Georges Marchais

Georges Marchais (born June 7, 1920, La Hoguette, France—died November 16, 1997, Paris) was a French politician, leader of the French Communist Party from 1972 to 1994. As a young man Marchais worked as a mechanic and in 1946 became secretary of the union of metalworkers in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. Marchais joined the Communist Party in 1947, and his rise through the hierarchy was rapid. In 1956 he became a member of the central committee,...