Lucie Colliard

Lucie Colliard
Lucie Colliard, 1921
Born	Lucie Claudine Parmelan (1877-01-24)24 January 1877 Saint-Félix, Haute-Savoie, France
Died	1961
Nationality	French
Occupation	Teacher
Known for	Trade unionism

Lucie Colliard, born Lucie Claudine Parmelan (24 January 1877 – 1961) was a French teacher, pacifist, trade unionist and communist from Haute-Savoie. She helped found the French teacher's union. She was dismissed from her position as a teacher during World War I (1914–18) for her pacifist activities. She was active in the far left of the communist movement in France in the 1920s and 1930s.

Lucie Colliard was a native of Saint-Félix, in the Albanais, south of Haute-Savoie. She was born in 1877. She studied at a religious school for a period, then at a normal school, where she qualified as a teacher. At the Congress of Chambéry in 1912 she campaigned for creation of teacher's unions, which had previously been prohibited. Only friendly societies were tolerated, since the authorities considered that a teacher was a civil servant, should represent the state and should not organize or stand for election. The congress was also one of the first to discuss feminism in education, a fight in which Colliard would play a leading role. She became an activist in the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO: Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière) in 1912.

During World War I (1914–18) Colliard was assigned to a teaching position near the Swiss border. She received pacifist colleagues and helped them cross the border into Switzerland to attend the major meetings of international socialists and pacifists. In June 1917 Colliard was forced to move to a new school due to her "extreme pacifism" and because she had expressed sympathy for the German people.Georges Clemenceau returned to power in mid-November 1917, and launched a violent campaign against defeatism that lasted throughout 1918. The first CGT congress since the war started was held in Paris in July 1918, at a time when the city was threatened by a new German offensive. The delegates agreed on a compromise on the union sacrée, but Brion was in the minority of 253 who voted against it.

Colliard was arrested in 1918 and her licence to teach was revoked until 1925. Lucie Colliard and Hélène Brion, both feminists, were among the five female teachers dismissed for pacifist activity. Other feminist teachers were strongly reprimanded for pacifism, including Marthe Pichorel, Marthe Bigot and Marie Guillot. Only two male teachers were dismissed for pacifism. In 1918 Colliard founded the journal La Vague (The Wave).