Charles RUFF, known as LUSSY
See onthe map
Postal trade unionist, Socialist journalist, SFIO activist.
A postal worker turned Socialist journalist under the name Lussy, he deliberately abstained in the vote granting full powers to Pétain on 10 July 1940. Interned in the Creuse, he escaped in June 1944 to join the maquis, and went on to chair the Socialist group in the National Assembly from 1946 to 1955.
The story
Born in Algiers in 1883, Charles Ruff made his name under the pen-name Lussy, writing for the socialist press of Algeria and Tunisia while running union work inside the postal service.
After a brief spell in the Communist Party in the years after 1920, he returned to the socialist SFIO and became one of its parliamentary figures: deputy for the Vaucluse from 1936 to 1958.
His work for the labour movement spanned the Third Republic and then the Fourth. He died in 1967, at eighty-four.
The grave
A tomb in the antique manner, a rare shape for a twentieth-century monument, on the avenue Transversale No. 3. The first name cut into it is not his but his nephew's: “Jacques Michel RUFF, mort pour la France, on 25 August 1944 at the age of 27, fighting for the liberation of Paris” — died for France. Then comes “Charles LUSSY RUFF, former deputy”: the pen name, taken in Algiers to sign his articles, has slipped between the first name and the surname.
On site, do not miss
Two names on the stone, the pen name welded to the civil one: “Charles LUSSY RUFF, former deputy”. Above him, his nephew Jacques Michel Ruff, killed at twenty-seven in the liberation of Paris.
Visitors' questions
Where is Charles Lussy's grave at Père-Lachaise?
In Division 97, Transverse Avenue No. 3, second row. It is a family grave: it also bears the name of his nephew Jacques Michel Ruff, killed during the liberation of Paris. Division 97 is also Édith Piaf's.
Édith PIAFWhat did Charles Lussy do during the Occupation?
He refused to vote full powers to Pétain and joined the Resistance. After deliberately abstaining on 10 July 1940, he took part in the clandestine meetings of the Socialist parliamentary group, was arrested in September 1942, interned, and escaped in June 1944.
Henri BARBUSSEWhy is Charles Ruff known by the name Lussy?
It was his press pen name. A post-office clerk and Socialist activist in Algiers, he signed his articles “Charles Lussy” in the Socialist press of Algeria and Tunisia. The pen name stuck — even onto his gravestone.
Adolphe THIERSWho rests with Charles Lussy?
His nephew, Jacques Michel Ruff. The inscription notes that he “died for France on 25 August 1944, aged 27, fighting for the liberation of Paris”. His name comes before his uncle's on the stone.
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