See Also: Thorez, Maurice(encyclopedia)
Lev, Maurice(medicine)
Ravel, Maurice(dictionary)
Chevalier, Maurice(encyclopedia)
Utrillo, Maurice(encyclopedia)
Maurice (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Maurice of Nassau(encyclopedia)
Richard, Maurice(dictionary)
Vlaminck, Maurice de(encyclopedia)
Bejart, Maurice(encyclopedia)

Thorez, Maurice (sh)




born April 28, 1900, Noyelles-Godault, France
died July 11, 1964, at sea en route to Yalta

French communist politician.

He began working as a coal miner at age 12. He joined the French Communist Party งใ 1920 and was arrested several times for agitation. After becoming local party secretary (1923), he rose to secretary-general of the party (1930). He served in the Chamber of Deputies (1932-39, 1945-60) and helped form the Popular Front government in 1936. He lived in the Soviet Union (1943-44), then returned to France and served as a minister of state (1945) and deputy premier (1946, 1947). He remained a dedicated Stalinist even after Nikita Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin in 1956.