Maurice Tréand (21 September 1900 – 26 January 1949) was a French communist leader who was responsible for vetting party members in the period leading up to World War II (1939–45).
[4] Tréand was criticized for taking his policing role to an extreme, for example classifying an activist as suspect if they had a distant cousin in the "forces of repression.
However, the security arrangements he established before the war proved inadequate as the government stepped up its surveillance measures after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939 and the start of general mobilization in France.
[9] After Paris was occupied in June 1940 Tréand and Jean Catelas, the deputy for Amiens, began negotiations with the German ambassador for permission to resume open publication of the communist journal l'Humanité.
In a report to Duclos dated 26 February 1941 Dallidet attacked Tréand, accusing him of "travail de groupe", an extreme offense in a Stalin-dominated party.
[13] A commission called by Marty, with Henri Gourdeax and Marcel Servin, heard Treand some time before his death on 26 January 1949.