Arlette Yvonne Laguiller (; born 18 March 1940) is a French politician. From 1973 to 2008, she was the spokeswoman and the best-known leader and presidential nominee of

Lutte Ouvrière Lutte Ouvrière (, ) is a Trotskyist communist party in France, named after its weekly paper. Arlette Laguiller was the party's spokeswoman from 1973 to 2008 and ran in each presidential election until 2012, when Nathalie Arthaud was the candi ...

(LO), a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

political party.

Career

Born at

Les Lilas Les Lilas () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern-eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. History The commune of Les Lilas (literally "the lilacs") was created on 24 July 1867 by de ...

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

, France, Arlette became a clerical worker in a bank. She was a member of the CGT until 1965 when she was expelled for her Trotskyist views. She joined ''Lutte Ouvrière'' in 1968. She became the leader of a 1974 bank workers'

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

that began with the actions of employees at

Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cen ...

. She continues to live in a council high-rise in Les Lilas and her only income is her pension from the bank where she worked for 40 years. She has been a frequent candidate for the French presidency, starting with the election of 1974, and continuing through those of

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, 1988,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. During most of these, Laguiller was the only female candidate and was the first female candidate to the French presidency in 1974. Her best result was in 2002 when she came in fifth place and received 5.72% of the vote. In December 2005, Laguiller announced that she would run for president for the sixth and final time in 2007. After finishing a distant ninth in 2007's first round of voting (487,857 votes, totaling 1.33% of the popular vote), for the first time since 1981, she endorsed the Socialist Party candidate (

Ségolène Royal Ségolène Royal (; born Marie-Ségolène Royal; 22 September 1953) is a French politician who took part in the 2007 French presidential election, losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round. She was the first woman in France's history to r ...

) for the second round. In the past, Laguiller and LO have often refrained from openly supporting the Socialist Party and take a neutral stance in the second round.

Popular culture

Arlette Laguiller 384133733 b384cfaee6 o d cropped

The

puppet show Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

, '' Les Guignols de l'info'' frequently caricatured Laguiller as saying, "''Travailleuses, travailleurs ! On vous ment, on vous spolie !''" ("Female workers, male workers! You are being lied to, you are being robbed!"). Laguiller indeed did begin most of her speeches with the formula, "''Travailleuses, travailleurs!''". In 1995, pop singer Alain Souchon recorded the song ''Arlette Laguiller'', commenting that, "''Her words, of course, may be a little worn-out''," but praising her "''peppermint-fresh''" way of expressing them, and indicating that, "''When Arlette sings, you feel a real sense of love''." He has since lost his soft spot for Laguiller after she refused to back

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

against

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025), commonly known as Jean-Marie Le Pen (), was a French politician, lawyer and activist. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's presi ...

in the 2002 presidential election and has stated that he won't sing the song again. Although, in 2008 Laguiller mentioned that Souchon had started singing the song again.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

Official campaign web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laguiller, Arlette 1940 births Living people People from Les Lilas Unified Socialist Party (France) politicians Lutte Ouvrière politicians Candidates in the 2007 French presidential election Candidates in the 2002 French presidential election Candidates in the 1995 French presidential election Candidates in the 1988 French presidential election Candidates in the 1981 French presidential election Candidates in the 1974 French presidential election Workers' Struggle MEPs MEPs for France 1999–2004 20th-century women MEPs for France 21st-century women MEPs for France Politicians from Paris