The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-17

Block National ..........................-208
Radical Socialists ......................1s6
Republican Socialists ................ 20
Unified Socialists .................. III
Communists ................................. "a
.XkIE hope our readers will not be
wv deceived by the label Social
list" which appears so frequently in
connection with French parties. Over
there everybody is a Socialist. The
truth is that the Radical Socialists"
and the Republican Socialists" which
together, have secured zoe seats in
the chamber of deputies, are not So
ciaIists at all, not even in the sense
in which the parties Of the second in
ternational are. These two parties
are the political spokesman Of the
merchants, manufacturers, part of the
peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie
generally. The party Of the second
International in France are the uni
fed Socialists" which secured Ill
seats.
VkTHAT do the above figures signify
wv as far as the state Of mind Of
the masses are concerned? These fig
ures show that the bulk Of the work
ing class and of the poorer middle
classes no longer believe in the lead
ership Of Big Capital (which is rep
resented by Poincare's Block Nation
all and have now placed their faith
in the parties of petty bourgeois liber-
alism and socialist orportunism rep
resented by the Radical Socialists, Re
publican Socialists and the Unified So
cialists. These three parties have to-
gether S17 seats in the new chamber
Of deputies, as against 2OS of Poin-
cares Block National. 1t is very prob
able that these three parties, which
are spoken of as the Left Block, will
form coalition government, and then
we shall have in France almost a du-
plication of the political situation that
prevailed in Germany on the morrow
after the election to the old Reichstag.
Or we may have a coalition between
the left wing of the Block National
and the parties led by Herriot, which
again would duplicate phase in the
development Of Germany between the
old and new Reichstags.
France Is One Step Behind Germany.
THE old German Reichstag was
l practically in the hands Of the So
cialists and middle class liberals with
the Catholic Centrum wavering be-
tween these and the monarchist reac-
ton. Practically the same combina-
ton will rule the new chamber Of de-
puties in France.
NOV, the Socialists and Liberals Of
IN Germany, have had their chance
and failed Why? Because they could
not and would not break and destroy
the power of Big Capital In fact, they
were doing the very thing that Big
Capital wanted them to do. The boss
of the old Reichstag was SHINES.
With the result that the masses lost
faith in these parties, the workers
moving over to the Communists, and
large section Of the petty bour-
geoisie having gone to the monarch
lists.
THE oppressed masses of France
L are now passing thru a period of
liberal reformist illusions the same
as the English masses are. The same
as the German masses were at the
time Of the elections to the old Reich
stag.
DUT the masses of Germany have
- by now partly learned their les
son. The same will happen with the
masses in England. The same will
happen with the masses in France.
The new Liberal-Socialist coalition in
France, il such Is formed, will in prac-
tice serve the same master that Poin-
care did, /. e.. Big Capital. This new
coalition will bear another name, will
use different language and will, per-
haps, apply different tactics, but in
matters that are really vital for CAPT
talism in France IL will differ NOT ono