Marcel Sembat (French pronunciation: [maʁsɛl sɑ̃ba], 19 October 1862 – 5 September 1922) was a French Socialist politician.^[1] He served as a member of the National Assembly of France from 1893 to 1922, and as Minister of Public Works from August 26, 1914, to December 12, 1916.^[1]

Marcel Sembat was born on October 19, 1862, in Bonnières-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Oise, France.^[1] He went to school in Mantes-la-Jolie, attended the Collège Stanislas in Paris and later received a PhD in law.

He started a career in journalism and co-founded the Revue de l'évolution.^[1] From 1890 to 1897, he was the editor of La Petite République, created by Leon Gambetta. It was then that he became a Socialist.^[1] He also wrote for La Revue socialiste, La Revue de l'enseignement primaire, Documents du Progrès, La Lanterne, Petit sou and Paris-Journal.^[1] He later became an editor of L'Humanité.^[1]

He served as member of the Chamber of Deputies of France from 1893 to 1922.^[1] A socialist, he supported workers' rights during strikes.^[1] He oversaw the construction of telephone cables from Brest, France to Dakar, Senegal.^[1] He supported Algerians against French colonialists in French Algeria.^[1] He was opposed to the presence of French Christian missionaries in China.^[1]

He served as Minister of Public Works from 1914 to 1916, under Prime Ministers René Viviani and Aristide Briand.^[1][2]

On February 27, 1897, he married the Fauvist painter and sculptor Georgette Agutte.^[1] He wrote a book about Henri Matisse.^[1]

He died of cerebral hemorrhage on September 5, 1922, in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France.^[1]

• The station of the Paris Métro Marcel Sembat is named for him.
• The Lycée Marcel Sembat in Sotteville-lès-Rouen is named for him.^[3]
• Boulevard Agutte-Sembat in Grenoble is named for his wife and him.

• Leur Bilan, quatre ans de pouvoir Clemenceau-Briand (Paris, Librairie du Parti socialiste S.F.I.O., 1910)
• Faites un roi, sinon faites la paix (E. Figuière et Cie : Paris, 1911)
• Henri Matisse, trente reproductions de peintures et dessins, précédées d'une étude critique par Marcel Sembat, de notices biographiques et documentaires (Paris : Éditions de la Nouvelle revue française, 1920)
• La Victoire en déroute (prefaced by Léon Blum, Paris : Éditions du Progrès civique, 1925)

• Newspaper clippings about Marcel Sembat in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW