The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-03
FRENCH LABOR WANTS TO BE II EPENDENT
 OF POWER OF WEALTH
FEW COUNTRIES IN WHICH ARTISAN { lSS HAS PLAYED so IMPORTANT A ART IN MODERN TIMES IN POLTTI-
 CAL AND SOCIAL CIRCLES
CPv M. Albert Thomas Former Min
 Ister Of Munitions.)

CRv M. Albert Thomas Former Min
 ister Of AfunItions)
 France Is not, in the strict sense of fhe word, an industrial country. More than 60 per cent, of its economic ac- rivity is certainly still devoted to agri- culture Economically, geograph- -calIy, and in the character of it's peo- r,.o France is a land of balance, unity, md harmony,
 Nevertheless there are few coun- -rieS iu which the workers have play cd so important & part in modern times as the French artisan class in political and social matters,
 In the days of tHe Great Revolu- ton 1t was the common people of Paris with it's drums, its bikes, and It's cannon that supported the great statesmen of the trlunhant bour- aeoisie-Danton, Robespiere. and the like In 1880 | vvas the students and v-orlzr,en, ''Ces Jeux a,jles du social isne," as the Republican poet Dupont called them later, who accomplished the national revolution of July. Again, the r'fraterrs7g'' revolution of 1S4S was, more than any other, accom- pIished by the working man, And still aga1n, It was the stubborn efforts
 
 Paris alone, but Of all the biE grow ing cities. that set up the Third Re public And T. was from the towS2s and their suburbs that the propa- -anda of the 6enocra stc parties was -alnched forth into the countryside
 On the very eye or the w-ar the as rect of the French working class world was In keeping with this tra di- ion. Despite the anxiety hanging -ver Europe, desr5-s the presRrt1T71 ent --aunting every ra1n5 of apQcoach3nS m unavof dab1e ca tastraphe, either within or without, with which an 1-ned peace was th-ea teninE every S-qte in Europe, the French labor world carried on its struggle with con e1ence II carried 1t on with the con z1ction that the futx~e was marked -71t for the N~pTo7etaT1at'7 For the ex- --essfon of this hope 1t appealed to inc teaching of A1arE- It announced --4-h fre German philosopher, that the clanere was inevitable destined to bo 7v the law Of the capitalist. system sse1H But what WAS stirring II right at bottom was just the ola democratic seut1uasz1tsI1ty. the ideas of it's own old theorists who had taught the doc rr1ne that tlaB world should belong to rhf vgqoTka1s-t1lfa tradition of 8 whole cen tUrv C1 revo7T1ion-
 In the Chamber the election Of May, 1914. gave il over 108 deputies. The Socialist T37aI-tv at this period gave ev- idence Of 9 unity of action which was all the more faithful because the other political parties were showing signs of decay It was due to the influence of 2. man of big 75eaz, winning eloquence. and compelling faith-5aE7res
 SOCIALISTS IN P PARLLABTFINT-
 In Parliament thes party wsas, az a general rulR, in the minority among the OEppnsft1Dr. It WAS, SD t9 speak, aaga1nst evaIy government Since the farr1gr international Congress at Am
 ell gro in 1894, where the Germans Io25 oL enc pr two TaTs on the kAA s- nome of its members had F Inonthrrt in fh9 bourgeois govern faready rTDrg than this the syEtan of }d1scipLne and regular collaboration Aleast 4O0nDrB advanced ErDH1F9B of tn jon the P democracy wEzs LhanoefoTth ing the @lw aFSandDned. Socialism ider the a re the mbost O0up2ste ex- iin the mof sdEnorscy- It stimulates, misery tfE, and TDsads o1 the demo Aeen tryi5 time Of struggle, If the re- aEao men parties Ta1Es fhe1- heads E7- coRl1aans ven Foec0Ines the TGout11EZsce of ths -4Jzsasamt 6e1nDcTacY itself At certain periods Of our History the peasants anaF the artisans hays heen on opposite s1Ies- But for aI that such is the genus of the country and It's tradition of liberty all workers Of whatever categrEE are capable of combining in a great united effort for fuIanEiIlaIOn-