René Belin

René Belin ( Bourg-en-Bresse , Ain , April 14 1898 - Lorrez-le-Bocage , January 2 1977 ) was a French politician and trade unionist. ==[Biography  edit ] == Belin began his career at the Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones (PTT). In 1930 Belin secretary in the Fédération nationale des travailleurs des PTT and was also from 1933 to 1935 editor of the newspaper La Peuple. In October 1936 Belin was one of the founders of the newspaper Syndicats (organ of anti-communists within the Confédération générale du travail). He led a very anti-communist trend around the weekly Syndicats Georges Dumoulin (UD-Nord), André Delmas Ludovic Zoretti (SNI), Marcel Roy (metal), M. Savoie (food), Pierre Vigne, Bard and Bertron ( mines), P. et Milan Bonnet (clothing) and Raymond Froideval (buildings).

After the French defeat in June 1940 Belin chose the path of collaboration and was on July 14, 1940 to April 18, 1942 Minister of Labor. Which function he combined from February 23 to July 18, 1941 to that of Minister of Industrial Production.

He signed with Philippe Petain , Pierre Laval , Raphaël Alibert , Marcel Peyrouton , Charles Huntziger , Yves Bouthillier , Paul Baudouin and François Darlan the Law of October 3, 1940 on the status of the Jews (Official Gazette of October 18, 1940). He was the principal author of the "Charte de travail", which local unions and employers 'association and prohibited any form of political and religious activities. Under his mandate, trade unions and employers' associations were disbanded (decree of November 9, 1940), and the distribution of established pensions adjusted. There was also a ban on the right to strike. He took in April 1942 resigned as minister and approved before several laws in favor of the workers well, such as the establishment of a national fund for unemployment (11 October 1940), the establishment of a one-time salary support (29 March 1941) and the reorganization and strengthening of the labor inspectorate (31 October 1941). After his discharge, he founded an agency that was focused on the screening of employees of the electricity and gas plants.

From August 1944 until October 1947 Belin was imprisoned in Paris. He was acquitted by the purge commission, but was excluded for life from the Confédération générale du travail . Belin lived from October 1947 until January 1949 in exile in Switzerland. He returned to France after the Haute Cour de Justice was suspending his sentence. Until 1954, he tried unsuccessfully to go back to the union. He collaborated with several newspapers, including the Bulletin de Paris Revue Syndicaliste and the Travail et Liberté. From 1950 to 1952 was Belin Secretary General for the European Committee for Economic and Social Progress. He was mayor from 1959 to 1965 Lorrez-le-Bocage . ==[Sources  edit ] ==
 * Michel Dreyfus, Histoire de la CGT, Editions Complexe, Paris, 1995
 * Jean-Pierre Le Crom, Syndicats nous voilà! Vichy et le corporatism, Editions de l'Atelier, Paris, 1995
 * Georges Lefranc, Les expériences syndicales and France 1939-1950, Montaigne, Paris, 1950
 * Biographique Dictionnaire du mouvement ouvrier français, notice rédigée par Jean Maitron, Editions de l'Atelier, 1997