Barton, Paul, 1919-1994

Paul Barton (birth name Jiří Veltruský) was born in Czechoslovakia on June 5, 1919. Barton worked in a metal factory before he received his PhD in the philosophy of aesthetics of semiotics with a special interest in theater after World War II. During World War II, he helped organize workers in the labor movement. Barton was a member of the Prague Circle (a group of intellectuals), and was an advocate for democracy in Czechoslovakia. When the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia successfully launched a coup and gained control of the government in 1948, Barton was forced to flee Prague. He travelled to Paris, where he would live for the remainder of his life. Barton was the European Representative for the AFL-CIO, serving in the Paris Office during the Cold War. In this role, he helped establish close contact with the French trade unions and international labor movements. He also served as a United Nations representative for the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). Additionally, Barton was a freelance writer and journalist who wrote about the deterioration of democratic rights in Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe. His book on Soviet labor camps was praised by Russian dissedent Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He worked for the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department from 1968 until his death in 1994.