Jules Humbert-Droz

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Jules Humbert-Droz (born September 23, 1891 in La Chaux-de-Fonds , † October 16, 1971 ibid) was a Swiss pastor , journalist and communist .

biography

Jules Humbert-Droz came from a working-class family in the Jura part of Switzerland and was a grandson of a member of the International Workers' Association (IAA) and a friend of the poor doctor and fighter for social justice Pierre Coullery . He was married to Jenny Humbert-Droz . His son Pierre, a doctor of medicine, was one of the founders of the Swiss Green Party .

Humbert-Droz attended high school in his hometown of La Chaux-de-Fonds and then studied theology at the University of Neuchâtel . During his studies, he joined the Swiss Zofinger Association as a abstainer , which he later even presided over. In 1911 he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP), and in 1914 he completed his licensing studies with a thesis on the relationship between Christianity and socialism. In the same year, after internships in France and London, he took up his first position as pastor in La Chaux-de-Fonds .

In 1916 he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for conscientious objection ; his defense speech was titled Guerre à la guerre! A bas l'armée! (War on War! Down with the Army!) Published. After his release he became editor of the socialist daily La Sentinelle .

In 1919 he went to Moscow and, together with Mátyás Rákosi and Otto Kuusinen, became secretary of the newly founded Comintern , where he was responsible for the Romance-speaking countries in Western Europe and South America. His orientation towards the political direction of the Comintern led to a conflict with the Social Democrats Ernest-Paul Graber and Charles Naine , which led Humbert-Droz to participate in the founding of the Communist Party of Switzerland (KPS) in March 1921 .

Because of Bukharinism , his functions in the Comintern were withdrawn by Stalin in 1931 . On the initiative of Dominique Desanti , he was rehabilitated in 1932 and reinstated in his functions. His strategy of the popular front was then approved at the VII World Congress of the Comintern in 1935. After returning to Switzerland, he became secretary of the KPS, and in 1938 and 1939 the Canton of Zurich elected him to the National Council ; however, he was not particularly interested in parliamentary work. He was arrested again for recruiting volunteers for the International Brigades .

In 1939 he was elected President of the KPS, which was banned after the beginning of World War II and had to work underground. In 1942, after conflicts with the Comintern leadership, he was released from his position as General Secretary of the KPS. His successor was Karl Hofmaier . In addition to the already latent conflict with the Stalinist faction in the KPS, Humbert-Droz tried to merge with the SP. The party was expelled from the KPS in 1943. The unity negotiations failed. He then rejoined the SP, where he was central secretary from 1947 to 1959 and secretary of the Neuchâtel cantonal party from 1959 to 1965.

He opposed the plans for nuclear armament in Switzerland and founded the Swiss Peace Council together with Theo Pinkus .

Works

  • Memoirs :
    • I Mon évolution du tolstoïsme au communisme (1891–1921)
    • II De Lénine à Staline, Dix ans au service de l'Internationale Communiste 1921–31. Neuchâtel 1971
    • III Dix ans de lutte antifasciste (1931–1941)
    • IV Le couronnement d'une vie de combat (1941–1971)
  • Archives de Jules Humbert-Droz , 5 volumes, published by Springer, Netherlands 1970 ff.
    • Brigitte Studer (ed.): Sous l'œil de Moscou. Le Parti communiste suisse et l'Internationale, 1931–1943 (= Archives de Jules Humbert – Droz, Volume 5) 1996. ISBN 978-3-905311-56-3
  • The war and the international. The Zimmerwald and Kienthal conferences. Europa Verlag: Wien 1964
  • Nuclear weapon !? - a unique privilege, a great responsibility , with René Bovard , publishing house of the Swiss Peace Council (1962)

literature

  • Hadrien Buclin: Entre culture du consensus et critique sociale. Les intellectuels de gauche dans la Suisse de l'après-guerre (1945–1968). Lausanne 2015 (dissertation, University of Lausanne, 2015).
  • Jenny Humbert-Droz: Une pensée, une conscience, un combat. La carrière politique de Jules Humbert-Droz, retracée par sa femme. Baconnière, Neuchâtel 1976.
  • Brigitte Studer: Humbert-Droz, Jules. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Brigitte Studer: Jules Humbert-Droz, The Moscow Trials and the Campaign against Gide. In: Hermann Weber , Dietrich Staritz (ed.): Communists persecute communists. Stalinist terror and "purges" in the communist parties of Europe since the 1930s. Academy, Berlin 1993.
  • Hermann Weber, Bernhard H. Bayerlein (ed.): The Thälmann scandal. Secret correspondence with Stalin. Structure, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-351-02549-1 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ernest Morel: The Condemnation of Jules Humbert-Droz . In: New Ways , Vol. 10, 1916, p. 425.
  2. ↑ The original title was: Le Christianisme et le socialisme: leurs oppositions et leurs rapports
  3. ↑ The Noel Field case, by Bernd-Rainer Barth, Werner Schweizer, Thomas Grimm, footnote page 449
  4. ↑ http://w3public.ville-ge.ch/bge/odyssee.nsf/RechCorrespondance?OpenAgent&typ=T&correspondant=Humbert-Droz,%20Jules
  5. ↑ http://www.gdni.ch/2/text/6.htm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.gdni.ch  
  6. ^ English text excerpt, printed in Revolutionary Democracy, Vol. VIII, No. April 1, 2002
  7. ↑ http://www.chronos-verlag.ch/php/book_latest-new.php?book=978-3-905311-56-3&type=Kurztext
  8. ^ Hadrien Buclin UNIL , Thèses, publié le 21 octobre 2015
personal data
SURNAME Humbert-Droz, Jules
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH La Chaux-de-Fonds
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1971
Place of death La Chaux-de-Fonds