(; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

(PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist."

History and profile

Pre-World War II

was founded in 1904 by

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

, leader of the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party ( , PS) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing List of political parties in France, political party in France. It holds Social democracy, social democratic and Pro-Europeanism, pro-European v ...

(PSF), which merged the following year in the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(SFIO). Jaurès also edited the paper until his assassination on 31 July 1914. When the SFIO split at the 1920 Tours Congress, the Communists took control of , which became the official organisation of the

(PCF), despite its socialist origins, while the SFIO retained control of the minor daily '' Le Populaire''. The PCF has published it ever since and owns 40% 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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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 communes of France, commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis departments of France, department, Île-de-France regions of France, region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. Geography Localisation Aubervilliers is one of th ...

, and to a lesser extent elsewhere in the country. The fortunes of 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 Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

started to write for 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 in 1936, s circulation and status increased, and many leading French intellectuals wrote for it. was banned during World War II but continued publication secretly until the

liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris () was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armisti ...

from German occupation in 1944.

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when the PCF was the dominant party of the French left and 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 th ...

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

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. According to the French authors Victor Loupan and Pierre Lorrain (fr), 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 . 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% of the paper to a group of private investors led by the TV channel

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

(part of the

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering 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 ...

group) and including Hachette (

Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. Based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the group was founded and created in 1992 by Jean-Luc Lagardère under the name Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed ...

). 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 is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

, director

Patrick Le Hyaric Patrick Le Hyaric (born 4 February 1957) is a French 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 newspaper ''L'Humanité'' since 20 ...

described the sale as "a matter of life or death." Since 2001, there has been speculation that 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, . The same year 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, had a circulation of 39,522 copies.

Fête de l'Humanité

The newspaper organizes the annual '' Fête de l'Humanité'' 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 media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

''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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Humanite 1904 establishments in France French Communist Party Newspapers published in Paris Newspapers established in 1904 Daily newspapers published in France Left-wing newspapers French-language communist newspapers Jean Jaurès