French Unity Prepares Way for New Military Offensive
RATNAL, ANDRE
French Unity Prepares Way for New Military Offensive De Gaulle-Giraud Set for Decisive Continental Moves By ANDRE RATNAL THE French political difficulties in North Africa were inevitable and...
...Then came World War Two...
...Only political illiterates would suppose that the British Premier could "forget""to mention de Gaulle in his memorable address...
...Even under these conditions, he can and has produced a surplus, but that surplus has been just enough to- fill the ships that took the wealth of his country away to a foreign land...
...The basic question which many Asseri-cane, many Latin Americans, erg asking thesaselves is: Will this war stake a dsffeg-ence...
...But we nest distinguish _at least three different ap-srssebes...
...So we, the American people, have taken what we inherited, in the way of technical equipment, in the way of human resources, and in the way of trade and commerce and have stretched it to the limit to win the war...
...Traditionally, this has been the practice of foreign capital with regard to Latin America—to send down there obsolescent equipment or to neglect the retirement of obsolete machinery...
...This would snshle the de Gaullists to transfer their neeesjuarters to French territory...
...The violently •anti-American attitude of the de Gsullist organ Xo Marseillaise, provoked reactions, of which it will be interesting to quote at least one...
...I feel it in all my bones that something will break loose in the Went as soon as Ruasis becomes completely rentes id by further forcible events...
...It is essential that it constitute a stable and coherent core capable of establishing a sense ef solidarity with regard to basic principles...
...This is our legacy and there is no point to quarreling about the past The important thing is to learn from the past Post-war planning is now going on—but the basic, the vital thing, to ask about this postwar planning is whether we have learned from the past, or whether we are going to continue along the scarred trails which lead backward to mass poverty such as exists in every country of Latin America.' Ia the judgment of many Latin American workers—and I agree with their approach —the blue print of the future economy, trade and commercial exchange of the Americas will have to take cognizance of the following basic consideration*, if this wsr, when it is-won...
...THE productivity of man must be increased in the Latin American economies...
...But it is new impossible to conceal the fact that the de Gaulle group took a position so hostile to the United States and- later so hostile to Great Britain that something had to be done to end this state of affairs...
...my article attacking Peyrouton in The New Leader...
...If that system, which already has assumed the outlines of an inter-American economic planning machine, does not take into account the needs, the interests, the views and the welfare of the people, especially of organized labor, as that welfare is interpreted by the people' themselves, that system will not provide the foundations for a lasting Good Neighbor policy...
...Under these conditions, there is no reason to despair of an amicable 'solution, despite the inevitable frictions -which naturally develop in all democratic countries...
...The Straight invest-lemt approach of this type has been typical ef the way in which foreign capital has retarded Latin America since the middle of the nineteenth century...
...They survive snd will continue to set*In se long as the same causes produce and 'continue to produce the same effects...
...it was in many instances purposely prolonged, preserved and defended hy large scale enterprise, in cooperation with •Wall-time- politicians elevated to positions of astional leadership...
...In short, one is now revealing no secret in saying that the London government decided to relieve itself of the de Gaullists and asked them tar, lesve England...
...In ether words, prophecy, ia order to be rsmSrhshai, has to be very specific I think-the following predictions, made by the Swiss historian, Jacob Burckhardt in about the year IseS...
...Waahington and London were plainly in agreement in basically supporting General Giraud and in making every effort to induce de Gaulle to come to an understanding with him...
...The object was to form a national committee equally representing the two groups...
...But it must be remembered that the Good Neighbor policy arose out of s system of economic and trade relations which, if continued, will not provide a sound snd lasting foundation for that policy...
...t The new French Liberation Committee will not be in a position to direct French participation in the war by majority decision...
...This great national emergency was reflected in the sudden energizing of the Good Neighbor policy...
...Later*'Snsssj as well as ia ether coasifries, the nation assail settle its own political affairs...
...Indeed, it ^sws^^Mracy ia the Americas, of which we have none too much...
...It would only prove that the laws of probability are still working...
...This led to the single-crop economy ** practically all the Latin American nations vifch hah been the major cause of their low living standards, their low productivity, their f«ha|c sigriculture, and their incipient industry...
...By ERNESTO GALARZA Labor Secretary, Pan-American Union...
...If we do not achieve this, then the American people had better realize right now that all their protestations of good neighbor lines* will not help the Latin American masses to do their share of the task of building sound foundations •THE voice of organized Labor in the councils * of inter-American affairs win here to be green its proper and responsible place...
...If the blue print of the future does not change the pattern of the past in this res pees, thnfiTensi that we propose to build will rest on the same old termite-bitten foundations...
...One should not waste any attention en eh the clamor of the fellow-travelers of press aad radio who spread their legends and rumors of panic on the subject of, the events of North Africa...
...which General Catroux has been the tireless creator...
...The major problems were those of domestic salvage, not those of inter-American good neighborliness...
...And this task was undertaken, moreover, just at the time when the United States was going through a severe crisis...
...The G.raud group is poevdhfy nwsre mvnortant from the point of view of numbers and geographical now t .on...
...1 do not believe it hss—yet...
...Then the tees wffl epea...
...IT would be too much to heps that events will proceed without complications, withWt colli-sions and conflicts for power...
...well-beiag, enriching taker and Industry, credit etc, and instead weeld merely rule absolutely aad brutally...
...rcnenjeswOisa in fwnce/ of the fact that 90* of the people of Latin America are not and cannot ha consumers of goods and services to e degree which would make any d. erence to American economy Wages of ten, fifteen aad twenty cents s day: annual family income of forty, fifty and sixty dollars a year...
...AD these have had traditionally a characteristic approach to Latin America as s field for profitable undertakings...
...Ignorant persona have persistently said and repeated that Washington supported General Giraud, and London backed General de Gaulle...
...even a decade was hardly enough to begin the task...
...is really going te make a difference to the people who are fighting it on the battle lines, on the sssembly lines, in the mine pits of Bolivia, in the rubber jangles of Brazil...
...The Good Neighbor policy is s new de-Barters in' the relations of the United States and Latin' America...
...the survival or the eveegstl downgojug of the Good Neighbor policy iu the Western Hemisphere...
...The productivity of any worker is the end-product of the education he has received, of the opportunities he has been given, of the hospitals that have provided him with care when he has been injured or fallen #1...
...He is illiterate, he is underfed, and he is unskilled...
...KMpic&*dy,hj Geaterala de Gaofie aad GJmud...
...COUND economic and trade relations are the m basis ef the Good Neighbor policy...
...Irap the foreign investor's standpoint Bolivia jhjfts VraMthfijft -but tin, Mexico was oil and ¦ernfhg else,''Costa Rica was synonymous with "fee, Chile with nitrates, and so on...
...MAX EASTMAN...
...etc...
...Military necessity requires a unification of French forces, capable of opposing tin eomnxn...
...If it shrinks suddenly and violently, there may be an-ream left for civil liberty, for freedom of the press, for freedom of^saeeeh, for raoel tolerance, for re Prions Arpreaeat it Is neeteas, even dangerous, to think of expanded prudawtioa onjr^r^fasteng ^ap^rwi 's'a^al^^jy a*}^ so^jtmj LX°da...
...Upee this depend...
...For it is s sere thing that unless we can offer as many jobs ia peace as we can ia war, when this war is ever, we...
...United States investments ia Latin America have been no different from British sr German or Spanish or French investments...
...The reasons, I believe, have very little to do with the personal intentions or generous hopes of those' who' formulated and have applied the Good Neighbor policy...
...It has long been clear te me that the werM is dililag toward aa alternative between complete democracy and session, lewises sssustssi which hitter, however, wffl no longer be exercised hy dynasties, for they are tee wesk-minded, tat hy sWussaj rspahlicaa military commandos...
...In any case, it is better to have the crisis in Algiers upt the present time during a period of ssifiJnqr unlet rather than later in France Itself in the midst of an attempted invasion...
...Whether we call certain international events in the American continent, especially around the Caribbean, by which the United States lost so much prestige among the Latin American...
...Industrialization mast not mean the dumping of all the second-hand machinery which the United States will net need after the- wsr...
...My mental image of the "terrible simpiMk stenrs* wee will ewese ever ear old Europe is net an agreeable one...
...But the circumstances which accompanied the dismissal of Peyrouton revealed the desire on the part ef the de rsslliahl te monopolize all power for themselves...
...sre remarkable...
...The first is the approach of the investment mind—the mind that merely thinks of the highest return with the least risk and the smallest output of effort...
...Giraud consented the mot*' willingly because of the fact that be sincerely desired this sort of entente, oV...
...They have to do with a historical situation and with deep social and political trends in the United States...
...Labor *ai unorganised...
...THHE Americas, north, central and south, must * face this fact and face it squarely: production must be maintained" and even expanded in peace to a degree approximating very closely the level of production we have reached in war...
...enemy...
...So it was not to be expected that during the past decade the people of the United States would give any considerable part of their thinking to the question of how to correct the sour memories of Nicaragua, or to straighten out the dents that the Big Stick had made on Latin Americans, physically, economically and spiritually...
...And that was the first task of the Good Neighbor policy—to correct the unfortunate consequences of an international policy which had definitely made this country, if not a bad neigh-bar, at least an uncomfortable one...
...Jean Monnet, who represented France in the mixed economic commissioas fa London snd who thee was active on behalf of Great Britain in Washington, enjoys the confidence of both the British and American governments...
...It is net satisfactory that a journal published on British soil, on paper allocated by the British psper control, should adopt so persistently critical an attitude towards a nation which may, without invidious-ness, be described ss Britain's closest silly...
...This could not be achieved in a day...
...Also, this economic arrangement favored by ¦"trammeled private enterprise stressed cheap "hot...
...But none of those concerned—Roosevelt, Churchill, Giraud—ever abandoned the hope of achieving a fusion of the French forces...
...This situation was 'Bot only accepted...
...Has the Good Neighbor policy already a difference, has it changed this ap»*»ch...
...Foreign enterprise imposed a -managerial monopoly on the basic national industries which it •rtabjished in Latin America...
...We de net yet whsh to imagine a worse whsss raise wesnd saehrsly dhnragasn law...
...Immediately Giraud countered by the nomination of Admiral Muselier as the one charged with the maintenance of order until the forms Ilea of the Liberation French Committee...
...THE main features of that approach are the . following: The concentration of investment capital in one or two or perhaps three maior-industnes in a given country which offered: the highest return in the shortest time with the hast riBk...
...the American people, are going te see our economy collapse...
...This country was pltmged, against its will, into a bloody, costly and prolonged struggle...
...Everyone concerned was agreed with regard te their liquidation...
...in its immediate operation, the aim of that policy was, and perhaps necessarily had to be, "produce now with what you have, give us all you can produce, and let us not stop to question whether we can or should change the long-run ideas on which our economic and trade relations have been based...
...Friendly but vigorous Anglo-American pressure was brought to bear en General Giraud to the end that he go to the limit in the direction ef concessions to the da Gaullists and thus facilitate n change in the situation...
...To win this struggle the United States found itself immediately in need of the sympathy, the political cooperation, the economic aid of the othei American republics...
...The de Gaafie gzbap has the advantage ia tile matter of age, having be mi formed in 1940...
...when) a real fc^wsBl I seen jaaj existence which will nave desperately little rsesrtdsrsllss far the right te vase, the seveesigaty mi the pespli...
...This is basic te the Goad Neighbor policy...
...In My Opinion 1*00 much fuss is made over prophecies that come tree...
...This viewpoint is different from the first mainly in that it represents economic nationalism as against economic internationalism of the straight profit variety...
...In the field of services, consumers' goods, transportation and food production alone the Americas have enough to keep themselves busy, working to produce the toots and necessities of peacetime living for the next quarter century...
...To accomplish this purpose, it wee essential that there be an agreement between the two groups in Algiers...
...The address of Churchill before the American Congress underlined before all the world what "insiders" already knew about the matter...
...The de Gaullists understood snd yielded, at Isast for the moment...
...people each made a geees, in very general terms, about the state of things in the year Mat, several ef them would probably get'it right Bat it woe id net prove that they knew any more than the ethers...
...who himself has the fall confidence ef Bsusavett end Churchill...
...Thereof that they were madeht e^g«anf atealeu* af hasaaa affairs sdds te their interest for it Isapska that they were based, however taexpjBeitly, aeon knowledge "In the pleasant Twentieth Centary, authority will raise to head, and a terrible head...
...General Catroux and Bene Maasigli are genuinely anxious te collaborate with Giraud...
...Its weekly paper, La Marseillaise, habitually adopts an anti-American attitude which, I believe, is strongly resented in many American quarters, snd is certainly disapproved in many British—and, indeed, in some French...
...In * order te Justify Af tea, yon wenjd have te compete the proper than between those which de and these which de net cease true...
...Anybody who proposes to set ap in Latin Asseriea a kind of industrialization which will relieve "United States enterprise of the problem of what to do with the outdated plants that will dot this land when peace cesses is already calling two strike* on the Latin American worker...
...gee, too...
...The old basis of trade, commerce and mtsrajstketsl economic development are going through a trial of fire...
...Investors found some of the lowest wage •Hues in the world in these countries...
...Campaigns against the White Hones aad the State Department now are of no importance...
...J.taU-> ¦ who cooperated effectively with tapf fitaflisiii at Dakar, that is somewhat different tyesn the others...
...Moreover, the development of the economy-ef the Latin American republics was based luimarily on the needs of a world market in which the investors were interested, rather than |" the needs of these republics and their peoples, •the example* of Mexico—or of Cuba, Chile, * Peru,—all bear out the main trend of for-•hjn investment and" trade relations, namely, to Produce just those materials which the world ¦"Whets demanded or on which profits could be —as, and not to bother about those things *hich the local population needed badly to sus-*"in life and to make that life progressively *°m decent Still another characteristic of this approach, •nd one which flowed from these other features, *•* the indifference to the improvement of the ¦toeational level of the people, of their voca-jjonal skiiu, of their technical competence...
...French Unity Prepares Way for New Military Offensive De Gaulle-Giraud Set for Decisive Continental Moves By ANDRE RATNAL THE French political difficulties in North Africa were inevitable and are ess > to understand...
...The New Leader has in the past given plenty of reasons why this la necessary, end-it is unnecessary to repeat them now...
...To this and, Giraud was disposed to make the utmost concessions...
...As to the case of Governor Boisson...
...And this mo-"•Poly extended to the point of limiting opportunities to native labor to learn, to rise, to ihderstand the intricacies, both technical and ^•nagerial, of the industries which were the hsckbone of national life...
...tuaastry...
...material wiB hslng...
...If a hundred...
...This expansion must make up for the time our continent lost during the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth, when it neglected socially useful, economically feasible and politically sound areas of development— highways, roads and communications...
...Outside of France there exist tare such forces, represented...
...Right now it is beside the point to say that it will take us longer to win the war—so far as Latin American cooperation is concerned—because for a hundred years we preferred illiterate labor to educated workers, because we pushed countries into one-way, sometimes blind, allies of single crop production, because we thought little or nothing of Latin America as a source of livelihood and well-being for its own people...
...It is absolutely untrue...
...THE British government decided to lift the censorship rules which had protected the de Gsulle party, and the London press began to bring into the open certain disagreeable facts...
...IT should be remembered that the Good Neigh-* bor policy started squarely behind the eight ball...
...schools that do net even have pencils and paper for their children these' eesmet bp the foundation of healthy snd stable aa-tioBsl life, and, coaeeaaeatiy, cannot he the foundation of healthy and stable international erenomir relations...
...These observations, and other similar ones, were not without effect, for it has recently become known that La Marseillaise has ceased to appear...
...I hope it marks s pertinent change in those relation...
...Here is what was printed, among other things, in the London Spectator on April 9th under the signature of Janus: "There is, by the Way, one activity of the Fighting French movement which is arousing considerable criticism...
...A# &»nt ssjaV tars now is te heat the Axis...
...The Latin American worker, whether he be an Indian or a mestizo or of any other racial strain, is not lazy...
...The second approach is that of the Latin American entrepreneur, the Latin American businessman, who hopes at least in part to take the place of the foreign investor and entrepreneur...
...implying a permanent antagonism in this committee of seven members...
...Elmer Deris' broadcast at fete dtk has given the necessary warning...
...peoples, by their right names or by diplomatic phrases, the fact is that in the late J920's we had a number of skeletons to bury...
...But a brief lining- up of tir* elements of the situation should be sufficient to make everything clear...
...The third approach is that of the worker, whether it be the worker of Mexico, of Argen-thu, of Cuba, or of the United States...
...Thus it is ridiculous to talk of "fear votes te one...
...Up to the present moment, an easily understood discretion enforced silence upon the informed observer...
...shacks aad hovels that do net even have windows, wet to speak of chairs, electric lights, running water, refrigerators, radios or kitchen utensils...
...De Gaulle would gain one of his main points with regard to the question already determined in principle, the dismissal of the old Vichy dignitaries, Peyroeton and Nogees...
...But this was not the only measure taken by the British suthonties...
...Out of the trhtl must cease something approximating Urn ideaa | have tried to set forth...
...Unless the workers of Latin America, through education, through decent housing st^dsjedfv through medical attention, are helped to learn to produce with the use of modern machinery, to produce more with less effort, they wffl nor be able to create a surplus sufficient to give them anything like a decent standard of living...
...It is now possible to be less reserved than formerly with regard to the relations between de Gaulle and the British and American governments...
...Since the Casablanca Conference, General Giraud has been • considered as "trustee" of French interests by Washington and London by virtue ef the "accord* d'Anfs" (Ax/, is the name of tha hotel in which the agreements were concluded...
...We are today—I should better say—some are today creating an inter-American system ef economic planning, which will involve investment, production, distribution, price fixing, wage payment, trade regulation and commercial policies that will affect flat lives of each and every one of the people who live on this continent...
...A glance at the chief elements involved will make it possible te see the future in a different light General Georges, former Chief of Staff of the French Army, 'escaped from France with great difficulty en tha initiative and with the help of American saShjniillis Shi months were required for the consummation of this project...
...Behind Latin Unrest—What Future For the 'Good-Neighbor' Policy...
...and this force can slmast only spring from the moot evil, and to effects eras make one's hair stand en end...
...Most of our newspapers and magazine* mixed up and ob-s^reci matters which were in themselves simple enough, and this has been the soar** of trouble in the political thinking of this country...
...Agriculture provided a vast "serve of illiterate peons...
...The inhnrnal divisions from which France suffered aad which led to her defeat have net been surmounted...
Vol. 26 • June 1943 • No. 24
