Benoît Frachon
Benoît Frachon (13 May 1893 – 1 August 1975) was a French metalworker and trade union leader who was one of the leaders of the French Communist Party (Parti communiste français, PCF) and of the French Resistance during World War II (1939–45). He was Secretary-General of the Confédération générale du travail (CGT) from 1945 to 1967. 1893–1914: Early years Benoît Frachon was born on 13 May 1893 in Le Chambon-Feugerolles, Loire, the third of five children in a working-class family. Le Chambon-Feugerolles was a mining and industrial town in the Loire coal basin. His father was a miner who died of uremia at the age of 51. Benoît received a Certificate of Primary Education in July 1904. He went on to secondary school in Chambon-Feugerolles, but dropped out two years later. At the age of thirteen he became apprenticed to a former metal worker, who taught him the basic skills. When Frachon's father died he obtained work with a manufacturer of bolts and other hardware. He joined the union in 1909. He joined a strike at his factory in January 1910 that soon spread to all the metal works in the Loire. He lost his job due to another strike in 1911, but soon found work in a machine factory. He joined a small anarchist group of miners and metalworkers created in 1909, and read Gustave Hervé's weekly La Guerre Sociale and Pierre Monatte's La Vie Ouvrière. He often visited the Maison du Peuple in Chambon, where he participated in theatrical productions and read widely in the library. Frachon joined the general strike in 1912 against the "Three Years Law". In 1913 he was called up for military service. He was placed in the auxiliary service due to his myopia, and was in the clothing store of the 30th Artillery Regiment in Orléans at the outbreak of World War I (1914–18). 1914–19: World War I Frachon was returned to active duty in the Guérigny naval arsenal, but due to his technical skills was not sent to the front. Frachon disagreed with the CGT position of supporting the Union sacrée, under which no industrial actions were taken during the struggle with Germany, and preferred Alphonse Merrheim's opposition to helping the war effort. He was a strong supporter of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917. Frachon was elected when Albert Thomas, the socialist Minister of Armaments, created worker's delegates. In January 1918 he was an alternate delegate for his workshop, and took a clear position against the war. He was moved from Guérigny that month and given various jobs in the aviation industry. He was at Belfort when the armistice was declared in November 1918. He spent a short time with the troops occupying the Rhineland, then was discharged on 19 August 1919. 1919–28: Regional leader Frachon returned to Chambon-Feugerolles on 8 September 1919, where he joined the socialist Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO). He could not find work in the region, so moved to Marseille where he found a