Vergès, Paul

Vergès, Paul

 

Born Mar. 5, 1925. Active in the Communist Party on Réunion Island. Born in Ubon, Thailand, into a physician’s family.

Vergès studied at the law department of the University of Paris. He was member of the French Communist Party from 1945 to 1959 and deputy to the French National Assembly from Réunion Island from 1956 to 1958. Since 1957 he has been director of the newspaper Témoignage, the organ of the Réunion Communists. When the Réunion Communist Party was formed in 1959, Vergès was elected its first secretary and has been general secretary of the Communist Party since 1967.