THE TROUBLES IN FRANCE
THE strikes now affecting the railways, docks, mines and metal industries of France present a threat which no Government can ignore for long. They are approaching the stage at which the Re- public itself, and not merely some group of parties, is threatened. But even if the new Government formed on Sunday by M. Robert Schuman, of the M.R.P., succeeds in restoring order for the time being it is very doubtful whether it can go on to cure the grave political and economical ills affecting the body of France. In neither its leadership, its composition nor its policy does the new Cabinet do much to remove the assumption underlying General de Gaulle's whole attitude—the assumption that the present parties will continue to run round in circles until they and the present constitution collapse together. Within the narrow limits of the field of manoeuvre left to them the parties between the Communists on the Left and the .Rassemblement du Peuple Francais (R.P.F.) on the Right have fol- lowed an inevitable course. The Socialists had to abandon the tour de force of minority leadership which they have sustained during the past year. M. Ramadier has been determined and honest, but his economic policy has been inadequate to arrest inflation ; the internal split between the Left and Right wings of the Socialist party itself has not been healed ; and the grip of M. Blum himself is weakening.
It was inevitable in the circumstances that a strong party to the right of the Socialists—which could only mean the M.R.P.- should take over the leadership of the coalition. The swing of the municipal elections was a swing to the right, even though the M.R.P. happened to suffer by it ; the impatience of ordinary citizens with the constant threat of strikes has been growing steadily ; and if anybody in France is still interested in the maintenance of order then the challenge thrown down by the Communists cannot be ignored, even if it means one more step towards General de Gaulle. It was M. Blum's crucial mistake that he did not see this last point. In the meantime the Communists themselves are busy burning their boats. They are now openly hostile not only to General de Gaulle, but to the Socialists, the Republic and every non-Communist Frenchman. Following the logic of those whose immediate objective is economic confusion they are simultaneously denouncing the present inflation and aggravating it by strikes and demands for higher wages. This looks like a policy of noisy retreat. Certainly it is pursued in the face of growing public disgust and of resistance and misgivings
among the more moderate elements in the trade unions. But if in fact the strike wave dies down and M. Schuman's Government manages to establish itself that will not settle any fundamental ques- tions. It will be a postponement—perhaps the last postponement— of the decisive crisis.
