Charles Tillon
| Charles Joseph Tillon | |
|---|---|
Tillon in 1951
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| Minister of Air | |
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In office 10 September 1944 – 21 November 1945 |
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| Preceded by | Fernand Grenier (Commissaire) |
| Succeeded by | André Maroselli |
| Minister of Armaments | |
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In office 21 November 1945 – 16 December 1946 |
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| Preceded by | Jean Monnet |
| Succeeded by | Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury |
| Minister of Reconstruction and Urban Development | |
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In office 22 January 1947 – 4 May 1947 |
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| Preceded by | René Schmitt |
| Succeeded by | Jules Moch (interim) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
3 July 1897 Rennes, France |
| Died | 13 January 1993 (aged 95) Marseilles, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Metal worker, trade union leader |
Charles Joseph Tillon (3 July 1897 – 13 January 1993) was a French metal worker, Communist, trade union leader, politician and leader of the French Resistance during World War II (1939–45).
Tillon was born into a working-class family and trained as a metal worker. During World War I (1914–18) he was conscripted into the navy. He was a leader in a naval mutiny in 1919, and was sentenced to five years hard labor. Released after two years he returned to factory work. He became active in the French Communist Party and in the trade union movement, rising to senior positions in both. In 1936 he was elected a Deputy in the National Legislature. He lost this position when the Communist Party was outlawed early in 1940, and went underground. After the German occupation of France in June 1940, Tillon became one of the three leaders of the Communist Party and head of the Communist armed Resistance forces. Following the war he was again elected a deputy, and between 1944 and 1946 was in turn Minister of Air, Minister of Armaments and Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning.
Tillon was born in Rennes in the Ille-et-Vilaine department on 3 July 1897 to a working-class family. He apprenticed in metallurgy at the Rennes vocational school until 1913, then found work as a fitter. During World War I (1914–18), he was drafted into the navy in 1916, and assigned to the cruiser Guichen, which carried troops to the east. He became a quartermaster and was one of the leaders of the mutiny aboard the Jean Bart and France, on the Black Sea, on 26 June 1919. He was arrested in Greece, tried by a military court in Brest and sentenced to five years of hard labor, part of which he served in the Dar Bel Hamri Penitentiary in Morocco.
He was released following a general pardon in 1921. Tillon returned to Rennes and worked as a fitter in different factories making agricultural machinery and chemical products. He joined the French Communist Party, and was active in the Confédération générale du travail unitaire (CGTU) trade union movement. He organized the local metalworkers union, became secretary of the departmental union, then secretary of the regional union of unitary trade unions. He initiated the successful 1924–25 strike of the sardine packers of Douarnenez.
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