France – Paris: Tribute to the Heroes of the Proletariat

We publish an unofficial translation of an article published in La Cause du Peuple.

This Sunday, February 25, La Cause du Peuple called for commemorating the heroes of the proletariat of France. Like every year, this commemorative event aimed to honor Pierre Overney, revolutionary worker, seller of La Cause du Peuple. On February 25, 1972, while Pierrot was having the hard experience of forced unemployment, fired from Renault for political reasons, he took part in an action to distribute leaflets in front of the factory to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Charonne subway massacre, a demonstration which followed the massacre of October 17, 1961 where the French police massively suffocated Algerians. After his death, class solidarity was immense, and more than 200,000 people walked in a long procession behind his coffin in early March 1972.

We also paid special tribute to the heroes of the Manouchian Group (FTP-MOI), giving their lives for the Communist Party and the Revolution 80 years ago. In addition to a speech, two letters were read to the comrades present. The first is composed of extracts from Missak Manouchian’s letter to Mélinée, his wife, before her death. She demonstrates all her internationalism and heroism. The second is a letter from the Bulgarian worker Lutibrodsky, sentenced to death by the dictatorship in 1934, to his father. This letter was distributed in thousands of copies at the time as an example of the relentless struggle against the bourgeoisie and fascism. The demonstration, starting from the Père Lachaise metro station, therefore passed by the grave of Pierrot, then to Szlama Grzywacz’s one, communist fighter, Polish Jew and member of the Manouchian Group, who was shot on February 21, 1944.

We are publishing here photos of the event, which attracted the attention and sympathy of passers-by and employees of Père Lachaise [Translator’s note: a cemetery in Paris], mobilizing many supporters of our newspaper. We will very soon publish the speech and the letters that were read on this occasion.