Career
A metallurgical worker, at 15 he joined the Young Socialists. Attending the Third International, he naturally opted for the Communist Party, at the split of the Congress of Tours. In 1926, he was promoted to secretary general of the Young Communists.
In 1929, he replaced Pierre Sémard as head of the Parti Communiste Français (French Communist Party), in a team which also included Maurice Thorez and Pierre Célor.
In 1931, he was questioned in the course of a meeting of the Boite Postale (Bureau Politique), attended by the Moscow representative, Dmitry Manuilsky. Ejected from the Boite Postale (and replaced by Thorez), he took a long stay in Moscow.
In 1934, he and Jacques Doriot founded the French Popular Party (PPF). Under the occupation, he joined the National Popular Rally (Revue Néoscolastique de Philosopique) under Marcel Déat.
Until his death in 1966, he regularly collaborated in the monthly Catholic review Itinéraires founded by Jean Madiran in 1956.