Claude Estier (born Claude Hasday Ezratty; 8 June 1925 – 10 March 2016) was a French politician and journalist. He was deputy of Paris from 1967 to 1968 and again from 1981 to 1986, then senator from 1986 to 2004 and was president of the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

group in the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

from 1988 to 2004.

Biography

Early life

Estier's father was a supporter 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). Because of this, Estier grew up in a

culture throughout his youth. His professors included Robert Verdier and

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. (; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest an ...

Resistance

Estier participated in the Résistance in 1942, engaging in the carriage of arms and newspapers in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

until 1944. In charge of reports of listening to ''

Radio Londres ''Radio Londres'' (, French for "Radio London") was a radio station broadcast from 1940 to 1944 by the BBC in London to Nazi-occupied France. It was entirely in French and was operated by the Free French who had escaped from occupied France. I ...

'' and Radio Algiers, the

Free France Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exil ...

broadcasts, he ended the war in the

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (french: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation ...

. In 1945, he then became a member of the centre-left

(SFIO). A very critical article on the SFIO Interior Minister

Jules Moch Jules Salvador Moch (15 March 1893, in Paris – 1 August 1985, in Cabris, Alpes-Maritimes) was a French politician. Biography Moch was born into a renowned French Jewish military family, the son of Captain Gaston Moch and Rébecca Alice Po ...

's harsh repression of the 1947 strikes published in the newspaper

Combat Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, o ...

at the end of 1947 led to his exclusion from the party. He campaigned in 1948 for the Unitary Socialist Party where he met, among others, Gilles Martinet and Pierre Stibbe. All three were former Résistance fighters who advocated a left-wing political line between the

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 ...

and the anti-communist SFIO.

Journalist

In 1955 he joined the political redaction of

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

, then quit it in 1958 because of the newspaper's attentist attitude towards the return to power of

General de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

. He then joined another newspaper,

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France ...

and began a rapprochement with

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, ...

. He was part of the original core of the weekly Nouvel Observateur. He was a long-time supporter of the Algerian cause, establishing ties with

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

such as

Ferhat Abbas Ferhat is a Turkish given name and the Turkish spelling of the Persian name Ferhad ( fa, فرهاد, ''farhād''). It may refer to: Given name Ferhad * Ferhad Ayaz (born 1994), Turkish-Swedish footballer * Ferhad Pasha Sokolović 16th-century O ...

Political career

National Assembly

He was elected as a candidate for Mitterrand's

Convention of Republican Institutions The Convention of Republican Institutions (french: Convention des institutions républicaines, CIR) was a socialist and republican party in France led by François Mitterrand. The CIR, founded in early June 1964, transformed from a loosely organ ...

, part of the

Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left (''Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste'' or FGDS) was a conglomerate of French left-wing non-Communist forces. It was founded to support François Mitterrand's candidature at the ...

electoral coalition, in the legislative election of 1967 against Alexandre Sanguinetti,

Minister of Veterans and War Victims Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

in the third Pompidou government under President de Gaulle. He lost his seat the following year, after the early dissolution of the National Assembly in the aftermath of the

May 1968 events Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which h ...

. He was elected again in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

and became chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

from 1983 to 1986. He had put a provisional end to his activities as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

in 1967, but from 1972 to 1986 he led the official weekly of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, ''L'Unité''. From 1981 to 1988, he regularly took part as such in the animated weekly political debate ''Vendredi Soir'' on

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a " generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, l ...

with

Jean d'Ormesson Count Jean Bruno Wladimir François de Paule Le Fèvre d'Ormesson (16 June 1925 – 5 December 2017) was a French novelist. He was the author of forty books, the director of ''Le Figaro'' from 1974 to 1979, and the Dean of the Académie française ...

(a right-wing journalist and writer), Pierre Charpy (his counterpart as head of ''La Lettre de la Nation'', the weekly of the Rally for the Republic) and Roland Leroy (editor-in-chief of the Communist daily

L'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

Senate

In 1986, he entered the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

in 1988 and became President of the Socialist Group until his retirement in October 2004.

Post-Senator career

After, he returned to literature by publishing two new books in the Cherche-Midi.

Elected offices held

*Deputy representing Paris (1967-1968 and 1981-1986) *Paris City councillor (1971-1989 and 1995-2001) *Member of the European Parliament (1979-1981) *Île-de-France regional councilor (1981-1986) *Senator representing Paris (1986-2004)

Notes

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Estier, Claude 1925 births 2016 deaths Politicians from Paris French Section of the Workers' International politicians Convention of Republican Institutions politicians Socialist Party (France) politicians Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 7th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French Senators of the Fifth Republic Senators of Paris MEPs for France 1979–1984 Lycée Carnot alumni Sciences Po alumni French Resistance members