Rodolphe (Rudi) Prager (March 31, 1918 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

– 2002) was a French militant

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

politician and publicist.

Early years

Born in Berlin, he emigrated with his parents to

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 ...

in 1929, joined the French Socialist Youth in 1932 and the ''Gauche Bolshevik- Leniniste'' (

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

Leninist Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishme ...

Left) in 1935.

Career

When the Trotskyist Youth, the ''Jeunesses socialistes révolutionaires'', was set up in 1936, he was a member of its Central Committee. From 1937 he joined the ''Parti Communiste Internationaliste'' (International Communist Party) of

Pierre Frank Pierre Frank (24 October 1905, Paris – 18 April 1984, Paris) was a French Trotskyist leader. He served on the secretariat of the Fourth International from 1948 to 1979. Educated as a chemical engineer, Frank was one of the first French Trotsky ...

and

Raymond Molinier Raymond Molinier (1904–1994) was a leader of the Trotskyist movement in France and a pioneer of the Fourth International. Molinier was born in Paris. In 1929, founded the journal ''La Vérité'', and in March 1936 he and Pierre Frank co-fou ...

, was elected onto its Central Committee, and was a founder and leader of the ''Jeunesses Communistes Internationalistes''. When the Molinier tendency sent its delegation abroad at the outbreak of war, when it was made illegal, Comrade Prager represented the youth on this committee, and along with Georges Vereeken and Molinier and Frank edited its ''Correspondance Internationaliste''. From December 1939 to May 1940 Comrade Prager was imprisoned but in July 1940 he returned to

illegally and helped to reconstruct the Trotskyist organisation that later assumed the name of the ''Comité Communiste Internationaliste'' (International Communist Committee). As one of its leaders, he conducted the negotiations that led to the unification of his group with the POI of Marcel Hic and the European Secretariat of

Michel Pablo Michel Pablo ( el, Μισέλ Πάμπλο; 24 August 1911, Alexandria, Egypt – 17 February 1996, Athens) was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis ( el, Μιχάλης Ν. Ράπτης), a Trotskyist leader of Greek origin. Early activism ...

, on which he sat as a representative from September 1943 onwards. On the Political Bureau of the

Internationalist Communist Party Internationalist Communist Party may refer to: * Internationalist Communist Party (France) The Internationalist Communist Party (french: Parti Communiste Internationaliste, PCI) was a Trotskyist political party in France. It was the name taken ...

(PCI), he had special responsibility for its anti-colonial work, and had charge of the same aspect of the work of the International Secretariat from 1946 onwards. During the fifties and sixties he was elected onto the Political Bureau of the PCI and served on the Control Commission of the

United Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, following a ten-year schism, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International Comm ...

from 1964 to 1969. The third and fourth volumes of his documentary survey of the

International Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...

covering the period up to 1952 are shortly to appear.

External links

Rodolphe Prager Papers

References

1918 births French socialists French communists French politicians Comintern people French Trotskyists 2002 deaths {{France-politician-stub