Abstract EN:

Virgile Barel (1889-1979) was the leading figure of the French Communist Party in the region of Alpes Maritimes for over half a century. Although of working class origins, he was admitted to the Ecole normale (college of education, or teacher training school) in Nice before World war I, and became a "rural" school teacher in Menton. During this time, he worked diligently to spread bolshevik ideas throughout the coastal and provincial areas around Nice. Capitalizing on the propaganda value of the riviera's image as the "French Crimea", he helped to promote and cultivate amongst French working classes, Italian immigrants, and even local intellectuals, the great 20th century Soviet myth. Barel was an excellent organizer and became, in 1934, a permanent member of the French Communist Party. In 1936-37, as a Popular Front representative, he played a significant role in instituting paid leave for employees, workers' holidays and working-class tourism in the Mediterranean, coastal region. During World war II, he was deported to Algeria. At the time France was liberated, he led local government in Nice, then went on to become a National Assembly member during the IVth and Vth Republics. Throughout his lifetime, Barel remained deeply committed to the USSR, to Nice and to its surrounding area ("my little homeland"). Virgile Barel's friendly personality, simple tastes and generous nature were the source of his remarkable local popularity- a popularity that always went far beyond the narrow confines of the Communist Party membership.