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Biography

Early life

Marcel Sembat was born on October 19, 1862, in Bonnières-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Oise, France.³ He went to school in Mantes-la-Jolie, attended the Collège Stanislas in Paris and later received a PhD in law.

Journalism

He started a career in journalism and co-founded the Revue de l'évolution.⁴ From 1890 to 1897, he was the editor of La Petite République, created by Leon Gambetta. It was then that he became a Socialist.⁵ He also wrote for La Revue socialiste, La Revue de l'enseignement primaire, Documents du Progrès, La Lanterne, Petit sou and Paris-Journal.⁶ He later became an editor of L'Humanité.⁷

Politics

He served as member of the Chamber of Deputies of France from 1893 to 1922.⁸ A socialist, he supported workers' rights during strikes.⁹ He oversaw the construction of telephone cables from Brest, France to Dakar, Senegal.¹⁰ He supported Algerians against French colonialists in French Algeria.¹¹ He was opposed to the presence of French Christian missionaries in China.¹²

He served as Minister of Public Works from 1914 to 1916, under Prime Ministers René Viviani and Aristide Briand.¹³¹⁴

Personal life

On February 27, 1897, he married the Fauvist painter and sculptor Georgette Agutte.¹⁵ He wrote a book about Henri Matisse.¹⁶

Death

He died of cerebral hemorrhage on September 5, 1922, in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France.¹⁷

Legacy

• The station of the Paris Métro Marcel Sembat is named for him.
• The Lycée Marcel Sembat in Sotteville-lès-Rouen is named for him.¹⁸
• Boulevard Agutte-Sembat in Grenoble is named for his wife and him.

Bibliography

• Leur Bilan, quatre ans de pouvoir Clemenceau-Briand (Paris, Librairie du Parti socialiste S.F.I.O., 1910)
• Faites un roi, sinon faites la paix (E. Figuière et Cie : Paris, 1911)
• Henri Matisse, trente reproductions de peintures et dessins, précédées d'une étude critique par Marcel Sembat, de notices biographiques et documentaires (Paris : Éditions de la Nouvelle revue française, 1920)
• La Victoire en déroute (prefaced by Léon Blum, Paris : Éditions du Progrès civique, 1925)

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Marcel Sembat in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

References

1. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

2. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

3. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

4. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

5. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

6. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

7. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

8. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

9. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

10. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

11. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

12. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

13. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

14. Joel Colton, Leon Blum: Humanist in Politics, Duke University Press, 1987, p. 37 [1] https://books.google.com/books?id=gywIQ-h-DAIC&pg=PA37 ↩

15. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

16. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

17. National Assembly biography http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=6379 ↩

18. Lycée Marcel Sembat http://sembat-lyc.spip.ac-rouen.fr/ ↩