FRANCE: Battle on Sunday

De Gaulle won.

The confidential order from the French Communist Central Committee to regional secretaries had said: “This is not an election—it is a battle.” Last Sunday, in 38,000 cities, towns and villages throughout France, the people chose new municipal governments and, for the first time in eleven months, declared their political faith. When the battle of ballots was over, it was clear that their faith had radically changed, and with it the entire French political scene.

Three facts stood out: 1) Charles de Gaulle’s R.P.F. won a smashing victory, now held more votes than any other party (6,000,000); 2) Georges Bidault’s centrist M.R.P. was all but dead, with more than two-thirds of its voters having gone over to De Gaulle; 3) the Communists, though knocked off their perch as France’s largest party, had essentially held their own (5,000,000).

Overture of Violence. The Communists did lose about half a million votes which cost them the control of police forces in some French communities. Communist leaders promptly appealed to the Socialists (who had fared badly in the cities, well in the country) to join them in a “stop De Gaulle” movement. But hardly anywhere was De Gaulle’s victory won directly at the expense of the Communists; his support came from M.R.P. voters who had decided that the middle of the road was no place to be these days.

The overture to Sunday’s battle was fierce. A Communist-decreed national maritime walkout tied up all French ports for 48 hours; a transport strike in Paris paralyzed the Métro. As Premier Paul Ramadier’s Government tried to break the strike, Paris’ gentle autumn air grew heavy with menace. Armed, steel-helmeted guards stood outside barricaded subway entrances and bus depots. The Cocos (Paris argot for Communists) accused the Socialists of fomenting the strike, then absurdly belabored the Government for strikebreaking. (After De Gaulle’s victory, the Communists prepared to call off the strike.)

Violence flared throughout the country. In Toulouse, a Gaullist at a Communist meeting was thrown from a theater balcony into the orchestra and died. Comrade Maurice Thorez himself was involved in a bang-up brawl. At a Communist rally, he invited a foolhardy heckler, Socialist Jacques Karaimsky, to come on up and say his say on the platform. Karaimsky did: “Perhaps you have forgotten that . . . Moscow used to feed Germany with wheat and gasoline to kill Frenchmen. And why did Maurice Thorez desert in 1940?” Thorez flushed, then leaped at Karaimsky, and punched him. Some 1,700 other comrades tried to rush in on the single, unarmed blasphemer. He was dragged out of the meeting hall more dead than alive. A LIFE photographer who recorded the scene (see cut) was cornered by the angry crowd and forced to surrender his films temporarily; he managed to hide one in his trouser pocket.

“France Is Threatened.” This Communist behavior, matched on the international scene by the emergence of the Belgrade Comintern, had a great deal to do with the election results. It had helped persuade 6,000,000 Frenchmen that De Gaulle spoke the truth when he cried, two weeks ago in Algiers:

“France is threatened! Hitler’s effort at domination has only just been repelled, and now here is another ambition, using somber attraction and the facilities of the totalitarian system, which in its turn wants to spread over the universe. . . . Common sense allows France clearly to perceive that what the separatists* describe as their policy is in fact exclusively directed toward the confusion and weakening of France.”

Many honest Frenchmen had been afraid that De Gaulle aimed to fight fire with fire, that he would oppose Communist authoritarianism with authoritarian methods. But it was clear now that the 6,000,000 Gaullist voters feared Communism as the darker evil. They had voted clearly against Communism, clearly for the Marshall Plan which the Communists tried to kill at all cost.

The Wise Money. By eliminating the middle party, the election had neatly drawn the line between the big blocs which now grimly faced each other: the Gaullists and the Communists. Election day itself was sunny and calm, but the edge of menace stayed in the air. The real battle for France was about to begin. Cabled TIME Correspondent André Laguerre:

“De Gaulle’s return to power now looks politically inevitable—but how quickly he returns will depend on Communist tactics. Will the party be scared by the election results and go back to a policy of more discreet opposition? Or will the Communists live faithfully up to the new Moscow line, accepting the challenge to battle? Most of the wise money is on the second alternative; in that case, perilous days lie ahead for France.”

* I.e., Communists. De Gaulle rarely deigns to mention them by name.