Alexandre Blanc
| Alexandre Blanc | |
|---|---|
Alexandre Blanc in 1915
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| Born |
Alexandre Marius Henri Blanc 14 September 1874 Camps-la-Source, Var, France |
| Died | 26 August 1924 (aged 49) Alfortville, Seine, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Known for | National deputy |
Alexandre Marius Henri Blanc (14 September 1874 - 26 August 1924) was a French schoolteacher, socialist and national deputy. He belonged to the left wing of the socialist party, and during World War I was pacifist. After the war he was one of the founders of the French Communist Party.
Alexandre Marius Henri Blanc was born in Camps-la-Source, Var, on 14 September 1874. He studied at the Ecole normale in Avignon. He was appointed a teacher in Monteux, Vaucluse. In 1902 he was elected a member of the departmental council of primary education. Blanc was elected a national deputy for Orange, Vaucluse in the second round of the general election of 6 and 20 May 1906, running on the platform of the Socialist Unity Party. In the 1910 election, running for the same district and platform, he was defeated and returned to teaching and to activism in the socialist federation of Vaucluse.
In the 26 April and 10 May 1914 general elections Alexandre Blanc regained his seat on the second ballot. During World War I (July 1914 - November 1918) Blanc remained with the parliamentary minority that gradually took a more traditional position, leading to the split of the socialist party in 1920. After Jean Jaurès had been assassinated, he refused to follow the leadership of Pierre Renaudel and would not join the Union sacrée.
An international socialist conference at Kienthal in Switzerland was arranged for the end of April 1916, a follow-up to the 1915 Zimmerwald Conference. The Confédération générale du travail (CGT, General Confederation of Labor) leaders Alphonse Merrheim, Albert Bourderon and Marie Mayoux were expected to represent France, but were refused the passports they needed to travel. Three delegates from the socialist party (SFIO, Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière) led by Alexandre Blanc were able to attend as deputies with parliamentary immunity. The other two, also teachers by profession, were Pierre Brizon and Jean Raffin-Dugens. At the conference Blanc managed to offend all the attendees by referring to alleged German atrocities in Belgium, and had to be halted by Robert Grimm, the president of the conference. A resolution was agreed in which the Workers' International was attacked for failing to oppose the war.
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