Paul Bacon (1 November 1907 – 6 December 1999) was a French

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

.Profile
pace.coe.int. Accessed 9 November 2022.

Biography

Bacon was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. 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 ...

, he was active in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. He was a member of

Georges Bidault Georges-Augustin Bidault (; 5 October 189927 January 1983) was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions. He joined the ...

's National Liberation Movement, and distributed a manifesto about trade unionism in December 1940. Bacon was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

in 1943. After the war, Bacon continued his political career. A member of the Christian Democratic

Popular Republican Movement The Popular Republican Movement (french: Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP) was a Christian-democratic political party in France during the Fourth Republic. Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault, Robert Sc ...

(MRP), he was Member of the two National Constituent Assemblies (1945–46) and then of 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 ...

from 1946 to 1958 representing the Seine Department. He was Secretary of state in the prime minister's office in 1959-1960, Minister of Labour and Social security (with some interruptions during the cabinets of

Pinay ''Pinoy'' ( ) is a common informal self-reference used by Filipinos to refer to citizens of the Philippines and their culture as well as to overseas Filipinos in the Filipino diaspora. A Pinoy who has any non-Filipino foreign ancestry is often ...

and of Mendès France) from 1950 to 1956 and again in 1957-1959. He was Minister of Labour in

De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

, Debré and Pompidou governments from 1958 to 1962. With the other MRP ministers, he resigned in protest after De Gaulle's press conference about European integration in May 1962. He sat in the Economic and Social Council from 1962 to 1964. Bacon was also a municipal councillor at

Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Saint-Maur-des-Fossés () is a commune in Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southea ...

. A trade unionist and an adept of social harmony, Paul Bacon was one of the major figures who built French social security and was the father of the Interprofessional Guaranteed Minimum Wage (''salaire minimum interprofessionnel garanti'', or SMIG).

Books

Bacon wrote several books: * ''La Naissance de la classe ouvrière'' * ''Vers la réforme de l'entreprise capitaliste'' * ''Vers la démocratie économique et sociale''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Paul 1907 births 1999 deaths 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 French Resistance members French people of the Algerian War Government ministers of France Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) Politicians from Paris Popular Republican Movement politicians