Evening star., 1943-03-12
Unrest in France


nation are glowing more brightly.
What has famed them into waxing
flame is the Nazi plan for forcible
recruiting Of French labor. Pierre
Laval, Germany's constituencies
tool. has repeatedly promised 10000
workers for industrial service in the
Reich, but he has been unable to
deliver more than a small percent
age Of this quota by either cajolery
or threats. So his Fascist followers,
aided by German troops and Gestapo
agents, are combing the industrial
centerS of France, rounding up work.
ingmen by press-gang methods.
The effect of such strong arm tao
tics upon the fiercely individualistic
French workingmen can be imag-
ined According to reports smuggled
out of France by underground chan
nels, resistance is mounting almost
everywhere, ranging from clever
sabotage to open rioting and the
killing of many Germans. All this is
coupled with attempts to asSassinate
Fascist leaders like the notorious
Marcel Deaf, whom the German
radio admits has narrowly escaped
a third attempt upon his sinister
life. Even if some of the accounts
published In London by the Fighting
French organization may be some
what discounted, France obviously
is seething with militant unrest.
There can be no doubt that the
vast majority Of the French people
are morally ranged behind this re-
sistance to German tyranny. The
events of the past few months have
effectively destroyed whatever popu-
lar support once may have existed
for the Vichy regime and its policy Of
limited collaboration with the Axis.
Indeed, that regime literally evapo-
rated when the Germans broke the
armistice arrangement and took over
the previously unoccupied zone.
Thenceforth, Laval and his minions
could not appear otherwise than the
puppets Of their Axis masters, with
no authority of their own.
The political situation in France
has thus been tragically clarified.
Yet the significance of current
French unrest is not SO certain.
Modern ornaments, when welded
by ruthless hands, render popular
revolution impracticable. The days
are long past when patriotic citi-
zens could battle behind improvised
barricades with some chance Of sue
cess against soldiers armed only with
muskets and light field pieces. Heavy
artillery, tanks, and airplanes can
blast whole cities off the map, and
the Nazis have shown themselves
quite capable Of annihilating re-
bellious populations. Indeed, some
French refugee circles fear that the
German authorities may welcome or
even provoke premature rising in
France, in order to discover the un-
derground leaders, round up their
followers, and thus weaken the po-
tential strength of the popular as
sistance which could aid an Allied
invasion at the proper time. A
spokesman Of the Fighting French
headquarters in London states that,
despite increasing disorders, there
are absolutely no signs of full-scale
revolution" and adds that the un-
derground organizations in France
are still calling for only passive re-
sistance and sabotage until the &C
tual invasion comes.
Hard though such forebearance
may be for Frenchmen maddened
by the latest intensifications of Ger
man oppression, it is probably the
wiSest policy. The organized might
of the German war machine is still
great. 1t can be broken, not by
fra ic mob-risings, but by the i'm
ralv of an Allied war machine equal
" ponderouS and even more destruc-
| tive. The material liberation Of sub
| iect France presumably will have to
come from outside, though the rising
spirit of France can aid in the even
tual result.
Many pampered housewife, shell