Georges Yvetot

Georges Louis François Yvetot
Georges Yvetot in L'Humanité (27 May 1913)
Born	(1868-07-20)20 July 1868 Paris, France
Died	11 May 1942(1942-05-11) (aged 73) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Typographer, militant activist and trade unionist

Georges Louis François Yvetot (20 July 1868 – 11 May 1942) was a French typographer, anarcho-syndicalist and anti-militarist. He was secretary general of the Fédération des Bourses de travail (Federation of Workers' Councils) and deputy secretary general of the Confédération générale du travail (CGT – General Confederation of Labour) in the period leading up to World War I (1914–18). He kept a low profile during the war, and in 1918 was dismissed from the CGT leadership. After the war he contributed to many anarchist journals. He died in poverty during World War II (1939–45).

Georges Louis François Yvetot was born in Paris on 20 July 1868 to a father of Norman origin. He was born in the Minimes barracks, where his father was a gendarme. His mother died, and then his father, while he was young. He was raised by the Brothers of Christian Doctrine and the Auteuil center for orphan apprentices, where he trained as a typographer from 1880 to 1887. He contracted pulmonary tuberculosis and was therefore not required to serve in the army. From 1887 to 1894 he worked as a typesetter for La Patrie, accepting a wage below standard.

Yvetot became an anarchist under the influence of Fernand Pelloutier, whom he helped as typographer on the Ouvrier des Deux Mondes. He was working at the Petit Soir when Pelloutier died, and he succeeded him as secretary general of the Fédération des Bourses on 22 May 1901. He was appointed with the help of the socialists Jean Allemane and Paul Brousse. He was reelected in this position, under slightly different titles, by every congress until the start of World War I (1914–18). His aggressive behavior and physical appearance earned him the nickname "bulldog". He was a follower of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon as an anarchist, and continued to be so after becoming a syndicalist. He was very reluctant about the Fédération des Bourses merging with the CGT at the 9th congress in Nice in September 1901.