The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-07-18
COMMENT ON WORLD
EVENTS

The Third Republic of France is no
more. For seventy years the Third
Republic bore aloft the torch of de-
mocracy first lighted in the early and
hectic days Of the First French Re-
public France with her workers and
peasants has marched forward to the
battle cry of Liberty, Equality and
Brotherhood" only to have her surge
upward and onward hurled back by the
black legions of Nazi Germany.
With scarcely a dissenting vote the
French Parliament declared the Third
Republic dead and placed in the hands
of Marshall Petain the authority to
write for France a new constitution
for the formation of a government
Ahng Fascist lines. The new govern
ment will be dictatorially run by a
triumvirate headed by Piere Laval,
who for years has urged closer re-
lations with Germany and Italy. So
the last act of the French Parliament
ends in national hari-kari with inter
national repercussions.
The preamble to the declaration
calling for q Fascist government for
conquered France states that the new
regime would be aimed at Sovereignty
of the state, independence of govern
mental power, authority but also lib
erty, defense of the family, reorgan-
| ization of government and also institu-
ton of the cooperative system" With
these words the freedom Of France is
sealed so long as the power of the to
talitarian states is in the ascendency.
x X X
Whether the abandonment of French
democracy is one of the conditions
placed upon France by the German
and Italian powers or whether it Is
the ultimate climax of the reactionary
forces that have been bleeding France
from within can not be surely stated
at this time. In all probability the
fall of the Third French Republic car
be traced to these and other causes.
| France as a conquered nation is
| in no position to dictate the terms
of government that shall rule her
people. The heel of the conquer
ing dictator allows little if any
freedom of action.
This is true in spite of the press at.
tacks Of Italy and Germany upon the
announcement of the new order il
France. Germany and Italy reminC
France that her repentance" has
come too late and that in the event
of an ultimate German and Italian vic
tory the every existence Of France viii
be in jeopardy"
French democracy can not be dead
The tradition of liberty can not b'
snuffed out in so short an interval
The history and spirit of France mus
live on in it's workers and peasants.
France is chained by a superio
force, trapped by her own mistakes
but not forever. The people Of Franc
will yet live to take their place among
the worlds defenders of the right
and liberty of democratic government
Liberty Equality and Brotherhood
will once more rise in France to sweel
back the enslaving tide Of the dicta
torships. All the hopes of France nov
rest in the ultimate and crushing de
feat of the tOtalitarian forces.
4
"The fact that all inclusive blu
prints for a better world when applie
have never brought satisfactory re
suits HI the past, does not deter tn
impractical theorist, or the demagogue
or compound of both, from launch
ing new and more national and worl
saving plans which, among othe
things, includes the scrapping of tn
methods and policies which have de
veloped through years of experience
and which have been found sound an
serviceable. John P. Frey.