The French politician Leon Blum was distinguished by a combination of French patriotism and sympathy for the theory of Zionism. The anti-Semitic moods that sometimes appear in modern society make us recall this former French prime minister.
Andre Leon Blum, short biography
The birthplace of this future major leader of the labor movement is Paris. Date of birth - April 9, 1872; Date of death - March 30, 1950
His father was a wealthy Alsatian merchant, a manufacturer of silk ribbons.
He studied at first Blum Leon in the lyceums of Henry the Fourth and Charles the Great, then he graduated from the Higher Normal School and the University of Paris, where he studied law. He studied well.
The Dreyfus affair prompted him to engage in political activities.
Since 1902, he became a member of the Socialist Party.
In 1919, the Parisians elected him to the National Assembly.
In the same period, he tried to exert a certain influence on French diplomacy with the goal of organizing a Jewish national structure in Palestine.
Political position
At the beginning of 1920, Blum Leon spoke condemningly about the October Revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Soon, from the supporters of the revolution in Russia, the French Communist Party was formed, which joined the "Humanite".
Supporters of Blum, who were in the minority, organized in the modern French Socialist Party.
As a Marxist, Blum Leon did not want to be part of the "bourgeois" governments.
He sympathized with Zionism, and when Chaim Weizmann invited him to the Jewish Agency, he joined its members since 1929.
Since 1936, Blum Leon joined the left coalition, from which a little later the anti-fascist Popular Front emerged, which received the majority of the vote in the next election.
As prime minister
06/04/1936 Leon Blum, whose biography was quite successful for this period, took over as prime minister of France.
The government cabinet he leads has passed several laws of a social nature. The 40-hour work week was finally approved, and a mechanism for paid leave for the worker was introduced. Arabs in Algeria received equal rights with the French. The nationalization of the Bank of France and the military industry was carried out.
The promising social reform program adopted by the Blum government provoked a protest in industry, which refused to cooperate with the cabinet.
Along with this, intra-coalition tensions escalated over the assistance of the Spanish Republicans in their opposition to the fascist regime. The Prime Minister proposed a policy of non-intervention, which was regarded by critics as a concession to fascism.
On June 21, 1937, the Prime Minister submitted a letter of resignation. This happened after the parliamentarians rejected the proposal to introduce a law that would give the Cabinet of Ministers extraordinary powers to conduct tough financial events.
The pre-war period and the occupation of France
After the Government of the People’s Front was transformed, Leon Blum, a politician with great practical experience, became the deputy head of the government and held him from June 29, 1937 to January 18, 1938.
From 13.03. On April 10, 1938, he was Minister of Finance.
After the occupation of France in 1940, Blum did not leave the country. During the convocation of the National Assembly in Vichy, he, among 80 voters, opposed the granting of the dictator's powers to Peten.
The government of Vichy Blum was found guilty at the beginning of the war, in connection with which he was put on trial.
In September 1940 he was arrested, and in 1942 he, along with other politicians from the Third Republic, was put on trial. This show trial, called "Riomsky", was aimed at "identifying and convicting those responsible for the defeat of France."
In 1943, Pierre Laval gave the order to deport Blum to Germany, where he was placed in the Buchenwald concentration camp. Only by chance did he survive there.
His brother Rene Blum was much less fortunate; he ended up in Auschwitz and died there.
In the spring of 1945, Leon Blum was released from the concentration camp by the Americans.
Post-war time
After returning to France, Blum became a member of the provisional government of de Gaulle. He participated in negotiations with the Americans over the issuance of large loans to France.
In the period from December 16, 1946 to January 22, 1947, Blum served as chairman of the Provisional Government.
In 1947, the UN General Assembly considered the future of Eretz Yisrael. Blum spent a lot of effort for the French government to decide to vote for a resolution that provided for the partition of Palestine to create a Jewish public entity on its territory.
In 1948, Leon Blum, whose photo could be found in many newspapers, led the French delegation to the UN. From July 28 to September 5, 1948, he was Deputy Prime Minister.
March 30, 1950 Blum died in the town of Jouy-en-José (Yvelin department).
Blum's biography study
Blum’s biography has been studied in detail by Pierre Birnbaum, Professor of Sorbona, a specialist in Jewish history in France.
At the same time, two goals were pursued. The author tried to find out what is the significance of the personality of Leon Blum for the history of France. Along with this, Birnbaum showed that the most important factor in the formation of Blum's political worldview was Jewry.
A tremendous influence on the views of Blum had the Dreyfus affair. He had the conviction for life that a politician should eliminate injustice in relation to a particular person, and only then think about how to eliminate social injustice as a whole.
According to Birnbaum, Blum’s rapid political career was the result of his outstanding intellectual abilities, which were successfully combined with left-wing views gaining strength in society.
Actively speaking out in support of Dreyfus in the press, Blum managed to make a name for himself. After that, he joined the socialist movement, standing next to the leader of the socialists, Jean Jaures. He managed to become a leading theorist of Marxist ideology.
Blum and Jaurès believed that the individual right of an individual can be maximally protected only under socialism. In their opinion, the poorest segments of the population, who have gotten out of dire need under the conditions of the socialist system, will be able to actively participate in the processes of government.
