politicians from Toulon Businesspeople from Toulon French people of Italian descent French Section of the Workers' International politicians French Communist Party politicians Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the Provisional Consultative Assembly 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 Members of Parliament for Var French general councillors Mayors of places in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur French military personnel of World War I The Vichy 80 Communist members of the French Resistance French people of the First Indochina War French people of the Algerian War Knights of the Legion of Honour