De- Gaulle to Power?
TAS, SAL
French Crisis Wears Showdown De Gaulle to Power? By Sal Tas This dispatch was filed before the French National Assembly met lo weigh constitutional reforms in the wake of the seizure of Corsica...
...We shall see what remains of fraternization when the excitement dies down and everyday life, with its encrusted patterns of racism, returns...
...Whether it remains equivocal or does oppose de Gaulle, the local Communists' prime interest must be to protect their own position...
...There, the press reports widespread fraternization between Moslems and Frenchmen: tens of thousands of Moslems demonstrating on Algiers streets for France and against the Arab nationalist FLN...
...Appeasement failed...
...The CP here is quite incapable of making a revolution...
...He probably hoped that, once these efforts had failed, the prestige of de Gaulle and the confidence of the Army leaders would have fallen sufficiently for himself, Mollet, to arbitrate the situation...
...Even the reactionary Alain de Serigny, editor of the Echo d'Alger and the eminence grise of this revolt, has said that these resolutions go far beyond the "framework law" which the Assembly adopted some months ago...
...The last week of May should be decisive...
...Such behavior poses numerous questions...
...Should the Algerian French implement such promises, the Algerian problem would be practically solved—at least as an issue between the Government and the generals...
...This may stem partly from the old Social Democratic fear of not being considered sufficiently patriotic...
...But, since this would not work in France as it does in America, he is prepared to accept a more autocratic structure...
...But the leaders of the revolt in Algiers, observing the hesitation in Paris, made no deal and waited for de Gaulle...
...besides, such a regime would harm French prestige...
...The generals merely became more arrogant...
...Although he is a conservative, he accepted a whole series of nationalizations in 1944-45 because he felt he needed internal peace to pursue his foreign policy...
...It suddenly gave the French Army so much more power that their fear of the FLN was temporarily obliterated...
...no Moslems were molested...
...The fact is that he is not really interested in domestic political or social issues...
...All things in his mind are subordinate to France's "radiation," its influence in world affairs...
...Will they bestow in a few days what not long ago they rejected even as a long-range goal...
...It may prefer to wait and see...
...This same de Serigny a while back urged the Algerian French to revolt against the Government's proposal of an equal vote for Moslems and Europeans in Algeria...
...he is not even a Hindenburg...
...What concerns him is the Greatness of France—foreign policy...
...On its own, the party has not been able to mobilize large numbers of workers for street demonstrations since 1949...
...Pflimlin repeated—long after the attitude of the rebels was clear—that he was confident that the Army in Algeria had not really wanted to rebel against the Government...
...For the Army—or its leaders, at any rate—is not anti-Moslem...
...While this maneuvering has been going on in Paris, curious developments have been taking place in Algeria itself...
...The Pflimlin Government might have nullified the effects of Salan's defiance had it quickly taken a firm stand against both de Gaulle and the military conspirators...
...On the other hand, his behavior made it evident that he hoped to gain power as a result of the pressure from the Algiers mutineers...
...Although the Communists speak hotly of resisting "fascist plots," they have given no indication of how far their resistance would go if de Gaulle came to power legally...
...During the many demonstrations, all hostility was directed against Paris...
...De Gaulle is too intelligent to believe that a Bonapartist or a Salazar-type authoritarian regime could work in modern France...
...There remains, in this survey of factors in the French crisis, the attitude of the Communists...
...Moscow has not yet made its position clear...
...Till now, Pflimlin has been acting as a staunch'1 republican, but he has been unable to do anything without the support of Mollet—and Mollet is a complicated figure...
...French workers appeared more interested in the coming fishing season than in the defense of the Fourth Republic...
...Immediately after de Gaulle's press conference, Antoine Pinay, leader of the conservative Independents, had attempted to persuade Pflimlin to withdraw in favor of de Gaulle...
...Paris The five days between General Charles de Gaulle's press conference and the seizure of Corsica by the Army mutineers were a period of deceptive calm...
...His social views are roughly those of Eisenhower, and, although he is no fiery democrat, he is not anti-democratic either...
...To be sure, the majorities which Pflimlin got for his various requests grew larger...
...Perhaps they realize that, having cut themselves off from France, they now have an obligation to come to some sort of terms with the Arabs...
...Did not Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba say a few weeks ago that only de Gaulle could bring about a just peace in Algeria...
...Much of all this is probably the result of hysteria, long-pent-up fear and so on...
...How can these Moslems, so long suspicious of all Europeans, suddenly fraternize with the French ultras...
...Quite sincerely, the General declared that he would assume power only by legal means, that he would not authorize anyone else to use illegal means on his behalf...
...He cannot be intimidated by any single person— he tugged Anthony Eden into the Suez expedition like a lapdog on a leash—but he is intimidated by the military as such...
...At the same time, a change seems to have taken place among many Algerian French...
...nor, in my opinion, is it capable of forming a real, fighting Popular Front...
...He has nothing against free elections...
...The revolt of the Army gave these hesitant Moslems a tremendous shock...
...What is most interesting is that, for the first time, we see a trend toward fraternization on the part of the Algerian French...
...Pflimlin had refused, and was supported in his refusal by Socialist leader Guv Mollet...
...His praise of their acts gave them a new lease on life...
...It is hardly credible that de Serigny is sincere in this, but the Army—and particularly the crude but naive paratroop General Jacques Massu—appears to be taking these promises very seriously...
...This is partly an effect of the Army's preponderance in the revolt...
...What de Gaulle seeks, therefore, is an authoritarian democratic regime, if such can be devised...
...The name of de Gaulle evoked powerful emotions...
...The position of de Gaulle himself has tended to weaken Parliamentary resistance to him...
...Thus, the series of ambiguous speeches, statements and resolutions between de Gaulle's press conference and the Corsican coup...
...Are the Algerian French going to achieve complete integration with the Moslems...
...Perhaps, Pinay said, de Gaule could reconcile the Army to a more liberal policy toward Algeria...
...it had acted only to keep order...
...Before the seizure of Corsica, the Pflimlin Government hoped to make a deal with the Algerian Army chiefs...
...This is not the whole story by any means...
...But no organization can bring tens of thousands out on the streets simultaneously...
...But I am sure that the CP's leaders do not wish to make more than a token resistance...
...De Gaulle's May 19 press conference was intriguingly vague...
...The unanimous resolution expressing confidence in the patriotism of the Army, and the speeches made by Pflimlin in requesting special powers in Algeria, testified to shakiness and uncertainty...
...Pinay drove out to Colombey and spoke with de Gaulle for two hours...
...nor has he ever—and this is a matter of record —assaulted freedom of expression in France...
...Should de Gaulle take over as the result of a coup, the Communists would be forced to try to form a Popular Front and resist...
...Thus he permitted the mediating efforts of Pinay without personally committing himself...
...De Gaulle refused to serve people whom he wished to have under his own command...
...A breach of promise would surely throw the whole floating Moslem mass back into the arms of the FLN...
...Pflimlin, moreover, fully intended to delegate the special powers he received to none other than Salan...
...The Algerian Army would be reintegrated within the framework of the state, and would acknowledge*the authority of the Pflimlin Government (or perhaps another Parliamentary government...
...This in itself was a revolutionary change, for all the other (and much smaller) street revolts in Algeria have begun with the beating up of Moslems...
...This mass has become even more of a floating body in recent months, since all the fiery nationalists have left the casbah to join the FLN guerrillas...
...Pinay next proposed that de Gaulle be asked to mediate between the Pflimlin Government and the Algerian Army...
...But meanwhile, the Algerian Committees of Public Safety have adopted resolutions which promise the Moslems complete equality...
...A bit of explanation is necessary to understand this hesitancy...
...But, with the conservatives turning toward de Gaulle, Pflimlin and Mollet feared a further widening of the gap between themselves and the generals...
...They want a French Algeria, but one in which the Moslems are treated as equals...
...Meanwhile, however, the National Assembly majority behind Premier Pflimlin began to crack, as the Algiers rebels drew heart from de Gaulle's tacit support and conservative leaders proposed de Gaulle as a mediator between Paris and Algiers...
...De Gaulle is neither a fascist nor a Bonapartist...
...This was a subtle game, but revolutionary situations rarely reward subtlety...
...But it did not act firmly because the real majority for an all-out defense of the Republic had begun to dwindle...
...But he knows that any move too openly in the direction of de Gaulle would split the party...
...In every Arab medina in Algeria, there is a large floating mass which has been dominated by fear: fear of the FLN, fear of the French...
...What does this mean...
...He would undoubtedly like to build a bridge between the Government and the Army...
...De Gaulle would be quite satisfied with the power the American system has given Eisenhower...
...These Moslems have suffered horribly in the war at the hands of both sides...
...This goes much, much further than Premier Pflimlin was willing to offer in his most progressive moods...
...Under it, the Government would acknowledge the facts accomplished by the revolt without endorsing the revolt...
...He got nowhere...
...Mollet now has his own party uppermost in his mind...
...They wish peace above all...
...Until de Gaulle spoke, General Raoul Salan, at the head of the Army in Algeria, had been wavering: once de Gaulle had spoken, Salan openly defied Paris and called for a new government under de Gaulle...
...Now they offer not only an equal vote, but complete equality of rights—including minimum wage protection, social security, etc...
...What he wants is a democratic regime that enables him to handle his Cabinet ministers and the Parliamentary deputies the way a minister handles subordinate officials —valuing those who are capable and ignoring the others...
...but that was because the requests themselves had become more and more ambiguous...
...We may assume that these demonstrations were partly organized by the now-powerful Army...
...A Popular Front might be more successful—as a result of the ardor of the other left-wing groups that would enter it—but even this I doubt...
...By Sal Tas This dispatch was filed before the French National Assembly met lo weigh constitutional reforms in the wake of the seizure of Corsica by the Algiers insurgents and new defections by key military leaders...
...Until now, it has been impossible to bring hundreds of Moslems together for a French demonstration...
...Although the Government leaders did not commit themselves 011 Pinay's proposal, it was clear that they sympathized with it...
Vol. 41 • June 1958 • No. 22
