FRANCE: The General & the Left

“Frenchmen and Frenchwomen,” declaimed Charles de Gaulle on the 75th anniversary of the Third Republic, “you will soon launch the Fourth Republic!” The General’s words opened an electoral campaign whose outcome may well rank in significance with Labor’s sweeping victory in Britain.

On Oct. 21, 25,000,000 French voters will elect a National Assembly. Through a referendum they will also answer two key questions: 1) Shall the new Assembly draft a constitution for a Fourth Republic? 2) If so, shall the Provisional Government (presumably De Gaulle’s) continue to exercise full power while the constitution is being drafted?

General de Gaulle called for a vote of “yes” on both questions. The great weakness of the Third Republic, he said, was its political irresponsibility. In the 21 years between the two World Wars it had had 20 premiers and 45 cabinets. The General wanted a Fourth Republic of greater executive stability.

“Yes”—and “No.” There was opposition from the left. The General defied it.

To De Gaulle’s office came a letter from a Committee of Five, representing Communists, Socialists, Radical Socialists, the League for the Rights of Man and the General Confederation of Labor (Confederation Generate du Travail—France’s C.I.O., claiming 3,500,000 members). The committee requested an interview to discuss France’s electoral machinery, which leftists say gives the rural population a greater voice than city workers. The letter was signed by the C.G.T.’s burly, goateed Secretary General, Léon Jouhaux.

The General replied stiffly that he would not meet the committee. Its request shocked him. Reason: according to the law, M. Jouhaux’s C.G.T. was a trade union, not a political party. Therefore it had no business meddling in electoral policies.

The left wing fumed. It wanted a Fourth Republic. But it did not want any lofty treatment. It talked of forcing a Cabinet crisis, then thought better of such a maneuver. It condemned the General’s election machinery as “not conforming with true proportional representation.”

Cried Léon Jouhaux’s C.G.T.: De Gaulle’s action was “authoritarian.” Then, setting what might well be the leftist electoral line, it called on Frenchmen and Frenchwomen to vote “no” to the second question in the referendum.