Georges RenĂ© Louis Marchais (7 June 1920 â 16 November 1997) was the head of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1972 to 1994, and a candidate in the French presidential elections of 1981. Born into a Roman Catholic family, he became a mechanic, just before the beginning of World War II, with the SociĂ©tĂ© Nationale d'Ătude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation. After the fall of France, he went to Nazi Germany to work in the Messerschmitt aircraft manufacturing plant. HeâŠ
