French Communist Leader. After attending primary school, he dropped out of secondary school at thirteen and became an apprentice metal worker. He joined the union in 1909. He was called up for military service in 1913 and served in the 30th Artillery Regiment. He was a strong supporter of the Russian October Revolution in 1917. He completed military service and was discharged in August of 1919. Later that year, he joined the socialist "Section Francaise de Internationale Ouvriere (SFIO). Finding work again as a metallurgist, he became shop steward. In 1920, he joined the French Communist Party (FCP), and later became secretary of the metal workers union, and worked to have the union join the Communist International. Although he won the election to become deputy mayor of Chambon, he resigned after a few months. After joining with others to organize a major strike of metalworkers, he was arrested, fined and sentenced to four months in prison. The strike however did succeed in advancing the position of the communist party. In 1925, he became secretary of the FCP trade union committee. He attended the Communist International session in Moscow in 1926 and became a member of the FCP central committee. In 1929, he was arrested again for promoting international anti war demonstrations charged with conspiracy against the state. While in prison, he penned several articles for "L'Humanite" and "La Vie Ouvriere." Released a year later, he continued to argue for the protection of workers' rights and international trade union unity. Subsequently, he visited Moscow, Mexico and the United States to promote these ideas. Frachon and Duclos assumed leadership of the PCF in France in 1940, and were later joined by Charle Tillon. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, PCF strove to provide support to Russia against Germany. During the war, Frachon continued his commitment to the trade workers union. In underground papers, he criticized the Vichy Government and continued to organize strikes up to 1947. In 1957, he was elected the sole secretary of the "Confederation general du travail unitaire," after years of work with this trade union confederation. Ten year later he resigned because of health issues. He was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968.