Alexandre Edmond Bachelet (6 January 1866 – 1 August 1945) was a French socialist politician. Bachelet was born in Saudemont in the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

into a working-class family. The family moved to Saint-Ouen, a northern suburb of

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. Bachelet worked as a labourer and studied part-time to become a teacher. He was active in politics as a member of the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was fou ...

(SFIO), the French socialist party. He was elected to the local council in Saint-Ouen in 1912. When the SFIO split at the Tours Congress of 1920, Bachelet followed the majority into the new

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

but was expelled from the party in 1923 because he remained active in

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. He was then associated with various minor left-wing groups and continued to serve in local government. He was unsuccessful when he stood for the

Cartel des Gauches The Cartel of the Left (french: Cartel des gauches, ) was the name of the governmental alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party, the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), and other smaller left-republican parties that ...

in the 1924 election to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon ...

. With the support of the Communists, with whom he enjoyed good personal relations, he was elected to the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

in 1927 and was reelected in 1935. From 1930 he was a member of the Proletarian Unity Party (PUP), a fusion of minor left-wing groups which affiliated with the

International Revolutionary Marxist Centre The International Revolutionary Marxist Centre was an international association of left-socialist parties. The member-parties rejected both mainstream social democracy and the Third International. Organizational history The International was for ...

. He returned to the SFIO in 1937 when the PUP voted to rejoin the Socialist Party. In June 1940, he was one of the 80 who voted against the grant of special powers to

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

and the creation of the

Vichy régime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its t ...

. Following the liberation of France in 1944, he served as mayor of Saint-Ouen. He was defeated in the election of May 1945 and died shortly afterwards.

Sources and further reading

* * * Ligou, Daniel, ''Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maçonnerie''. * Maitron, Jean (ed.), ''Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier français''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bachelet, Alexandre 1866 births 1945 deaths People from Pas-de-Calais Politicians from Hauts-de-France French Section of the Workers' International politicians French Communist Party politicians Socialist-Communist Union politicians Proletarian Unity Party (France) politicians French Senators of the Third Republic The Vichy 80 Mayors of places in Île-de-France People from Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine French Freemasons Senators of Seine (department)