Paul Delesalle
| Paul Delesalle | |
|---|---|
Paul Delesalle
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| Born |
29 July 1870 Issy-les-Moulineaux, Seine, France |
| Died | 8 April 1948 (aged 77) Palaiseau, Seine-et-Oise, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Precision instrument maker, bookseller |
| Known for | CGT leader |
Paul Delesalle (29 July 1870 – 8 April 1948) was a French anarchist and syndicalist who was prominent in the trade union movement. He started work as a machinist, became a journalist, and later became a bookseller, publisher and writer.
Maurice Paul Delesalle was born on 29 July 1870 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Seine. He came from a working-class family. He was trained as a metalworker, and made precision instruments. Delesalle became involved in anarchist activity in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, was arrested before May Day in 1892 and detained in Mazas Prison for eighteen days. In 1895 he built the first movie camera (appareil chronophotographique) following the plans of Auguste and Louis Lumière. Delesalle attended the Second International Congress in London on 26 July - 1 August 1896 as a trade union delegate rather than an anarchist. At the opening of the proceedings he tried to speak at the podium but was thrown down to the floor and injured. He contributed to the journal La Révolte and then worked for Les Temps nouveaux, where in 1897 he became the assistant of Jean Grave.
Delesalle thought that anarchist activity had to start with syndicalism, and became active in the General Confederation of Labour (France) (CGT: Confédération Générale du Travail). He was assistant secretary of the Federation of Trade Councils (Fédération des bourses du travail), and assistant secretary of the CGT Trade Councils section from 1897 to 1907. He became one of the most influential anarcho-syndicalists in France during this period. At the Congress of Toulouse in 1897 his motion advocating the use of general strikes, boycotts and sabotage was adopted unanimously.
For a period in 1906 and again in 1907 he filled in at the secretariat of the Trade Councils for Georges Yvetot, who was imprisoned. Delesalle was a regular writer in La Voix du peuple, the CGT journal, and edited the Labor section of Les Temps nouveaux until 1906. He left Les Temps nouveaux after writing an antisemitic article. In 1906 he was a member of Liberté d'opinion (Freedom of opinion), a committee to assist political prisoners. Other activists in the committee included René de Marmande, Charles Desplanques, Alphonse Merrheim, Émile Janvion and Auguste Garnery.
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