Jules Guesde was born in Paris, France, on 12th November, 1845. A journalist, he developed radical political views and in 1877 founded the socialist weekly journal, L'Egalité.

In 1880 Guesde joined Paul Lafargue, the son-in-law of Karl Marx, to establish the Workers Party and in 1893 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. The party suffered from internal divisions and by 1895 had split into five different parties.

In 1900 a group of socialists formed the revolutionary Socialist Party of France, led by Guesde and Edouard Vaillant,. This party failed to make much progress and in 1905 it merged with the French Socialist Party under the leadership of Jean Jaurés.

Jules Guesde, who served as minister of portfolio during the First World War, died in Saint-Mande on 28th July, 1922.