THE SUICIDE OF FRANCE
Philip, André
Shortly before going to press we received the article published below. Written by Andre Philip (a leading spokesman of democratic and independent socialism who was recently expelled from the...
...The essential matter is to maintain a currency union and a close collaboration in economic development...
...Thus, internationalization of the problem will carry us by stages to a complete catastrophe, as was the case of the Netherlands in the Indonesian affair...
...His advice was not followed, and he died too soon to impose his policy...
...However, neither the United States nor the European powers can allow North Africa to fall under the direct or indirect influence of the Russians, or to slide into the neutralist position that characterizes the Middle East today...
...Morocco still seems open to such a course...
...If, as seems possible and even probable, the greater part of the Algerian population, Moslem as well as European, is sick of the sufferings of war and ready to support the first one who offers a reasonable compromise, there are still two irreconcilable sides...
...By practicing an isolationist and ineffective national pride, France is today little by little degrading herself to the level of a ruined Spain...
...Under these circumstances, what course is possible...
...the risk of failure on his part is to lose all influence over his opponents in Tunisia...
...In the same way as China was impelled to intervene more and more openly in the Vietnam war toward the end, more and more countries are now sending arms to the Algerian rebels...
...They will unfold in successive stages...
...The exact juridical terms of such an alliance (whether federation or confederation) are of small importance...
...If similar events have thus far not taken place in Tunisia it is thanks to the wisdom and personal authority of Bourguiba, but a serious incident can always erupt from one moment to the next...
...Our successive governments have whipped up the nation to a belligerent, nationalist mood by lying propaganda in the press and over the radio...
...But this much is clear...
...IN THE MEANTIME, a very grave situation is developing on the domestic scene...
...France cannot possibly win a military victory in Algeria...
...Such a course would place an extra burden on them which would irremediably compromise their own economic development...
...on February 12, Socialist and Communist workers joined in a mass protest...
...Even if we hermetically seal the Tunisian frontier, arms will be brought in by sea or through the desert...
...But if we show ourselves definitively incapable of doing so, not one of our allies will be prepared to sacrifice Western influence in the North African Maghreb to our madness...
...There was a time when the name of France shone incomparably in the world, when France was a great center of innovation and creativeness and when her vibrant imaginativeness enabled her to defend the essential values of humanity...
...In any case, both Morocco and Tunisia want to remain within the Western orbit...
...Our differences with Tunisia take place today under the worst possible conditions...
...So long as they remained subjugated these people could think only of independence...
...But we have done everything we could to alienate Bourguiba from us irrevocably...
...But even if the responsible leaders understand this and intend to remain tied to the West, the political line of France clearly discourages them more and more and risks driving them, against their better judgment, into a situation in which they are cornered, forced to defend their very existence and oriented toward Cairo...
...INDEPENDENT Morocco and Tunisia are in the hands of ardent patriots, patriots formed in the tradition of French culture...
...In Algeria, too, the opportunity to negotiate from strength was not exploited and seems now to have gone...
...At the point where military victory becomes impossible, the Algerian conflict becomes an international matter...
...It is not possible to control effectively a territory which is defended by chains of mountains and which backs up to the Sahara...
...By contrast, the extremist element on 115 the Moslem side is represented by the youth...
...a firm state could bring them to reason...
...It is certainly strange that the selfstyled pan-Europeans who were instrumental in creating the European Economic Community, who took part with Great Britain in the Suez expedition and who today accept the good offices of Great Britain and the United States, together with the United Europe movement which for two years insistently proclaimed the need for a common foreign policy among the six nations, have had nothing to say at the very moment when that foreign policy so urgently needs to be defined and activated...
...On the heels of the airplane kidnapping of Ben Bella came the Meknes massacre...
...Today the Communist party no longer has enough influence among the workers to make any spectacular last minute reversal and to become pro-American even if the United States were to offer a progressive, international and constructive solution...
...Once independent they could see for themselves what was lacking and could recognize that in the modern world a people's political autonomy can only be safeguarded within the framework of a larger international community...
...But the irreconcilables among the French are older people who prefer to state their case on the streets rather than on the battlefield...
...If an about face is not made quickly by France, mediation by the six nations of the European Community would be desirable as soon as possible...
...We now have no way to retaliate by force...
...This article appeared in the March 6 issue of France-Observateur...
...and, when America imposes a capitulation upon us, we will see arise throughout the country a wave of anti-Americanism with fascist tendencies...
...It would have been easy—perhaps it is still possible—to establish a strong alliance with them...
...The government is still carrying on its wild blustering, but sooner or later when it has been subjected to sufficient pressure, it will capitulate completely...
...Translated by MIRIAM WASSERMAN * on February 6, 1934, Colonel de ]a Roque led an armed fascist demonstration in Paris...
...It is clear now that Bourguiba is playing for everything...
...Morocco, like Tunisia, was ready to associate itself anew with France...
...Againt their will, the Americans, assisted by the British, have been drawn in...
...Up to now these nations have had confidence in France's ability to move along with the times and settle the Algerian 116 problem wisely...
...Their existence as well as that of France depends upon a solution of the Algerian problem...
...This is of special importance in the case of Bizerte...
...Today it is more bloody than ever...
...Only Bourguiba and the King of Morocco can restore the predominance of the political elements over the military within the FLN...
...As long as the military struggle continues, the FLN will have no problem in keeping its ranks filled, and recruitment in the coming generation will be limited not by the number of volunteers, but solely by the possibility of arming them...
...the slightest violent gesture against Tunisia would only have the same repercussions as the expedition against Suez, and even in the event of a military success we would only have to back down shamefacedly...
...The bombardment of Sakiet lined up the entire world against us...
...Both are interested in doing so because both want to create in the Maghreb a Moslem grouping which will be independent of Cairo, firmly allied to the West and even, if that is still possible, to France...
...Shortly before going to press we received the article published below...
...On the contrary, the military difficulties can only grow from month to month...
...It is easy enough to scoff at Lacoste's "last quarter of an hour" which already has stretched out to more than a year and a half, but only a few months ago the Algerian National Front (FLN) was declared to be finished and the war in Algeria won...
...The working class, misled by the Communist party, has been constantly aroused against the Americans for several years now...
...If France refuses to accept this, the question will come up again before the Security Council where it will inevitably face Russian intervention which will, in turn, be confronted by the United States...
...We have no more than a few weeks left in which to take the initiative necessary to regain control of the situation...
...The FLN's arms become more plentiful and effective...
...by settling the Tunisian incident in good faith, by appealing to the good offices of the King of Morocco and Bourguiba, contact could have been established with the various elements of Algerian public opinion...
...Further, the port of Bizerte is blockaded and most probably lost to France for good...
...With the prolongation of the war the organization of both sides perfects itself...
...In this way we are in danger of provoking a violent reaction by men who will see that they have been tricked and by soldiers who will become aware of having risked their lives for nothing...
...The USSR will not, of course, allow Bizerte to come into the NATO organization without undertaking the defense of her own interests...
...We have 15,000 soldiers in Tunisia, confined to their barracks in various camps, and a French civilian population which daily has more to fear...
...they can no longer disassociate themselves...
...And meanwhile, quietly, Germany is on the ascendant...
...We cannot yet measure the full extent of its consequences...
...the issue was immediately confiscated by the French government.—THE EDITORS French public opinion, kept in ignorance of the true state of affairs by design and deceit, does not yet understand that the Sakiet bombing marks a decisive turn in the Algerian war...
...If neither of these two steps is taken within the next few weeks, the Algerian problem will become an international problem and those who have offered their good offices will be forced to deal with it...
...Neither has any interest in entering Cairo's orbit, in associating itself with peoples who are culturally inferior and whose standard of living is far lower...
...only they can bring to the fore other voices capable of making themselves heard...
...A unity of Europe will be achieved, inevitably, but it is in danger of being dominated by Germany, not at all, as some may fear, because that country is so strong, but because of the suicide of France, a France which ought instead to be the quickening inspiration of the United Europe now being created...
...and those under twentyone constitute the majority of the population...
...If the fascists unleash a new February 6, 1934 on Paris, there will be such a disturbance in the working class that there will be little chance of another February 12* with which to answer them...
...But more and more Sakiet appears as a diplomatic Dien Bien Phu...
...For the last several weeks a courageous about-face on France's part would still have enabled us to take the initiative in negotiations...
...Curiously enough, the reaction of the USSR, which hardly wants to see an increase in Western and particularly American influence in Algeria, is, for the moment, moderate and no effort to exert pressure against France has been made...
...Written by Andre Philip (a leading spokesman of democratic and independent socialism who was recently expelled from the French Socialist Party for asserting his views), we consider it of sufficient urgency to bring to the attention of our readers...
...It seems as if we experienced during the winter months a situation analagous to that which followed the military victories of General de Lattre in Tonkin when he tried to take advantage of them by immediately engaging in negotiations...
...118...
...If France cannot hold on to Bizerte, it would be in her interest to have 117 it placed under European control so as to remove it from any discussion between Russia and the United States...
...even if individual terrorism in the cities appears on the wane, regular battles have resumed throughout the countryside and are spreading from east to west throughout the whole Algerian territory...
...We have constantly maintained that a military Dien Bien Phu cannot possibly occur, and this is so...
Vol. 5 • April 1958 • No. 2
