''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of 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 ...

, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist."

History and profile

Pre-World War II

''L'Humanité'' was founded in 1902 by

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; oc, Joan Jaurés ), was a French Socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became one of the first social dem ...

, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). Jaurès also edited the paper until his assassination on 31 July 1914. When the

Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

split at the 1920

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 ...

, the Communists took control of ''L'Humanité''. Therefore, it became a communist paper despite its socialist origin. The PCF has published it ever since. The PCF owns 40 per cent of the paper with the remaining shares held by staff, readers and "friends" of the paper. The paper is also sustained by the annual ''Fête de l'Humanité'', held in the working class suburbs of

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 ...

, at

Le Bourget Le Bourget () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The commune features Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hosts the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum). A very ...

, near

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''. Geography Localisati ...

, and to a lesser extent elsewhere in the country. The fortunes of ''L'Humanité'' have fluctuated with those of the PCF. During the 1920s, when the PCF was politically isolated, it was kept in existence only by donations from Party members.

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

started to write for ''L'Humanité'' in 1933, in the "news in brief" section. He later led ''Les Lettres françaises'', the paper's weekly literary supplement. With the formation of the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

in 1936, ''L'Humanité''s circulation and status increased, and many leading French intellectuals wrote for it. ''L'Humanité'' was banned during World War II but published clandestinely until liberation of Paris from German occupation.

After World War II

The paper's status was highest in the years after

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 ...

, when the PCF was the dominant party of the French left and ''L'Humanité'' enjoyed a large circulation. Since the 1980s, however, the PCF has been in decline, mostly due to the rise 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 t ...

, which took over large sections of PCF support, and circulation and economic viability of ''L'Humanité'' have declined as well. Until 1990 the PCF and ''L'Humanité'' received regular subsidies from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. According to the French authors Victor Loupan and Pierre Lorrain (fr), ''L'Humanité'' received free newsprint from Soviet sources.

Post-Soviet Union

The fall of the Soviet Union and the continued decline of the PCF's electoral base produced a crisis for ''L'Humanité''. Its circulation, more than 500,000 after the war, slumped to under 70,000. In 2001, after a decade of financial decline, the PCF sold 20 per cent of the paper to a group of private investors led by the TV channel TF1 (part of the

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...

group) and including

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

(

Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. It is headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The group was created in 1992 as Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed by Arnaud Lagardère, it is focused ...

). TF1 said its motive was "maintenance of media diversity." Despite the irony of a communist newspaper being rescued by private capital, some of which supported

right-wing politics Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, author ...

, ''L'Humanité'' director

Patrick Le Hyaric Patrick Le Hyaric (born 4 February 1957 in Orléans, Loiret) is a French journalist, politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), elected in the 2009 European election for the Île-de-France constituency. He is the director of the ne ...

described the sale as "a matter of life or death." Since 2001, there has been speculation that ''L'Humanité'' would cease as a daily newspaper. However in contrast to most French newspapers, its publication has actually since increased to about 75,000.

After 2001

In 2006, the paper created a weekly edition, '' L’Humanité Dimanche''. The same year ''L'Humanité'' had a circulation of 52,800 copies. In 2008, it sold its headquarters due to financial problems and called for donations. More than €2 million had been donated by the end of 2008. In 2020, ''L'Humanité'' had a circulation of 39,522 copies.

Fête de l'Humanité

The newspaper organizes the annual ''

Fête de l'Humanité The fête de l'Humanité (; ''English: Festival of Humanity'') is an event organised annually by French daily newspaper ''L'Humanité'' in order to fund itself. It is the largest popular gathering in France. L'Humanité was created in 1904 by Fre ...

'' festival as a fundraising event.

References

External links

''Fête de l'Humanité'': A weekend of politics and Rock'n'Roll
–

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

''L'Humanité''
(official website)
''L'Humanité'' на русском языке

''Cinco Noticias''
- Actual L'Humanité en Español
Regular French Press Review
– Radio France International
''L'Humanité''s digital archives from 1904 to 1944
– Gallica, the digital library of the BnF (archived issues themselves are in French) * Underground edition o
''L'Humanité'' (zone nord)
from 1939 to 1944 online in Gallica. * Underground edition o
''L'Huma'' (Bobigny)
online in Gallica. * Underground edition o
''L'Humanité. Organe central du Parti communiste S.F.I.C. Ed. spéciale féminine. [Zone nord.]''
online in Gallica.
"Our Goal"
translation of

' editorial of the first issue