Félix Gouin was a French Socialist politician, member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO).

Personal life

Félix Gouin was born in Peypin

Peypin

Peypin is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Peypinois.-External links:...

, Bouches-du-Rhône, the son of school teachers. He studied law in Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...

.

In 1940 he was among the minority of parliamentarians

The Vichy 80

The Vichy 80 were a group of elected French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted against the constitutional change that dissolved the Third Republic and established an authoritarian regime known as Vichy France....

 refusing to grant full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain

Philippe Pétain

Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...

.

During the war, he was part of the central committee which reconstituted the Human Rights League

Human Rights League (France)

The Human Rights League of France, is a Human Rights NGO founded on 4 June 1898 by the republican Ludovic Trarieux to defend captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew wrongly convicted for treason - this would be known as the Dreyfus Affair...

 and also co-founded the Brutus Network

Brutus Network

The Brutus Network was a French Resistant movement during World War II. It was founded in 1941 by Pierre Fourcaud, parachuted in France with instructions from Charles de Gaulle to set up an intelligence network , and other socialist members of the French Section of the Workers' International ,...

, a Socialist Resistance group

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

.

In 1946, he then succeeded Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

 as head of the French Provisional Government. Gouin's tenure as prime minister was arguably most notable for seeing the enactment of France’s first ever compulsory, amply funded retirement and worker’s compensation laws.

Government (26 January – 24 June 1946)

• Félix Gouin – Chairman of the Provisional Government
• Francisque Gay – Vice Chairman of the Provisional Government
• Maurice Thorez
  Maurice Thorez
  thumb|A Soviet stamp depicting Maurice Thorez.Maurice Thorez was a French politician and longtime leader of the French Communist Party from 1930 until his death. He also served as vice premier of France from 1946 to 1947....
  
   – Vice Chairman of the Provisional Government
• Georges Bidault
  Georges Bidault
  Georges-Augustin Bidault was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions before he joined the Organisation armée secrète.-Early life:...
  
   – Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Edmond Michelet
  Edmond Michelet
  Edmond Michelet was a French politician.On 17 June 1940, he distributed tracts calling to continue the war in all Brive-la-Gaillarde's mailboxes...
  
   – Minister of Armies
• André Le Troquer
  André Le Troquer
  André Le Troquer was a French politician, socialist lawyer, and president of the National Assembly from 12 January 1954 to 10 January 1955, and a second time from 24 January 1956 to 4 October 1958.-Career:...
  
   – Minister of the Interior
• André Philip
  André Philip
  André Philip was an SFIO who served as an Interior Minister for the Free French during the war. He also served as a finance minister in 1946 and part of 1947....
  
   – Minister of Finance and National Economy
• Marcel Paul
  Marcel Paul
  Marcel Paul was a French trade unionist and communist politician. He was also a Nazi concentration camp survivor and later served as a member of the French parliament.- Biography :...
  
   – Minister of Industrial Production
• Ambroise Croizat – Minister of Labour and Social Security
• Pierre-Henri Teitgen
  Pierre-Henri Teitgen
  Pierre-Henri Teitgen was a French lawyer, professor and politician.Teitgen was born in Rennes, Brittany. Made prisoner of war in 1940, he played a major role in the French Resistance....
  
   – Minister of Justice
• Marcel Edmond Naegelen – Minister of National Education
• Laurent Casanova
  Laurent Casanova
  Laurent Casanova was a French politician. Born 9 October 1906 at Souk Ahras, Algeria, he died 20 March 1972 in Paris.-Political career:Of Corsican origins, Casanova studied law at university in Paris. He became secretary of the Communist cell there, and he entered the underground apparatus of the...
  
   – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
• François Tanguy-Prigent
  François Tanguy-Prigent
  François Tanguy-Prigent was a French politician and resistance fighter. ....
  
   – Minister of Agriculture
• Henri Longchambon
  Henri Longchambon
  Henri Longchambon was a French politician. He was Minister for Supply from January 26, 1946 to June 24, 1946 in the government of Félix Gouin, and later Secretary of State for Scientific Research and Technical Progress from June 19, 1954 to February...
  
   – Minister of Supply
• Marius Moutet – Minister of Overseas France
• Jules Moch
  Jules Moch
  Jules Salvador Moch was a French politician.-Biography:...
  
   – Minister of Public Works and Transport
• Robert Prigent – Minister of Public Health and Population
• François Billoux – Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning
• Jean Letourneau – Minister of Posts