Francette Lazard

Francette Lazard
Lazard in 2022
Director of the Institut de recherches marxistes
Personal details
Born
Francette Alice Lazard

(1937-01-07)7 January 1937
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Died3 November 2023(2023-11-03) (aged 86)
Political partyPCF
EducationUniversity of Paris
OccupationTeacher

Francette Alice Lazard (7 January 1937 – 3 November 2023) was a French teacher and politician of the French Communist Party (PCF).[1]

Biography

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 7 January 1937, Lazard was the granddaughter of economist and sociologist Max Lazard [fr]. Her father, Francis, was a surgeon and her mother, Françoise Levaillant, was a doctor. After the German occupation of the Zone libre, her father joined the Free French Forces in North Africa. Lazard hid in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon with her older sister. After Liberation, her parents both joined the PCF, while she joined the Federation of Communist Youth of France [fr] and later the PCF herself in 1952.[2]

In July 1956 she married François Widemann, a physicist. The couple had two children, Benoît (b. 1957) and Thomas (b. 1961), and divorced in 1965. After graduating from the University of Paris, Lazard became an associate teacher of history and geography in 1960 in Orléans and later the Lycée Fénelon, Paris. At the same time, she was heavily involved in the economic sector of the PCF and was elected to the party's central committee in 1969. She contributed to the magazine Économie & Politique [fr], of which she became deputy editor-in-chief in 1966.[2]

Lazard participated in the management of the weekly magazine France nouvelle [fr] from 1970 to 1976 before her appointment as deputy editor-in-chief of L'Humanité, serving from 1976 to 1979. She was a member of the politburo from 1979 to 1996 and participated in the foundation of the Institut de recherches marxistes, of which she became the first director. She then took over leadership of Espaces Marx [fr] in 1995. She took part in Left Front meetings in 2012.[3]

Francette Lazard died on 3 November 2023, at the age of 86, with homage given by PCF national secretary Fabien Roussel.[4]

Publications

  • L'intéressement des ouvriers et les mythes sur la solidarité entre le capital et le travail (1968)
  • Propriété, pouvoir et participation, mythes et réalités (1969)
  • La révolution inattendue (1991)[5]
  • Les vérités du matin : regards croisés sur un engagement (2011)[6][7]
  • L'engagement dans le passé, aujourd'hui et demain (2011)

References

  1. ^ Chaillan, Pierre (3 November 2023). "L'ancienne dirigeante communiste Francette Lazard est morte". L'Humanité (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b "LAZARD Francette, Alice". Dictionnaire biographique, mouvement ouvrier, mouvement social (in French).
  3. ^ Laurent, Pierre; Mélenchon, Jean-Luc (24 July 2012). "Les estivales citoyennes du Front de gauche". French Communist Party (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  4. ^ Roussel, Fabien (3 November 2023). "Francette Lazard nous a quittés". French Communist Party (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  5. ^ "La révolution inattendue / Francette Lazard". Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French).
  6. ^ "Auch. PC : retour de René Piquet". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). 16 December 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  7. ^ "Le 22/11 à Paris : Rencontre avec Francette Lazard et René Piquet". L'Humanité (in French). 14 November 2011. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2023.