Social Revolution in France?
Social Revolution in France? fgE issues of ropsetotrs begiamng with a aemiandarfround ©opy publiahad after the light for the liberation of Parti had begun, continuing -Ah the first regal issue...
...Can there be any question at In uhu today in Franct in the better guardian af democratic incialiit ideal...
...That's why they maintained a blackout on recordings for over two years...
...He didn't scare two cents' worth...
...But once thia is done, we have to extend a brotherly hand to the German people, to the anti-Hitler revolutionaries, and we muni not create ronditiona that would risk to bring about another Hitler...
...He told them as they were signing thst he would trust them as far as he could throw an elephant...
...To him the issue wss a simple one...
...And whst were the musicians to do while the juke boxes plsyed...
...It was never thus in the old days...
...Royalties to a fund run bj the musicians' own organization...
...At the first Socialist Congress ot Information for the Paris region, held on September 11, and in some later communications, the secretary-general of the party, who is now disclosed to be Dsniel Mayer, a young farmer contributor to Populaire who has grown in stature and importance during the years of the underground, states that of the 169 Socialist deputies and Masters, only 69 continue to hold this function—the ethers not having adopted a clear anti-Vichy attitude...
...Never...
...And did you also vote for Roosevelt...
...Mayer expresses it thia way at the firat conference of the Paris region on September lt: "I know of but one way to be atroager than the Ceasmanieta: that'a to make the revolution before them...
...Vinson please look up the law and see what the commotion was about and report back to him, but until it was shown where the lsw was broken by the fact that the organized (musicians refused to fiddle while their livelihood burned, there wss nothing that he, the President, could do in the matter...
...There wasn't a paper in the land that didn't lay it on thick on the terrible Mr...
...We do not have at our disposal the same documentation concerning the development of the French Communist Party's line...
...And when talking of the attempt of the municipality after having won the fight ** "keep thinga going," he quietly reports about an ex**fingly important decision of the city of Toulouse: P "nationalise the societies of tramways, of gas and *etricity,'' «nd to run them by an "administrative ¦**neil representing these groups for whom the enter**i»e works...
...Petrillo, they felt, was no gentlnman...
...It was just too bad, but the musicians were merely the victims of the advancement of science and labor saving devices...
...He demanded a simple thing...
...Petrillo and the menace to private enterprise that he represents...
...They came crestfallen and throughly licked, and Petriftr/ didn't hesitate to rub their noses into the mess they themselves created...
...As early aa August 81, Ernest Larousse develops la an editorial the idea that "Fascism and Hjtlerism are diseases of capitalism...
...H lt reinarkahla that as early as August S3 (on the a»y aha news of Paris' liberation reached the outside aarto prematurely), when bitter fighting against the Oaseaea fareas of occupation was raging in the streets sf Parte, the- editorial of the Pepuietrs states clearly, amj without chauvinistic hyateria, what's at stake...
...1 On September 10, at the before-mentioned Conference, Daniel Mayer explains the attitude of the French Socialiat Party towards Germany: "It ia diCealt to talk of Germany's future at s moment when every German aatdbar is aa enemy that has to be beaten...
...However, we have the report that the secretary-general of the French Communist Party, Jmeque$ Duefsa, gavs at the conference of the Communist Party of the Paris district on September 2. According to Duclos, three important tasks are to accomplish: "1...
...The other is R. Badiou, msyor of Toulouse—Toulouse, *» "only big city of France that has been liberated by :ths action of the FFI alone...
...The Old Principles of Infereof.onol Socialism The French Socialist Party does not seem to have forgotten principles of international SociaHam...
...They waited only for the election returns to-come in and then they hoisted the white flag...
...Mayer reaffirms the strong links betwen the French Socialist Party and the Socialist Parties of every other country, and their fidelity towards the idea of the labor International, and then concludes: "Isn't theie also an International of capital as well as an International of Crime...
...PapwtoJre, September 11...
...And do you know what the companies said...
...Imagine an administration that couldn't rig the law or find a loophole for issuing an injunction, a mandamus or corpus delicti against a union...
...The recording companies said it was none of their concern...
...It will even be necessary to control German education...
...Tnese mayors all have interesting stories...
...Adapt the organization of our party to the tasks of the moment...
...He shewed that there was little nourishment in a recording snd that a juke box playing in a cafe or dance hall rarely handed out so much as a sandwich to the muaician whose tooting and Addling was being played...
...They would have the law on Petrillo, the companies threatened...
...It is, however, neutralized and probably compensated by the influx of a number of formerly' unknown young members of the Socialist Party who have qualified for leadership during the years ot the underground struggle...
...Culture would be destroyed...
...You understaiHiT^that we are all duty bound to resent the intrusions of the government in private enterprise, except, of course, when there is danger that a big-money corporation may have to part with a couple of bucks for labor...
...Vou understand that the companies' only concern was the future of the arts and whether high school bands would be able to play on Commencement Day once again...
...This is indeed a big cut...
...The companies were already paying royalties to composers, soloists and star performers, and they could do it also for the nameiess orchestra players and bandsmen...
...A Sfrenf Now Forty Based on the Old Principles of International Socialism" TrlE question is often being asked with anxiety whether the French Socialist Party will prove strong enough to pursue sn independent Socialist policy, not commit the same errors as in the past or become a satellite of the Communist Party...
...Well, the companies Anally submitted...
...Without recourse to the fancier terms of economics, he maintained that an industry which thrives and proAts on the effort of its practitioners, must provide a living for them...
...The rugged individualists iaid they were submitting because of "economic pressure" which the government couldn't or wouldn't relieve...
...All Petrillo said was that the tunes would be played if the companies would pay the fiddlers...
...PopwoiVs, Sept...
...Strengthen the military capacity of France...
...The quarantine on music has been broken...
...So, then, it does make a difference who is elected...
...Ia our present struggle, the national task M liberate our territory of the enemy is identical jritk a- revolutionary taak to liberate the people af rb—« lea dors and privileged individuals who have become disqualified by the disaster, their sttitade of 'wait and see', and their collaboration...
...It wasn't easy to hold the line fast through two years of abuse, threats and cajolements...
...The menace was so dire and horrendous that private enterprise wanted the government to interfere in order to protect its privacy and enterprise...
...the decision to put the management of the mines in the north under the authority of the government—a decision taken by Robert Lacoste, Minieter of Production, formerly outstanding trade union leader—all those are indications thst the French Socialist Party ia putting up a good fight, and that there are chances of its winning...
...Then it is perfectly all right for the government to step in and hit the working stiffs with a ton of bricks...
...It was no go...
...One instance of these years *#f struggle which he seems to like best: Disguised as § policeman, he and a friend liberated their friend Mtlafoue, former mayor of Beziers, from the prison hi touiouse...
...of Borliet in Lyon...
...Petrillo said, if that were the case, how would the companies like to get along without labor altogether...
...for freedom of expression: the idea of a aarrow political censorship by a reactionary bureaucracy rouses their violent opposition (Peputatri, Sept 81, 88...
...Bat here also steps in the right direction seem to have been taken, with the active cooperation of the Socialists: the arrest of Renault, big manufacturer who worked for the German war machine, the nationalisation of hia plants, of Hotchkiss...
...He further showed thst the dance Joints and amusement spots which once employed live musicians and payed them money, sow forced the customers to psy for the music, r'jd thus scored s nest proflt on whst wss once .<othing but overhesd expense...
...Thus the list published on August 81, of the new Executive Committee and of ethers hotdjng positions in the Socialist Party, seems to be a happy amalgam of the best old elements—led by 83 years old Braeke—and strong young forces best represented by Daniel Mayer...
...On September 23, Daniel Mayer answers the question of a French patriot why the French Socialist Psrty with its splendid record in the fight for the national liberation of France insists on being called "French Section of the Labor International...
...Neither the tony corporation owners nor their ferocious lawyers made sny impression on him...
...fgE issues of ropsetotrs begiamng with a aemiandarfround ©opy publiahad after the light for the liberation of Parti had begun, continuing -Ah the first regal issue of August 82 through SepSt- », and also souse clippings of Humtniti of about the same period, make exciting reading...
...After having exalted Leon Blum and the other martyrs of the French Socialist Party whose names atsnrt aa pot be disclosed, and the innumerable other victims of the fight for freedom, the secretary-generaI ¦ays: "Our tradition urges me also to salute all the rtriims of Nanism, those who died in the Ghettos of Warsaw or under the aky of Salonique, the parUaans of Yugoalavia, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Austria, as well as the anti-fascists of Germany and Italy, and the resistance movements of Ru mania, Bulgaria and Hungary...
...So they waited until three days after the election returns were in, and decided that their case was hopeless since the government couldn't or wouldn't intrude into their free enterprise and then they signed the union agreement...
...The companies ran to the War Labor Board to ask that their business of filling juke boxes be declared essential to the conduct of the war, and the Board said yes, I nd suggested politely that the companies settle with the union, and the companies said, gee whiz, do we have to have a V.'ar Labor Board for that...
...Petrillo told them to go climb a tree, and this correspondent will confess to a measure of admiration for the gumption and stamina he displayed in standing up to the pompous and self righteous pirates of the recording racket...
...The impression gained after having read the expressions of thought and policy of the French Socialist Party, and the ac counts of their activity, does certainly not add strength ta these fears...
...And an August 84, still in the middle of violent ajiaggts ia the •treats, the secretariat of the Socialist party sends a delegation to the cemetery of the "Pere LaehaiaeM where at the "Mur des Federea" rest "those whs ia lt71 gave the heroic fighters of today the example...
...And then they ran to the White House and demanded that the President crack down on the union, and the President, flicking a bit of ash from his eigaret toward Petrillo, said that If any law was violated, why, of course, that would not b. proper, and would Mr...
...Populaire, Sept...
...Their attitude towards the Communists...
...Musicians, he said, must eat...
...The public simply would not put a nickle into a juke box to listen to a Philadelphia lawyer cussing James...
...France, in order to be a great nation, must have a powerful army, and the Communists who have been the pioneers in the armed fight against the boche (his words) must be in the first ranks of those who strive to give France a powerful army, expression of the entire nation...
...And since Marshal I.yautey said some time ago that he feels closer to a (Jerman officer than to a French worker, I have the moral right to feel closer to the (Gei man) Socialists Breitscheid and Hilferding handed over by France to the Gestapo and murdered in Germany than to those who handed them ovei," The French Socialist Party stands for justice—urges the punishment of all traitors, but not license in doing so...
...Of these 59, five hsve died, and eight are prisoners-ofwar or have been deported to Germany...
...t——• ThIS was an impasse or one hell of a fix...
...Rouhaix, Toulouse, tours...
...Here is something to cheer about...
...They trooped down to the office of the musicians' union, hat in hand, and signed on the dotted line...
...Petrillo who was "dictating" to the nation what music it shall hear and isn't it a shame that we can't get a fresh record in the juke box without Petrillo's say so...
...And since it would be difficult, if not impossible, to distribute royalties to every musician who participated in making a recording for every record sold, the union would take care of the whole thing, much as ASCAP does for writers and composers, by establishing a common fund from which all musicians would benefit...
...jPaY the union...
...it will be necesaary to 'depruasiaaise' Germaay by sll means, including force if necesaary, and finally, we will have to deetroy the raate etf the big landowners and induatrialisU...
...only a few clippings are available...
...Populairt in Paris is being sold at 120,000 copies a say—many more could be sold, if paper were not so eearce...
...They signed though their feelings were hurt and their hearts bled for the fate of music and culture...
...The big recording companies have finally given up their lockout and have signed agreements with the musicians' union, agreements which recognize the astonishing fact that in order to make recordings of music it is not enough to hire smart lawyers and bright publicity men but you must also have musicians...
...Not art, not science, but "economic pressure" or the desire to make a dollar is what Anally persuaded them...
...But on September 15, it had become known in Paris that the" following important cities have Socialist ¦xyors: Blois, Bordeaux, Le Mans, I.ens, Lille, Marseille, Morlaix, Nantes, Perpignan...
...The Radio Corporation of America and the Columbia Broadcasting System together with their recording subsidiaries tried to bull their way through by starling their legal talent...
...That would throttle the musical arts...
...Unify the masses and stimulate them to action...
...A Record for Petrillo Musicians, He Argued, Must Eat By J. C. Rich ^%S soon as you fellows can spare a bit of gloating, I'd like to direct your attention away from the election results towards the arts and sciences...
...Nothing is known as yet of Socialist publications in other parts of France, because the communirations between one part and the other are still slight...
...And so the big recording outfits ran to the Federal Trade Commission for a ruling against the American Federation of Musicians, and the union fought them to a standstill in the courts...
...It was at this point that the companies, full of enterprise and rugged individualism, felt that the situation was absolutely intolerable...
...The way to do it, he showed, was the way that the recoiding business had always used, a simple bookkeeping arrangement whereby a royalty is deducted for every record sold...
...They fight tar national freedom...
...Bat bore to the poatttoai of our party: Once Hitler to beaten, it wiH be nereesary to exterminate the cadres of Nastoea at all levels...
...One i> Ceafon Defferrf, mayor of Marseille, 33 years old, formerly a lawyer, organized the reconstruction of the nndeiground Socialist Party in Marseille, organized anil Prepared the military insurrection against the Germans, lead the Maquis in Marseille, and w(on the city *vtr to the Socialist Party...
...And they afht for freedom from economic spproastoa the most dafkuK fight against the greatest obstacles...
...Why, that would be tribute to Petrillo...
...Incidentally they also hoped to beat the union down or starve the musicians out and thus make a dollar for the rugged stockholders und enterprising lrgal talent...
Vol. 27 • November 1944 • No. 47
