Arthur Dallidet
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Arthur Dallidet (12 October 1906 – 30 May 1942) was a French metal worker, Communist and trade union leader in the Renault factories, who became a leader of the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
(1939–45). Dallidet was born into a working-class family, left school early and worked as a fitter, moving from job to job. While in his twenties he began to organize trade union cells. He joined the
French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
and was noticed by the leaders, who sent him for education to Moscow and then assigned him to assist the Cadre Commission, which checked the loyalty of party members. Dallidet was an orthodox party member, and supported the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...
. After the start of World War II in September 1939 the Communist Party was banned. Dallidet went underground and played a leading role in organizing the clandestine structure of the party, which at this stage did not actively oppose the Germans in the "imperialist" war. The French Communists changed to active resistance after the German invasion of Russia in June 1941. Dallidet was placed in charge of security for the armed Resistance, the ''
Francs-Tireurs et Partisans The ''Francs-tireurs et partisans français'' (, FTPF), or commonly the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP), was an armed resistance organization created by leaders of the French Communist Party during World War II (1939–45). The communist ...
'' (FTP). He was arrested in February 1942, and despite severe beatings gave nothing away. He was executed by firing squad.


Early years

Arthur Dallidet was born on 12 October 1906 in
Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
, Loire-Inférieure, son of a fitter who had worked for sixteen years at the ''Chantiers de la Loire'' shipyard in Nantes. His mother worked in a cannery in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire. Both parents supported the
French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
(PCF, ''Parti communiste français''). Dallidet wrote in 1933 that "I was brought up to hate the ''curé'', the ''flic'' and the army." He left school in 1919, when he was thirteen. His headmaster found him a place as an apprentice designer with a company in Nantes, but he did not like office life and left in July 1921. He became an apprentice boilermaker at the ''Chantiers de la Loire'', staying there until July 1924. Dallidet worked at the ''Batignolles'' factory in Nantes from 1924 to 1926. He joined a cycling club, and was wounded in the leg and the face in a cycling accident. For this reason he was not required to perform military service. He moved to Paris in April 1928 and was hired by the
Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
factory at
Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...
the next day, He was fired after less than two months after a fight. He worked for the next two years in a series of jobs with
Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
, Gallois in Meudon, Farman and again with Renault. None of these jobs lasted long. On 9 April 1929 he married a childhood sweetheart, Juliette Parisot. She died on 12 December 1929 five days after giving birth to a daughter, who was looked after by her sister in Nantes. Dallidet had to work hard to pay maintenance for his child. He later married again in 1933, to Enta Klugaite a Lithuanian communist and shorthand typist, it appears to have been also a marriage of convenience but they live together some years.


Trade unionist and party worker

In July 1930 Dallidet joined the '' Sulzer'' company in Saint-Denis. During this period he became involved in militant activity after having managed to join the '' Jeunesses communistes'' (JC, Communist Youth) on his third application, and the
French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
on his second application in May 1932. In 1933 he became secretary of his cell at ''Sulzer'', and of a union section with twenty members. He was involved with the Committee of Unemployed of the 18th arrondissement, spoke at assemblies of the unemployed and joined in hunger marches during the Leipzig trial. He began to submit articles to ''
l'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...
''. Due to his militancy Dallidet was fired from ''Sulzer'' on 8 June 1933. He found work with other companies, using a false name. On 9 February 1934 he marched in a procession of Renault workers, and climbed a lamppost to speak to them. He was arrested but released. He signed up as unemployed, ate at soup kitchens, and led the Communists in Renault from outside as a secretary of the local party section. He was placed in charge of the union paper ''l'Ile Seguin L'Ile du Diable'', where he published a cartoon of Louis Renault that was a great success. He was a member of the Communist party's Regional Office in Paris West and of the council of the Unitary Federation of metalworkers. The party leadership assigned Dallidet to take courses at the Leninist School in Moscow, leaving in September 1935. Dallidet returned to France in October 1936 and was given a permanent position in the PCF Cadre Commission as assistant to Maurice Tréand. The Cadre Commission (''commission des cadres'') was set up to "verify" comrades and ensure "that a thing was what it was supposed to be" – to root out informers and politically unreliable members. One technique was to require that all PCF members fill out an autobiographical questionnaire, which could then be analyzed. Maurice Tréand was appointed secretary early in 1933. The Cadre Commission was somewhat secretive, and worked directly with
Maurice Thorez Maurice Thorez (; 28 April 1900 – 11 July 1964) was a French politician and longtime leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1930 until his death. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of France from 1946 to 1947. Pre-war Thorez, ...
, Eugen Fried and the
Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...
's agencies. Dallidet was the second functionary to be assigned to the commission. Dallidet followed the party line and approved of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...
in August 1939.


World War II


Clandestine organization: September 1939 – June 1941

World War II began when the German
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
was launched on 1 September 1939. The Soviet army invaded eastern Poland on 17 September. Dallidet visited Moscow in mid-September 1939. He met
Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; ) also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian communist politician who served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1933 t ...
in Moscow on 16 September, and met André Marty and Dimitrov on 18 September. He went underground after the dissolution of the PCF on 26 September 1939, and worked with Benoît Frachon to establish the first clandestine structures, acting as secretary of the clandestine organization. Using the records he had preserved from before the war, he managed to reorganize the party despite arrests, mobilizations and the departure of militants who rejected the Soviet pact with the Nazis. Dallidet took the pseudonym "Emile". In November 1939 Pierre Georges put Paul Maertens (1907–63) in touch with Dallidet, who gave Maertens national responsibility for production and distribution of ''matériel''. After Germany invaded France and the defense collapsed, on 12 June 1940 Arthur Dallidet, Jeanjean, Georgette Cadras, Jeannette Tétard and Claudine Chomat left Paris for the south and met Benoit Frachon in
Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; , ; Upper Vienne) is a département in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve départements that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The prefecture an ...
. Dallidet based himself in
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
and bicycled around the area to renew his contacts. After the
armistice of 22 June 1940 The Armistice of 22 June 1940, sometimes referred to as the Second Armistice at Compiègne, was an agreement signed at 18:36 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, France by officials of Nazi Germany and the French Third Republic. It became effective a ...
the PCF leaders denounced the imperialist war, called for peace and concentrated on opposition to the
Vichy government Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...
. Frachon and Dallidet did not return to Paris until around 15 August 1940. Negotiations with the Germans had stalled and a directive of the Communist International had told them to cease, signed by
Maurice Thorez Maurice Thorez (; 28 April 1900 – 11 July 1964) was a French politician and longtime leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1930 until his death. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of France from 1946 to 1947. Pre-war Thorez, ...
but agreed by the French delegation of André Marty, Raymond Guyot and Arthur Ramette. Charles Tillon was called to the capital to join the clandestine PCF secretariat, where Dallidet was among his interviewers. Tillon became the third member of the secretariat, with
Jacques Duclos Jacques Duclos (; 2 October 189625 April 1975) was a French Communist politician and member of Communist International (Comintern) who played a key role in French politics from 1926, when he entered the French National Assembly after defeating ...
and Benoît Frachon, and was put in charge of military matters. The leadership of the French Communist Party during this period was divided between three locations. Secretary-general Thorez was in Moscow with Marty. In Paris the clandestine party was directed by Benoît Frachon, aided by Arthur Dallidet. In hiding in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
were Jacques Duclos, who became the political leader of the party, and later the leader of the Communist Resistance, Maurice Tréand and Eugen Fried. In mid-August 1940 Dallidet and Frachon decided not to use the safety devices and hideouts that Maurice Tréand had put in place, but to use a new network established by Dallidet. Tréand was allowed to continue setting up the clandestine structure in the northern zone, but received no further instructions. He was suspected to have been indiscreet due to trusting too much in the Soviet-German pact. Relations between Dallidet and his former boss Tréand were stormy after August 1940. In a report to Duclos dated 26 February 1941 Dallidet attacked Tréand, accusing him of "travail de groupe", an extreme offense in a Stalin-dominated party.


Active resistance: June 1941 – May 1942

Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 in
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
. With this, PCF policy switched to support for armed struggle against the German occupiers. On 2 August 1941 Albert Ouzoulias was put in charge of the ''Bataillons de la Jeunesse'', fighting groups that were being created by the ''Jeunesses Communistes''. Dallidet introduced Ouzoulias to Eugène Hénaff, who was responsible for the armed struggle under the direction of Tillon. About the time of the Barbès shooting in August 1941 the PCF ''Opérations Spéciales'', the ''Batallions de le Jeunesse'' and the ''
Main-d'œuvre immigrée The Main-d'œuvre immigrée was a French trade unionist organisation, composed of immigrant workers of the '' Confédération générale du travail unitaire'' (CGTU) in the 1920s. The MOI was affiliated to the Profintern. The MOI was initially n ...
'' merged to form the ''
Francs-Tireurs et Partisans The ''Francs-tireurs et partisans français'' (, FTPF), or commonly the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP), was an armed resistance organization created by leaders of the French Communist Party during World War II (1939–45). The communist ...
'' (FTP) led by Pierre Villon. Although led by Communists, the FTP was under the National Front, which theoretically was independent of the PCF. The FTP's mandate was to sabotage railways and factories, punish collaborators and assassinate German soldiers. Dallidet was placed in charge of security. Dallidet was recognized talking to a woman in a cafe beside the Reuilly metro station on the evening on 28 February 1942. He was arrested, taken to
La Santé Prison La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) ( or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice (France), Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the 14th arr ...
, chained, handcuffed and severely beaten. He did not reveal any information, but had been carrying a long list of names and addresses. This led to other arrests including "Betty" ( Madeleine Passot), his most important liaison officer. Further names and addresses were found in Betty's apartment. Dallidet suffered weeks of extreme torture, but continued to say nothing. His face became so badly bruised and swollen he could not open his eyes, and one arm was paralyzed. Dallidet was executed by a German firing squad on 30 May 1942 at Fort Mont-Valérien, Paris, along with Félix Cadras, Louis Salomon and Jacques Decour. The executions were a reprisal for an attempted assassination in
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
on 23 May 1942.


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Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dallidet, Arthur 1906 births 1942 deaths People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad Communist members of the French Resistance