Ernest Lafont

Who was Ernest Lafont?

Louis-Ernest Lafont was a French socialist politician. Lafont represented Loire in the French National Assembly between 1914 and 1928, and then Hautes-Alpes between 1928 and 1936. He served as Minister of Public Health 1935-1936. Politically, he was a disciple of Hubert Lagardelle.

A lawyer by profession from a bourgeois background, Lafont was a graduate of the Ecole des sciences politiques and a lawyer at the Paris Court of Appeals. He obtained a doctorate in Law. He served as the legal attorney of the General Confederation of Labour.

Inside French Section of the Workers International, Lafont belonged to the insurrectionary syndicalist and anti-parliamentary left. In 1910 he contested the parliamentary elections, but trailed behind the winning candidate by merely 500 votes. In 1912 he became the mayor of the socialist local government in Firminy. In 1914 he was elected to the French parliament from the Le Chambon-Feugerolles constituency, with 11,256 votes. During this period Lafont was able to mobilize sizeable support from the middle class of Firminy, particularly through campaigns against alcoholism and prostitution.