Pierre Lambert (real name Pierre Boussel; June 9, 1920 – January 16, 2008) was a French

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

leader, who for many years acted as the central leader of the French Courant Communiste Internationaliste (CCI) which founded the Parti des Travailleurs. He was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to a family of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish immigrants. Lambert began his activity as a Trotskyist militant before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

when he was a member of the

Internationalist Workers Party The Internationalist Workers Party (Parti ouvrier internationaliste, POI) was a French Trotskyist party established in 1936 after the exclusion of militant Trotskyists from the French Section of the Workers' International in 1935 and dissolved in 1 ...

(POI) led by Raymond Molinier. After the war he continued his activism, as a member of the now united French section of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...

, the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI). In the PCI he was known as a specialist in

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

matters. When

Michel Pablo Michel Pablo ( el, Μισέλ Πάμπλο; 24 August 1911, Alexandria, Egypt – 17 February 1996, Athens) was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis ( el, Μιχάλης Ν. Ράπτης), a Trotskyist leader of Greek origin. Early activism ...

, the secretary of the Fourth International, raised the question of entrism ''sui generis'' he eventually came to oppose this and helped to challenge Pablo within the French Section of the FI, backing the PCI leadership around

Marcel Bleibtreu Marcel Bleibtreu (August 26, 1918 – December 25, 2001) was a French Trotskyism, Trotskyist activist and theorist. Marcel Bleibtreu was born during his family's refuge in Marseille from wartime bombing. Bleibtreu became a radical thinker as a chil ...

(also known as Pierre Favre). Differences between Lambert and Bleibtreu forced the latter to leave the PCI. By this time, 1952, the PCI had split into two mutually hostile groups on the question of entrism ''sui generis'' and the associated perspective of hundreds of years of deformed workers states propagated by Pablo. As leader of the PCI by 1954 Lambert forged an alliance with the Socialist Workers Party in the United States and others opposed to Pablo. Lambert lead the PCI to join with these anti-Pabloist fores to form the

International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Rev ...

(ICFI). This alliance would last for nearly a decade at which point the SWP (US) and its international faction fused with the

International Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of w ...

, within which Pablo was now marginalised, to form the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. Lambert was left in 1963 to continue the ICFI in an alliance with the

Gerry Healy Thomas Gerard Healy (3 December 1913 – 14 December 1989) was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the leader of the Socialist Labour League and later the Workers Revolutionary Par ...

-led Socialist Labour League, based in Britain. The much shrunken ICFI consisted at this point of the SLL, Lambert's

Organisation Communiste Internationaliste The Internationalist Communist Organisation (french: Organisation Communiste Internationaliste, OCI) was a Trotskyist political party in France. Its successor was the Internationalist Communist Current of the Workers Party. History Origins The gr ...

(the PCI as rebranded in 1966) and smaller groups around Europe and Latin America, most notably the POR in Bolivia led by Guillermo Lora and the Politica Obrera group in Argentina led by

Jorge Altamira Jorge Altamira (born José Saúl Wermus in 1942), is an Argentine activist and politician leading the Workers' Party (''Partido Obrero'') in Argentina. He was born José Saúl Wermus (sometimes spelled "José Huermus") in Buenos Aires, on 14 Ap ...

. By the time of the ICFI's congress in 1966, pressures were building between the OCI (which thought the SLL to be "ultimatistic") and the SLL. In 1971 the OCI left the ICFI to form the Organising Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International and in 1973 and 1974 proposed discussions to the USFI. This was supported by the US SWP but the Nicaraguan Revolution intervened in 1979 and instead the OCRFI eventually united with Nahuel Moreno's group to form the Parity Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International. The parity commission failed, leaving Lambert's supporters organised in the Fourth International (ICR). In 1996 the Fourth International (ICR) reproclaimed the Fourth International and goes by that name since. Under his real name of Pierre Boussel, Lambert was candidate at the presidential election in 1988. He gathered 116,823 votes (0.39% of validly cast ballots). Lambert died in Paris.

External links

Lambert biography (in French)De la IVe Internationale au Parti des travailleurs
Tribute in Libération, 16 January 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Pierre 1920 births 2008 deaths Politicians from Paris 20th-century French Jews French people of Russian-Jewish descent Internationalist Workers Party politicians Internationalist Communist Party (France) politicians Internationalist Communist Organisation politicians Members of the General Confederation of Labour (France) Workers' Force members Jewish socialists Candidates in the 1988 French presidential election