M. Blum's Swan Song
There must be many Frenchmen today who wish that M. Blum were twenty years younger. He has succeeded, at the head of a party holding less than one-sixth of the seats in the French Assembly, in forming a Government and pursuing an economic policy which may yet earn for him and the declining Socialist Party the title of the saviours of France. The price decrees published a week ago looked at first like a pathetic attempt to work a miracle. Prices
cannot be held down by decrees which are not backed by enforce- ment measures. Yet the original cut of 5 per cent., supported by nothing stronger than an appeal to patriotism and common sense, has so far been effective. Indeed, the fall in some cases has exceeded 5 per cent. It may yet prove temporary, but if it succeeds only in slowing the upward movement of prices it can still be of lasting importance. M. Blum has backed his judgement with a shrewd short-term guess and a safe long-term forecast. He has decided that the goods which are the only thing certain to bring about a price fall are hoarded in such quantities that if the barrel-head could once be broken the flow on to the market would be sufficient to reverse the inflationary trend and save the franc. And he has also decided, with very good reason, that the Monnet plan for the re-equipment of French industry can succeed in bringing about a permanent in- crease in•French production and so provide a firm basis for future price stability. His tactics of surprise followed by a prolonged siege may yet succeed, but the second half of the plan does not depend on M. Blum. It depends on the economic wisdom of the Government which follows his, and first of all on a firm decision to implement the second 5 per cent. cut in prices which he has recom- mended should take place in some seven weeks' time.
