Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-06
Fear of Social Change Is Seen
Basis of Fatal French Schism
Propertied Glasses Afraid of New Popular Front
if Dictators Were Resisted Too Far,
Noted Journalist Reports
By PerHnax.

egg, bad tactics and bad command are
the true origin of the French surrender
but. to understand 1t completely, the
mediocre morale of the nation must be
introduced into the picture; and that
mediocre morale was largely the result
of internal controversies about foreign
policy.
It is bitter fact that the Jacobin
tradition of the "patrie en- danger" has,
for once, crumbled down. There have
always been paciflsts in France on the
Left and on the Right. But never had
the whole country been rent asunder
as it has been in these last few years.
We must 60 back to the Dreyfus case to
find anything even close to the situation.
The tragedy Is that this time the inter.
nal crisis conceded with the completion
of the gigantic Nazi war machine.
The quarrel concerning the rupture
with England and the separate armis-
tice continues today.
The Vichy government has acted on
the belief that it could redeem the indie
pendence of France and preserve social
order the main point Marshal Petain,
Gen. Weygand and M. Baudoin have in
mind by throwing the fleet and the
overseas empire into the bargain with
Germany rather than by going ahead
with the struggle in Northern Africa.
Let us not imagine one single minute
that the mass of the population has
rallied to that policy
Propertied Glasses Blamed.
Now, we approach the decisive point;
Where is to be found the origin of the
dreadful schism that has so powerfully
contributed to bringing France to
her knees?
The answer can be returned unhesi-
tatingly. The fear of radical social
changes that war seemed likely to bring
in its trail, has preyed tremendously
upon the propertied classes ever since
1918 Why? For more than century
the upper and middle classes (Which, on
the whole, governed France) had had
to put up with the existence and, some
times, with the intense activity, OF revo-
lutionary groups, for instance, between
1880 and 184e, and in 1871. Why did they
suddenly take fright and decide that the
internal enemy was to be feared much
more than the external enemy?
First, the Bolshevik upheaval OF 1917
impressed them tremendously. 1t dawned
upon them gradually that the Bolshevist
regime was the logical outcome OF a
democratic regime run wild. 1t Is
enough to recall that. in the general
election OF 1919, the conservative parties
which were returned triumphant Chiefly
owing to Cemenceaus prestige) filled
towns and hamlets with posters pictur-
ing a social menace in the shape OF
ferocious- looking Russian with a knife
between his teeth.
French Economy Exhausted.
Second, the monetary. financial and
economic problem began to shake the
national structure 1t was badly handled
by the cartel of the left in 1924 and,
when the prosperity era initiated by M.
Poincare had come to an end, by the
weak conservative leaders of 1872, as
we'll as by the Radical Socialists of 1882
1886. The British government had given
up the gold standard in 1881 and. in
March, 1893, President Roosevelt had
followed suit. The effect of the all
round lowering of world prices had been
to increase by so per cent the purchasing
power of the franc, as stabilized by Poin-
care. But the Banque de France, which
neither conservatives nor Radical Social
lists chose conservatives of the left
dared challenge, never realized that
France could not stick to the gold stand
ard and refuse to devaluate her currency
without burdening national economy
with production costs heavier than those
of other states.
The unacceptable result was the exhaus-
| ton of French economy. The budgetary
| problem became well-nigh unmanage-
able and cabinet after cabinet failed In
| the attempt to balance revenue against
| expenditure. To do away with the evil
accruing from an overvalued currency,
! the salaries of state officials and the
pay roll of labor were drasticaIy cut
down. An absurd remedy: imitation was
needed at that time-not def1ation.
Authority Weakened.
Third, in the ensuing confusion, gov
ornamental authority weakened. The
vehement protests of the right, which
brought about the sanguinary clashes
of February 6, 1894, gave rise, in the long
run, to the popular front" of 1936-1938.
In 1896, the labor unions started their
sitdown strikes; the red flag was I'M
| furled above thousands of factories and
| the workmen raised clenched fists at the