Pierre Frank (24 October 1905,

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 ...

– 18 April 1984, Paris) was a French

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 ...

leader. He served on the 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 ...

from 1948 to 1979. Educated as a chemical engineer, Frank was one of the first French Trotskyists, working with

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Pierre Naville Pierre Naville (1 February 1903 – 24 April 1993) was a French Surrealist writer and sociologist.Stubb, JeremyObituary: Pierre Naville ''The Independent'', 3 June 1993. He was a prominent member of the "Investigating Sex" group of Surrealist ...

and the

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

Alfred Rosmer Alfred Rosmer (born Alfred Griot, 23 August 1877 – 6 May 1964) was an American-born French Communist political activist and historian who was a leading member of the Comintern. Rosmer is best remembered as a political associate of Leon Trotsky a ...

. In 1930, he joined Trotsky on the island of Prinkipo to work as a member of the secretariat that prepared the first conference of the

International Left Opposition International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. Returning to France, he was a leader of the Communist League, the French Trotskyist organisation, in the 1930s. After the rise of the 1934

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 ...

government in France, Frank was a part of the faction within the movement led by his friend

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 ...

that remained inside the

SFIO 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 ...

after the majority followed Trotsky's advice to leave. Frank and his co-thinkers were expelled from the Movement for the

as a result. Frank was a founder-member of the "La Commune" group formed by Molinier.

Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter (5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He fo ...

comments that the group "was chiefly identified with a thorough-going preparation of anti-militarist and anti-imperialist work that earned them repression and persecution at the hands of the French imperialist government." When the Second World War broke out, Frank was sent to Great Britain in order to continue legally publishing the movement's documents. He issued a publication called ''International Correspondence'' but, as an illegal resident, was briefly interned in a British

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. Apart from the help of Betty Hamilton, the British Trotskyists were not in sympathy with his views. At the end of the Second World War he returned to France where his current campaigned for the reunification of the French Trotskyists. He joined the leadership 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). At the 1948 World Congress he joined the international leadership team that included

and

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 ...

. He was important in maintaining the PCI in the 1950s and into the 1960s. He was elected to 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 Com ...

in 1963 and served as an editor of

Intercontinental Press ''Intercontinental Press'' (IP) was a weekly news magazine produced on behalf of the Fourth International (FI) between 1963 and 1986. The magazine was founded in Paris as ''World Outlook'' in 1963 under the editorial direction of Joseph Hansen, Pi ...

. When the PCI was dissolved into the new Communist League in 1968, he was a part of the leadership and continued in it until his death. He was the author of a history of Trotskyism entitled
''The Long March of the Trotskyists''
' and ''Histoire de l'Internationale communiste (1919–1943)'', ed. La Breche, 1979. His ashes are in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.

External links

Obituary
by

Frank's writings from the Marxist Internet Archive
provides a bio-bibliographical sketch of Pierre Frank {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Pierre 1905 births 1984 deaths Politicians from Paris Internationalist Communist Party (France) politicians Revolutionary Communist League (France) politicians French Jews Jewish socialists Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery