France Fears the future

France Fears the future

misplaced in bitter wrangling, the French court docket political chaos whereas De Gaulle the canny mystic extends an iron hand to take manage

L. S. B. SHAPIRO

Maclean's European Correspondent

PARIS—It turned into the closing week in August. one other French govt had fallen—the eleventh in view that the liberation four years in the past—but the boulevards of Paris have been homosexual with strolling crowds and summer time sun. it is difficult for a individuals to be properly restive about a political crisis in the softness of summer time; here's one among Nature's little tricks. in the useless of iciness a political disaster is a fearsome experience; in the summer the heat of the solar and the lushness of the fields act as a narcotic on the minds of the people.

On this waning August day some 50 persons stood outdoor the gates of the Presidential palace on Rue Faubourg de St. Honore and watched a succession of politicians arrive and leave. They noticed Maurice Thorez, the Communist chief, force moodily through the gates while a shield in costume uniform watched him with sagging jaw. Later they noticed Robert Schuman; then Paul Reynaud; then Andre Marie; then Paul Ramadier, his mouth so compressed that his goatee speared the breeze. All came and all went. Nothing turned into determined. In a stormy world, France drifted aimlessly.

Little more than a stone's throw from Vincent Auriol's respectable palace, a waning solar led to the Arch of Triumph to solid a long, ungainly shadow across the Avenue des Champs Elysees. inside this shadow there become brilliant endeavor, for this become every week of get together. four years in the past Paris had been

liberated and now that memorable date changed into being marked by a series of ceremonies centred on the Arch of Triumph. but the celebration right here was a mirrored image of what was going on a brief distance away on the Presidential palace. now not even the reminiscence of this positive week could deliver the americans to neglect their alterations.

The liberation ceremony become to start at six o'clock. Policemen lined the Champs Elysees from Avenue George V to the Arch of Triumph, as if to make passage for a parade. however there turned into no parade. below Avenue George V the coteries of professional celebrants gathered along the curbstones, maintaining a substantial distance one from the different, and bridging the gaps with malevolent glances. every coterie had its wreath of flowers and its tricolor—and its hate for the other coteries.

there were the Communists, with their purple shirts and scarves, and dowdy ladies in condominium frocks. a brief distance away the DeGaullists lined up, conserving aloft a banner displaying the go of Lorraine. alongside a different stretch of pavement the deportees had been lined up, a few of them wearing the striped coveralls of the attention camps. Altogether there were 14 diverse organizations, representing a variety of conflicting ideologies, political parties, religious corporations, resistance cells. They moved restlessly about, expecting the signal.

finally it turned into six o'clock. The ceremony was to begin earlier than the monument which represents the glory and the sacrifice of France. The little agencies moved up the huge avenue, manoeuvring cautiously to make certain that each did not associate itself with

some other. They straggled all over the place the roadway, now and once more hurling epithets at each and every different. As they converged on the Arch, the police moved in accurately to keep away from a scourge of street fighting. one after the other they deposited their wreaths and paid their brief verbal tributes, then melted away within the crowd.

not even the memory of conquer the invader, no longer even a remembrance of the heroic useless, could unite the americans of France. within the palace on Rue Faubourg de St. Honore, President Vincent Auriol knew it bitterly.

Puzzled Nation .c

FORTNIGHT later Robert Schuman succeeded in forming the twelfth govt due to the fact the liberation. It lived for whatever thing lower than seventy two hours, and yet again France turned into plunged right into a political impasse. At this writing the person of the hour (a phrase which applies actually in French politics) is Henri iQueuille, a plodding sixty four-12 months-old medical professional who has been on the fringe of French coalition cupboards for three years. it's his weak point ns a character that has made him the choice of t he meeting; the bigwigs recognize he can do little apart from dangle together the strings of govt whereas they plot and manoeuvre one in opposition t the different.

The Queuille government is only a breathing spell within the panting political life of France. it's held together by using compromise in place of through action, by way of the threads of suspicion as opposed to by way of the bonds of cohesion. What

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France Fears the longer term

endured from pane 9

happens next? When de»es political exhaustion set in? Whither France?

'To the economist who st udies information and determine's, even to the casual observer who travels its stunning and generous geographical region, France is a puzzle. not like Britain, which ekes out its home-grown agricultural products from patches of land thrusting between factory towns, and Italy which grubs its fruit and wheat from rocky soil terraced into the foothills of the Apennines, France is a fine agricultural nation. but in contrast to Britain and Italy. France has no longer as soon as totally honored her ration playing cards on the grounds that the liberation. And yet this nation's agriculture has recovered to a figure of 90' , of her 1938 yield. 'along with I imports, there should still 1H> satisfactory meals for all. hut it doesn't appear on t lashelves of grocery stores— at least, no longer in return for coupons and the fixid rate.

by way of the end of 1947 the nation's industrial creation had reached 94' j of the ultimate common yr, 1938. via the j conclusion of this year creation will he well j over that of 1938. Bu the nation's j economic system is lx*ing choked hv lack of ! quite simply accessible finisher! product«; out of ! tliis arises an unmanageable inflation.

There are sheafs of information, if one

proposes to quote them, however these are virtually unnecessary as a key to the gravest disaster France has faced due to the fact can also of

1940, as a result of they are likely to furthrcomplicate the puzzle of France rath.r than clarify it.

The issue is clear ample. considering that

the liberation the governments of France have consisted of unfastened coalitions, none of them strong enough to impose upon the nation the strict sacrifices made integral with the aid of postwar economies. The short-lived André Marie executive in early August become a major illustration. Paul Reynaud, Marie's finance minister, took it as his first duty to draw up an financial program calculated to keep the francas smartly as France. Reynaud's proposals gave the impression to most overseas observers to be extraordinarily businesslike. He would (1) reform the tax device in order that the state could have an opportunity of gathering taxes from individuals and concerns who've correctly evaded imposts for the reason that 1939; (2) reduce the nation's immense civil carrier to budget friendly proportions, and (three) condo clear the nationalized industries which had been losing money hand over fist. This gave the impression reasonable enough, however the second Reynaud made the fo rmal proposals to the deputies; the Marie govt fell.

It seems of little moment to the individuals of France that such measures as Reynaud proposed are the minimal vital to steady the franc, to restoration self assurance in the financial system of the nation. The americans appear to have lost all hope that an orderly recovery will strengthen; they're curiously looking ahead to some cataclysmic event to blow the situation sky-excessive. in the meantime they don't care. simplest a govt which applies economic narcotics to the sagging countrywide physique is privileged to live to tell the tale for a number of weeks. 'The second it proposes an satisfactory software of reform it falls: and is succeeded by means of a mild reshuffle of the identical left-centre personalities who shrug their shoulders helplessly and follow nonetheless a different narcotic.

'The parliamentary condition which is forcing France into this fatal spiral is in brief this: there are five predominant political parties—on the a ways left, the Communists, and on the a long way appropriate the De Gaullists; and in between are three so-known as moderate parties, the left-ofcentre Socialist party, the lifeless-centre commonplace Republican movement, and the somewhat correct-of-centre Radical Socialist party. for the reason that the dismissal of the Communists from participation in the executive, a coalition of the three centre events has ruled F rance. they're pressured together by using concern of the a long way left and right, and they're made ineffective by means of suspicion of 1 another.

Butter Profiteer

however these enmities and suspicions are only a mirrored image of the americans. When Reynaud proposed his stern economic reform, a worker in the nationalized Renault car works referred to to me: "To the devil with Rey-

naud ! Why should still he penalize the entire nation for the sins of the rich and the black marketeers? Let him confiscate the hoarders after which he'll balance the finances. We cannot reside on what we earn, so how can he tax us additional?"

That week conclusion i used to be motoring via Normandy. On a large farm seaward of Lisieux I lunched within the manor condominium of an acquaintance. Butter is the foremost made of his farm, and he boasted to me that he makes a clear profit of about 1,000,000 and a half francs a month (about $4.500) through offering his butter to

the black market. He boasted additional that he can pay no taxes on these gains.

To my remark that he become being unpatriotic, he spoke back angrily: "Why should still I pay funds to the executive? so they pays worthless civil servants? so that they can pay the deficits of the nationalized industries run by their pals? to be able to promote me state bonds which might be value half in a month's time? by no means! in this nation of soiled politics, one need to look after oneself."

here is the most typical bleat of the Frenchman. "we are being strangled through la politique." prosperous and poor alike wail they're being strangled by means of la politique. The rich say they can not believe their wealth to a govt which depends on the printing press for money; and the bad complain that inflation robs their wages of the vigour to purchase the naked necessities of lifestyles. All throw their palms within the air and blame la politique.

There are human failings which cannot be blamed on la politique.; they jump to the eye wherever one travels in France. The war has left the French crippled of spirit. They lack a sense of countrywide accountability. In a country which does not honor the ration cards of its worker's, you could purchase, if one has the cash, essentially the most steeply-priced nutrients on this planet. There isn't a bar in all of France, I dare say, which cannot supply you with an illegally obtained packet of american cigarettes. When l requested a friend of mine about the income taxes he paÿs, he opened his desk and pointed to a pile of unopened envelopes. "There are my tax expenses. I comfortably pay no consideration to them. Who cares?" The quantity of private French wealth secretly held within the united states is estimated at at least $2 billions. The determine for gold bullion hoarded in France itself runs as high as $6 billions.

A united France, a France which possessed the resolution to turn into another time the dominating vigor in western Europe, could manipulate its hidden and natural assets into a fast and assured, recuperation. Rut. it's racked with the aid of fear for the* future, by means of selfishness and discouragement.

The loftier philosophers sav France is simply too civilized a nation to knuckle right down to the needs of postwar economics. Others say that three disastrous wars in 75 years have ruined France morally and bodily, that it's basically a human shell occupying a great enviornment of Europe. The toughminded say that France, now a death nation, can also be roused from her coma and rehabilitated by means of a robust hand.

in response to widespread fears not less than regularly occurring hopes, the potent hand belongs to Charles de Gaulle.

"large Charlie" sits in his property on the Oise, firmly believing he is the spirit of France and its savior, watching for anxiously—a bit too anxiously for a self-appointed mystic—the call of the individuals. That he's a patriot none however the Communists will deny; that he proposes to be a dictator few will deny; that he is the best politician in all of France, nobody will deny.

For a person who turned into an imprecise tank tactician within the French military earlier than the conflict, De Gaulle ought to be adjudged a political genius. He likes to trust— and often succeeds in giving the affect— that he was visited in 1940 and 1946 (both giant dates in his existence) via a spirit, such as the one which inflamed and embellished the soul of Joan of Arc. such a spirit can also have inspired him in 1940 when he provided himself to Churchill because the rallying figure of French resistance, but in 1946, when he unexpectedly resigned the management of France, he turned into merely being a crafty, energy-hungry baby-kisser. He knew, after 18 months of

liberation, that the French had modified no longer at all politically seeing that before the conflict. The weakening impact of a multiplicity of parties became out to be greater lethal than ever because the nation turned into impoverished and devastated. De Gaulle anticipated privately with uncanny accuracy the course of .Sovietwestern relations; hence he knew that the Communist birthday party in France would ought to fight no longer only towards the vast majority of the people however additionally against the have an impact on of the united states and Britain. The centre would fail; the left would be resisted; for this reason most effective the right would continue to be because the wave of France's future.

"large Charlie" withdrew his tremendous own have an effect on when his country most vital it, and retired, presumably continually, but secretly to put together for the moment when he may return to power on his own terms—because the grasp of France.

De Gaulle Organizers

so far the pattern of overseas hobbies and of French political conduct has proved how correct turned into Do Gaulle's instinct for predicting the future. The Communist party, so lively in 1945 and 1946, is dropping membership and effectiveness, due greater to outside influences than to the drive of the French people. The centre events are failing with merciless regularity, a technique which is being hastened by means of De Gaulle's influence and his votes within the chamber of deputies.

however the process of French political failure, hurtling toward doom as it has been for a year, turned into not quick ample for De Gaulle. just a few months ago he threw down the façade of the pure mystic and announced the formation of his personal political celebration, known as the Rally of the French americans, the RPF. He gathered unto himself a curious melange of political brains—royalists, fascists, former Communists, and a few centrepoliticians who had been overcome by the suggestion that "big Charlie" changed into a reincarnation of the spirit of France, anything that may well be.

For a firm which purports to be too excessive-minded to dabble in the mud of universal politics, the RPF is astute outfit. every step of how to De Gaulle's accession to vigour has been carefully deliberate. closing autumn De Gaulle's laptop went into action for the primary time in the election of city councils, and got here away with a tremendous victory. Forty per cent of French municipalities came below the handle of De Gaulle supporters, together with Paris where brother Pierre de Gaulle is mayor. This gives De Gaulle the strength which comes with local patronage and local police. At. this writing, the De Gaulle machine is working a grade greater, on the cantonal elections. he's building his circulate on an effective basis before he steps formally into the countrywide arena.

Like most self-appointed mystics, Do Gaulle is a planner. He leaves nothing to opportunity. may still the centrist coalition persist until the subsequent regular election, he's constructing his political computer with diligence. may still France be plunged into surprising chaos, he is able to step in because the excessive priest of self-discipline.

The critical query is this: What

type of regime would De Gaulle carry to France? He himself, if you can adequately interpret the pontifical nuances of his pronunciamentos, asks simplest a metamorphosis in the constitution which would supply more advantageous authority to the top of the state. The thought sounds damage| less enough;—within the palms of a devout i believer within the parliamentary equipment. France might usefully confer on one of these

man the vigour vested in, let us say. the President of the USA. however mystics and patriots who declare to be possessed of the soul of the nation don't seem to be to be trusted when it involves inquiring for a bit extra energy.

The liberals of France concern De Gaulle's ambition. They foresee the amazing hand fitting the iron hand. They predict a secret police, and a state reign of terror. no longer most effective the liberals of France however additionally the statesmen of britain and the U.S. would deplore De Gaulle's accession to power. he is an intractable man, useless and cussed, whose fervor for France rises above his feel of responsibility to the realm about him.

The statesmen of the west know, too, that De Gaulle's accession to vigor would convey bloodshed to France, perhaps a short however violent uprising via the Communists and not a few Socialists. And bloodshed followed inevitably by using dictatorship, whereas getting rid of the short-term Communist possibility, would carry a litt le smile and a smart nod to the in any other case impassive face of the Kremlin. A dictatorship in I*'ranee! Even in cold print it reads like :i miraculous nightmare. it will snuff «jut a a must-have proposal for democracies far and wide in tin* world.

Whither France? The hundreds of the people nonetheless hang to a hope, albeit a tattered hope, that the possibility of conflict may be lifted from Europe, that the ensuing leisure of massive army budgets and the success of ERP will step by step carry into handle the runaway economic climate of France.

nonetheless it is a remote hope. There are few realists who don't consider that De Gaulle have to come to power, most likely within weeks, certainly inside a yr. It comes down, then, to a hope that his 2nd name to supreme responsibility will curb his conceitedness and stay his ambition. indeed, the very weak point of France may additionally yet supply its salvation, for France below any regime has need of the exceptional respectable will of the democracies and their practical guide. The nation has no other chums apart from people that will seem faraway from si dictatorship; there are too many in the world already.

De Gaulle alone can not store France. He needs the realm of the democracies; he wants Italy's" labor and electric powered power, Britain's coal, america's credit; he needs the fervent blessing of the free world at the very least its items. perhaps this can trigger him to use his energy wit!) dignity and recognize for the traditions of his americans. it