Evening star., 1948-01-06
De GuuIIe and France

Etienne tends to confirm the impression
that he has the temper and viewpoint of
a man on horseback and that he is ami
mated by an extreme rightist philosophy
not too hostile to the idea of dictatorship
for France.
This Interpretation may do the man an
injustice, but his own words certainly have
an authoritarian ring to them. Thus,
vaguely, half mystically, he refers to 4
hierarchy" in French life and he appears
to have such distaste for government by
political parties that he leaves himself
open to the suspicion that what he favors
is a system akin to one-party rule-struc-
turally a system not altogether unlike that
of Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy or
even Stalin's Russia.
Right or wrong, this impression is fur
ther strengthened by General de Gaulle's
major proposal for French economic re-
form. He advocates doing away with all
trade unions. In their place, he would
set up associations" made up of industrial
owners, managers and employees, all CO.
operating together as "coequals." These
associations, functioning under compul-
sorry arbitration, would eliminate strikes,
establish working conditions and ap-
parently fix wages, prices and profits.
Once organized, moreover, they would be
incorporated into the state.
While making this proposal, General de
Gaulle has also emphasized that he wants
to restore vigorous free enterprise, But
1t Is difficult in the extreme to see how
the two ideas can be reconciled, for his
projected system OF Associations seems
too reminiscent Of Mussolini's corporate
state to allow much room for liberty of
action on the part of either labor, manage
ment or ownership. Nevertheless, because
France has been bedevilled by trade-union
abuses, Gripping strikes led by the Com
munists and recurrent political paralysis
growing out of a multitude of warning
parties, his seemingly dictatorial viewpoint
very probably is attractive to great num-
bers of Frenchmen.
Nor can there be much doubt that Gen.
eral de Gaulle now is intent upon making
political capital out of his striking come
back at the recent municipal elections in
France comeback indicating that his
party (the Rally OF the French People,, is
the most powerful single political organi-
zation in the country. It has almost 40
per cent of the popular vote, as against
about 20 per cent for the Communists,
and the balance scattered chiefly among
the parties making up Premier Schumans
middle-of- the-road coalition. Accordingly,
confident OF his appeal and comparative
strength, General de Gaulle wants
national election. To that end his follow
Ing in the Assembly has joined the Com
munists In an effort to defeat the govern
ment's vitality important anti-infation
legislation and thus force the downfall of
the Schuman cabinet.
Fortunately the effort has failed. Had
1t not, the French would now be in the
midst of another crisis at time when
what they most need is stability to make
the most of the projected European Re-
covery Program. 1t is measure of Gen.
eral de Gaulle's AMBITION not too fiat
tering measure-that he has not been
above letting his followers vote with his
worst enemy, the Communist Party, to
advance his own rise to power at the risk
OF political turmoil in his country. He
can be counted upon to keep on trying
and he may succeed before long. He is q
man to be watched-not entirely without
some misgivings.