Evening star., 1942-09-15
Forced Labor in France

The decree issued with character
istic suddenness by the Vichy gov
ernment relative to the utilization
and organiza ton of labor" Is note
worthy, not so much for what it or
dams as for what it means. Other
nations have modified their popula-
tions for national service. The to-
talitarian states did so even before
the present war, and for the past two
years the British government has
been empowered to draft both men
and women for civilian as we'll as
military activities. Even in this
country the imperious necessities of
war are creating a situation in which
official control and direction of labor
will be Systematized.
What sets the new French labor
law into glaring contrast with SINH
lar codes elsewhere is the fact that
it is clearly designed to serve the in
terests OF foreign power rather
than of France itself. France Is
technically out of the war. There
fore, logically, its people should not
be obliged to undergo sacrifices which
can rightfully be demanded from
populations engaged in an armed
struggle for national existence. Yet
this is precisely what Vichy demands
of its browbeaten subjects, with the
added sting that they may, and prob
ably will, be conscripted for work on
foreign soil for alien masters.
The text of the new labor law not
only empowers the authorities to
draft any Frenchman between Is
and so, and any unmarried woman
between 21 and 35, to whatever labor
may be judged useful in the higher
interests of the nation" but sets no
limitation on where they may be sent.
Indeed, it Is an open secret that the
law was cooked up by Pierre Laval to
overcome his dismal failure to re-
cruit voluntarily French labor for
service in the Reich. The semi
official Havas Agency comments that
it is now necessary to meet not only
Frances domestic needs but also the
recruiting of workers to be sent
abroad in exchange for prisoners
released, by Germany. Indeed, the
Havas commentary states that the
labor law was adopted in order to
forestall the application in France
OF more severe measures taken in
other countries" This looks as
though Laval may have been threat
ened by his German masters with
the summary seizure of French work.
ers for service in the Reich-at least,
workers in the German occupied
zone, where the bulk of French heavy
industry is located.
Press dispatches from Vichy init
mate that the government intends
to set up rotating system whereby
crews of trained workers would be
assembled and sent to Germany for
a specified period of time, after
which their places would be taken by
other crews from the same factory
or industry. Since the new law sub
jects employers to stringent regula-
tions as to the hiring and retention
of their workers, the heads of indus
try presumably will be compelled to
act as government agents in the Sc
lection and assembling of the neces-
sary quotas. The law is provided
with sharp teeth in the shape of
fines and terms of Imprisonment too
heavy for any one lightly to disobey.
Thus the unhappy French people
are further brigaded in the service
OF their conquerors. How the labor
law will work in practice remains to
be seen. Perhaps in anticipation of
trouble, the Vichy government has
just called out it's armed forces
for practice maneuvers" obviously
aimed at the repression of domestic
disorders. They were a grim warn
ing of what strenuous obiectors