Alfred Rosmer

Alfred Rosmer (born Alfred Griot, 23 August 1877 – 6 May 1964) was an American-born French communist political activist and historian who was a leading member of the Comintern. Rosmer is best remembered as a political associate of Leon Trotsky and a memoirist.

Early life Alfred Griot was born in 1877 in Paterson, New Jersey. His father worked as a barber in the United States, returning with the family to France in 1884. Having learned English as a child, Rosmer remained fluent in the language for the rest of his life.

Rosmer was a syndicalist leader before World War I, active in the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the French general federation of unions. Together with Pierre Monatte, he issued a journal called , which was terminated as a result of French entry into World War I.

The antiwar French syndicalists had been represented at the Zimmerwald Conference in 1915 and then organised as the Committee for the Resumption of International Relations in which Rosmer participated. After the end of the war, a strike wave swept France in which the syndicalists played an active role. was resurrected by Rosmer and Monatte in March 1919. The group remained isolated and without significant influence, however, largely removed from active communication with Moscow.

A friendship with Leon Trotsky dated from that period, when the latter was briefly living in France.

Communist Party leader After the war, he became a leading figure in the Communist Party of France (PCF). He was sent to Moscow in 1920 as a representative of the French left, being assigned there to positions in the Communist International (Comintern) and the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU).

Later life Unable to return to France because of the outbreak of World War II, Rosmer, an American by birth, lived in the United States after his Mexican interlude. He finally obtained permission to return home in 1947. Rosmer published an autobiography detailing his activities in Soviet Russia as well as a two-volume history of the antiwar movement in France during the years of World War I.

Rosmer died in 1964 in Créteil.

Works In French

La Conférence de Zimmerwald (The Zimmerwald Conference). Paris: Imp. spéciale de la "Vie ouvrière", 1915. Un coup d'oeil en arrière: Pierre Monatte. Lettre de démission au Comité confédéral (décembre 1914). Alfred Rosmer. Première lettre aux abonnés de la "Vie ouvrière" (novembre 1915). La Circulaire de lancement de la "Vie ouvrière" (avril 1919). (A Look Back: Pierre Monatte, Letter of Resignation to the Confederation Committee (Dec. 1914). Alfred Rosmer, First Letter to Subscribes of the "Vie ouvrière." The Circular launching "Vie ouvrière," April 1919.) Paris: Éditions de la Bibliothèque du travail, 1921. Le mouvement ouvrier pendant la guerre. (The Labor Movement during the War). In two volumes. Paris: Librairie du travail, 1936. —Reissued as Le mouvement ouvrier pendant la Première guerre mondiale. Moscou sous Lenine (Moscow Under Lenin). In two volumes. Paris : Maspero, 1970.

English translations

Moscow Under Lenin. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972. —Reissued as Lenin's Moscow. From Syndicalism to Trotskyism: Writings of Alfred and Marguerite Rosmer. With Marguerite Rosmer. London: Porcupine Press/Socialist Platform, 2000.

Footnotes