Raymond Lachèvre

French militant anti-militarist, anarchist and syndicalist.

The son of a clothing tailor, Raymond Lachèvre, an anarchist activist since 1912, was mobilized during the First World War. After twenty-seven months as a mechanic on a cruiser, he was assigned in 1917 to the fleet workshop in Brest.

Following the anarchist and anti-militarist propaganda he made at the arsenal, he was arrested, placed in secret and then versed in the disciplinary sections at the citadel of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

On his release, he moved to 16 rue Belloncle, Le Havre, joining the Syndicat des Métals, which was one of the most radical in the Union des syndicats du Havre (USH) and created the Libertarian Group of Le Havre in 1919 (see Henri Offroy) which acquired a library of which he was the manager.

He was secretary of the group strike committee for the movement that started on 5 November 1919 and lasted seventy-six days. On this occasion was published a newspaper, L’Ouvrier métallurgiste, from November 15, 1919 to February 15, 1920 (see Louis Legrain). In the midst of a strike, Lachèvre was an abstentionist candidate in the legislative elections of December 1919. This strike lasts by 250 molders nevertheless ended in failure. Considering that they had been little supported by the Metals Union, the molders seceded and founded an autonomous organization whose head Lachèvre took the lead on October 10, 1921.

After the confederal split in December 1921, Raymond Lachèvre militated at the CGTU, where he supported the Besnard trend.

With the Union of Rhône Trade Unions and the Building Federation, the USH was one of the ultimate anarcho-syndicalist strongholds within the pro-communist CGTU (see Jean Le Gall). The conflict of tendencies within this confederation reached its peak with the assassination of the libertarian workers Clos* and Poncet* on 11 January 1924. After this tragedy, many unions left the CGTU. On August 10, 1924, the Syndicat des moulieurs switched to autonomy, with Raymond Lachèvre as secretary. Put on the index by the local employers, he had to, to find work, adopt the identity of his brother-in-law.

In 1926, the union of molders joined the CGT-SR and, in February 1927, joined the autonomous union of the Metals of Le Havre. Raymond Lachèvre nevertheless attended the 2nd Confederal Congress of the CGT-SR.

In parallel, Lachèvre was a member of the Communist Anarchist Union (UAC) which he left in 1928 to join the Association of Federal Anarchists (AFA), by refusing the platform-formism. Until 1935, he assumed responsibility for the library of the Le Havre libertarian Group. He also participated in several propaganda concerts by the song.
On 29 January 1929, he was introduced to the Masonic lodge L’Olivier Scots (Grande Loge de France). He was received a companion on October 29, then master on October 28, 1930.

Enrolled in the B carnet of the Seine-Inférieure on April 29, 1935, where he was described as an “intelligent and prudent libertarian”, he was charged with abortive practices, and sentenced to two years in prison before being acquitted on appeal.

Mobilized in September 1939 at the 31st regional regiment of Le Havre, he was reformed in November and worked in a supply store for cycles. During the German Occupation, he was wanted by the Gestapo in 1940 and had to take refuge in the countryside with his sister. Returning to Le Havre under a false identity, he came to the aid of several refractories thanks to his relations in masonry.

In the late 1960’s, Raymond Lachèvre lived in Le Mans and was a member of the local group of the Anarchist Federation.