The Congress of French Radicals and Radical-Socialists held at Nancy
last week was particularly interesting, as the majority had to decide whether they would break with the Unified Socialists who adhere to the detestable teaching of M. Hera& There was no doubt from the beginning that the majority did not approve of the doctrine that in the event of war French soldiers ought to fire on their officers; but it remained to be seen whether they would content themselves with a pious voeu, or whether they would go so far as to refuse to co-operate with the Unified Socialists in the Chamber. The alternative to preserving the old Bloc would be to make a Parliamentary alliance with the Progressive Republicans, of whom the type is M. Ribot. A strong resolution was proposed by M. Bonnet requiring that no support should be given to candidates who had not repudiated "in writing" the Herveist doctrine. In the end a compromise was reached by which the . members of the Radical and Radical-Socialist Party were urged not to support any one who advocated a disorganisation of the Army either by desertion in time of peace or by insurrection in the presence of the enemy; but at the same time it was agreed that the co-operation with the Unified Socialists on all other questions in the Chamber should not cease. In other words, the Bloc, so far as it can be said to be still a reality, survives the Congress.
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