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 named ''Main d'œuvre étrangère'', but 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 ...

, who in practice were in charge, changed the name from ''étrangère'' (foreign) to ''immigrée'' (immigrant) due to perceived xenophobia during the 1930s. During the

Second World War 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 ...

, Louis Grojnowski (called "Brunot") and Simon Cukier aka Alfred Grant took charge, and the organisation gave rise to an armed squad, the FTP-MOI, directed by Joseph Epstein. After the mass arrest of more than 13,000 Jews in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in July 1942, the groups became somewhat more active. Pursued relentlessly by the Special Brigades of the Renseignements généraux, almost all the MOI fighters had been identified by the end of summer 1943. In the autumn the French police arrested them all, and nothing remained of the FTP-MOI. The most famous of the FTP-MOI's members was Missak Manouchian, and the FTP-MOI is widely known from the Affiche rouge, a German propaganda poster displaying the members of the FTP-MOI after their arrest at the end of 1943, whose aim was to stigmatise the presence of foreigners and

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s among 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 ...

; a

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

by Louis Aragon, set to music and sung by Léo Ferré, deals with this story. In Belgium too there was a ''Main-d'œuvre immigrée'' organization, which took part in the

Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many ...

in the ranks of the '' Front de l'Indépendance'' under the leadership of the Bulgarian Todor Angelov and the Italian-Belgian Jacques Grippa, while others were also active in ''Solidarité juive'' or in the '' Comité de Défense des Juifs'', led by Hertz Jospa and Have Groisman.

References

Trade unions in France Profintern Trade unions established in the 1920s {{france-hist-stub

See also

References