A short biography of Algerian anarchist, mechanic and French Resistance fighter Albert Guigui-Theral.
[i]Albert Guigui-Theral
Born 1903 - Algeria, died 1982
Born in Algiers on 26th March 1903 , raised in Paris, Guigui-Theral returned to Algeria in 1918, working as a mechanic. As an activist he was involved in the metal workers' strikes and sentenced to two months imprisonment for his anarchist propaganda.
He returned to Paris in 1922, losing numerous of jobs because of his activites. Following an unfruitful effort to organise a phalanstery in Algeria, he returned to France, joining the Fédération C.G.T des Métaux, where he fought the influence of the Communist Party.
In 1928, he collaborated in the newspaper Le Libertaire until his work took him to the U.S. Upon his return to France, he becomes a typesetter's corrector in 1932, & active in l'Union Départementale CGT de la Région Parisienne. Here, in 1936, he was in charge of providing assistance to the Spanish syndicalists.
Guigui-Theral was arrested in June 1940, then released. He then escaped into the "free zone" and joined the anti-Nazi resistance with the famed resistance leader Jean Moulin.
In 1943 whilst working as a proof reader in a Toulouse print shop he sent a note to De Gaulle arguing that a general strike should be coordinated with the Allied landing if it had any chance of success. He argued this position at a confrence organised by Moulin.The same year on behalf of the clandestine CGT he attended a conference in London along with De Gaule and obtained funds for the unions. During several months the Clandestine CGT received an envelope of money from the French, American and British allies. Unlike other anarchists like for example Voline, he appears to have completely compromised himself with the Gaullists. In 1944 he attended a conference of the ILO (International Labour Organization) in Philadelphia.
He re-entered Paris with the liberation armies, and in the post-war period worked full time for the ILO in Geneva . He died at Thonex in Switzerland on 5th August 1982.
From the Daily Bleed
With additions by Nick Heath
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