Evening star., 1925-12-04
BY FRANK III. SYMONDS.

Brands success in forming a cabi-
net after many attempts, and even
more his consent TO undertake a. task
which was at once personally Unat-
traCtive and dangerous for his own
reputation has one outstanding siSnifi-
canoe. It marks the end of the So
called cartel des gaucheS. the Combi-
nation of the Radicals and the Social
lists which has ruled France since the
fall of Poincare nearly two years 90.
the combination which has controlled
both the Herriot and Painleve cab
inetS.
Without laying too much stress
upon analogies there is much in the
recent French history to recall the
British experiment with a Labor gov
ernment. Poincare was beaten and
the Nationalists turned out of office
by much the same national opinion
which brought down the first Baldwin
cabinet in Britain and opened the way
to the Macdonald government
In both Britain and France the con-
servatives who had ruled since the
war had made a rather appalling mess
of things. British prestige had fallen
very low at the moment when France
went into the Ruhr: the French stu
alton was equally badly compromised
when the Ruhr developed into long
drawn-out battle with little promise
of profitable victory
x * X y
Thus in the Spring elections of 1924
France returned d Chamber in which
there was a majority opposed to the
old Nationalist group. which had been
elected in 1919. But. just as in Brit
ain, the majority against the Tories
was made up of Liberals and Labor
ties, the former much more conServa-
tive than the latter, so In France the
majority was composed of radical Re
publicans and Socialists with about
the same differences.
MacDonald's stay in power in
| Britain was always contingent upon
| his success in keeping together
! Labor and the Liberals. when the Lib
erals came 10 hate or fear Labor
more than the Tories, then Labor
was bound to 20 out. The moment
| actually arrived when the Russian
treaty was about to be considered. In
! reality the Liberals We're at heart
| more conservative than radicals and
| after a short space of time they
| turned their votes over TO the Tories
and Labor went out.
| Now in France the situation was a
little different. for the combination
of radical Republicans was stronger
| than the Socialists; that is, the more
| conservative wing of the combination
was stronger: nevertheless; it could
| do nothing save as it had Socialist
votes. Without the round hundred of
| Socialist votes both the Herriot and
| the Painleve governments would have
| fallen instantly. As a result, the
| Socialists sat in the seat of power
In the end what they demanded had
! to he conceded.
| Moreover, as time passed the So
cialists' demands became more and
more far reaching. They had an able
| leader in Leon Blum, perhaps the
ablest party leader in the Chamber
They had strongly disciplined group
and they could walk up to the prime
minister and say, do this or we will
| throw you out" That, in effect, was
what they did do when Caillaux re,
| capital levy. Then Painleve was
forced to abandon Caillaux rather
shamefully and as it turned out -
| quite futilely.
| X X y K
| In the latest crisis the Socialists
| showed themselves still more AFRO
CANT. They were now prepared to
dominate the Cartel dos Gauches.
| They demanded seven seats in the
! ca abinet and virtual control. They
demanded almost unquestioning obedi-
ence to their orders and they re-
| fused to deal with any of the possible
| prime ministers who did not begin by
pledging this subserviency. They
believed that the moment had come
when they could control France, al
though they numbered only hundred
members in a Chamber Of over 500.