Pierre Brizon (16 May 1878 – 1 August 1923) was a French teacher, national deputy, internationalist and pacifist. He was subject to violent attacks in the press and parliament for speaking out against the fighting 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 ...

Early career

Pierre Brizon was born on 16 May 1878 in

Franchesse Franchesse () is a commune in the Allier department in central France. The linguist Frantz Brunet (1879–1965) was born in Franchesse. Population See also *Communes of the Allier department The following is a list of the 317 commu ...

, Allier, to a poor farming family. He was a gifted student, and qualified as a teacher, moving from one teaching position to another at the start of his career. He became a teacher of the national professional schools, and was appointed to a position in

Armentières Armentières (; vls, Armentiers) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. The motto of the town is ''Pauvre mais fière'' (Poor but proud). Geogra ...

, Nord department. There he joined the Socialist group. He supported the struggles of workers, and wrote various articles for socialist publications. In 1905 he wrote in praise of the sailors of the Battleship Potemkin uprising, and received a letter from Bienvenu Martin, minister of public education, reproving him for not having used the reserved language required of public servants, and particularly of teachers. Around this time he also wrote a lengthy history of labor. He became a teacher at the

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

industrial school. In the legislative elections of 1906 he was a candidate in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

on the platform of the Socialist Party (SFIO, ''

Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière 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 ...

''). He was not elected, perhaps because he had no ties to the region. In 1907 he was elected a councilor in the district of Bourbon-l'Archambault, Allier. Later he would become mayor of his native town.

National deputy

Brizon was elected a national deputy for

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

in April 1910 on the socialist platform. He demanded pensions for workers, nationalization of insurance, mines, railways and progressive inheritance and income taxes. He was reelected in 1914. He was noted for his defense of the rights of tenant farmers. After the outbreak of

(July 1914 - November 1918) Brizon joined the ''

union sacrée The Sacred Union (french: Union Sacrée, ) was a political truce in France in which the left-wing agreed, during World War I, not to oppose the government or call any strikes. Made in the name of patriotism, it stood in opposition to the pledge made ...

'' whose members agreed to cooperate with the government, as did all members of the Socialist party. Later he became opposed to the ''union sacrée'', and joined the pacifist ''Comité pour la reprise des relations internationales'' (Committee for restoring international relations). An international socialist conference at Kienthal in Switzerland was arranged for the end of April 1916, a follow-up to the 1915

Zimmerwald Conference The Zimmerwald Conference was held in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5 to 8, 1915. It was the first of three international socialist conferences convened by anti-militarist socialist parties from countries that were originally neutral d ...

. 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) leaders

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

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 ...

were expected to represent France, but were refused the passports they needed to travel. Three delegates from the SFIO led by Alexandre Blanc were able to attend as deputies with parliamentary immunity. Brizon and

Jean Raffin-Dugens Jean Pierre Raffin-Dugens (3 December 1861 – 26 March 1946) was a French politician. He was a socialist, internationalist and pacifist. During World War I (1914–1918) he was one of the few national deputies to remain true to the principle that ...

accompanied Blanc. All three were teachers by profession. At the meeting, Brizon would not accept that the goal should be creation of a third International. He said the important thing was to press the

International Socialist Bureau The International Socialist Bureau (French: ''Bureau Socialiste International'') was the permanent organization of the Second International, established at the Paris congress of 1900. Before this there was no organizational infrastructure to the "Se ...

to work towards peace. On their return from Switzerland, the three deputies were the targets of a violent press campaign in which they were accused of being defeatists, traitors and spies. They were repudiated by leaders of the Socialist party. On 24 June 1916 Brizon, Blanc and Raffins-Dugens refused to vote for war credits. In his speech on that occasion Brizon paid tribute to the "brave minority of German socialists". He said they and he remained faithful to the old decisions of the socialist international, that if war broke out it was the duty of the working classes to try to end it quickly. For his outspoken opposition to the war Brizon was temporarily suspended from parliament in 1916. After returning to his seat as deputy, he held to his position and asked for a referendum by secret ballot on the question of war or peace. He also asked for an inquiry into the position the government had taken regarding sending delegates to the

Third Zimmerwald Conference The Third Zimmerwald Conference or the Stockholm Conference of 1917 was the third and final of the anti-war socialist conferences that had included Zimmerwald Conference, Zimmerwald (1915) and Kienthal Conference, Kienthal (1916). It was held in St ...

, held in 1917 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. In February 1917 the Committee for the Resumption of International Relations split, with Brizon, Raffin-Dugens and Bourderon joining the SFIO minority led by

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 ...

, while the socialists

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 ...

Charles Rappoport Charles Rappoport (14 June 1865 – 17 November 1941) was a Russian and French militant communist politician, journalist and writer. A Jewish intellectual, and a multilingual scholar, he's been referred to as "a grand man of French radicalism". ...

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 ...

and

François Mayoux François Mayoux (24 June 1882 – 21 July 1967) was a French teacher who became in turn a socialist, communist and revolutionary syndicalist. He and his wife Marie Mayoux were imprisoned during World War I (1914–18) for publishing a pacifist pam ...

took control of the committee. Merrheim withdrew to concentrate on union work. Brizon launched the pacifist ''La Vague (The Wave)'' in January 1918. He had to give up this journal, but later published the ''Bloc des rouges'' (Red bloc).

Later career

Bizon failed to be reelected in the national elections of 16 November 1919, where he ran as a socialist. The next month he ran for election as mayor of

, Allier, but again lost. 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 ...

when it was created in December 1920 at the

Tours Congress The Tours Congress was the 18th National Congress of the French Section of the Workers' International, or SFIO, which took place in Tours on 25–30 December 1920. During the Congress, the majority voted to join the Third International and create t ...

, but was expelled in October 1922. He was accused of "right-wing deviation." On 24 December 1922 he and other Communist party dissidents in revolt against Moscow founded the ''Union fédérative socialiste'' (Federal Socialist Union). He became a member of the Central Committee and the Political Committee. Brizon died prematurely in Paris on 1 August 1923. He was aged forty-five.

Early career

National deputy

Later career

See also

Bibliography

References

Sources

Further reading