Marthe Bigot

Marthe Bigot
Marthe Bigot in 1921
Born	1878
Died	1962
Nationality	French
Occupation	Teacher
Known for	Feminism and Communism

Marthe Bigot (1878–1962) was a French primary schoolteacher, feminist, pacifist and communist.

Marthe Bigot was born in 1878, the daughter of a baker. She became a primary schoolteacher in Paris.

In 1907 the International Socialist Conference of Stuttgart forbade socialist women from collaborating with "bourgeois" feminists. Bigot, Madeleine Pelletier and Hélène Brion resisted this decision. While belonging to the extreme left, they tried to maintain radical feminism. They took a pacifist position in World War I (1914–18). As an institutrice Bigot and other feminist teachers including Marthe Pichorel and Marie Guillot were investigated and strongly reprimanded for their pacifist attitudes. Bigot was not dismissed, as were Hélène Brion and Lucie Colliard. The Comité d'Action Suffragiste (CAS) was created in December 1917, directed by Jeanne Mélin, Marthe Bigot and Gabrielle Duchêne. The CAS organized meetings to which they tried to attract workers, for example by showing films. As well as agitating for women's suffrage, the CAS wanted to organize a referendum to end the fighting.

After 1917 the pacifist position was expressed in La Voice des femmes (the Voice of Women).La Voix des femmes had contributors with diverse views and did not have a purely feminist agenda, but it pursued a radical line. It was in favor of full equality of the sexes, of sexual emancipation, and of participation by women in political parties on the left. The masthead depicted a heroic woman worker beside a male co-revolutionary. As a bi-monthly the paper quickly achieved a circulation of almost 5,000 copies. It became the "loudest voice on the women's Left", and attracted the attention of the police. It became a daily paper in 1922, and continued to appear until 1939.

At the Congress of Tours in December 1920 Bigot joined the French Communist Party (PCF) majority. She became the secretary of the 12th section of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). She was also active in Feminist causes, demonstrating for the right to vote as a member of the Women's Committee for Permanent Peace and the Fédération Féministe Universitaire. She was removed from this position for her activity in 1921, and reinstated in 1924. She was secretary for women's propaganda for the PCF from 1920–24 and founder of the women's journal l'Ouvrière.