Marceau Pivert

Marceau Pivert (2 October 1895, Montmachoux, Seine-et-Marne – 3 June 1958, Paris) was a French schoolteacher, trade unionist, socialist militant, and journalist. He was an alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud. SFIO Active in the Syndicat National des Instituteurs (SNI), a staunch supporter of laïcité and a pacifist after service in World War I, Pivert joined the faction of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) led by Léon Blum, which opposed affiliation to the Comintern in 1920, as opposed to the new French Communist Party (PCF). In the early 1930s, Pivert organised the most left-wing members of the SFIO in his Gauche Révolutionnaire ("Revolutionary Left") tendency of which Daniel Guérin was a member. The tendency opened itself to Trotskyism, initiating entryism as a tactic for the latter. In 1936, when Blum formed the Popular Front government, he was pressured by Pivert to reject capitalism. With spontaneous strikes occurring around the country, Blum refused to allow for revolutionary conditions to arise. Pivert then wrote his best-known article, published on 27 May, headlined Tout est possible! ("Everything Is Possible"), alluding to a social revolution (but never to a socialist one). However, he was opposed by the communist press organ L'Humanité (the PCF was a backer of the Blum government). The communist editorial read: Non! Tout n'est pas possible! ("No! Everything Is Not Possible!"). In consequence, Pivert cut his links with the government, writing to Blum, "I will not accept capitulation in front of Capitalism and the banks".