Decline of the French Parliament

...As Khrushchev said in his Baku speech, Berlin remains "a hotbed of provocations which might produce all kinds of surprises and conflicts and could even cause a catastrophe...

...No amount of fat sausage in West Berlin's butcher shops can rebut Communist charges that ex-Nazis hold high offices in ihe Bundesrepublik...

...In fact, France is evolving towards something I have called a sort of Mandarinism...

...One example was the farm conflict...

...From reading the workers' demands one cannot escape the conclusion that the wage demands are only one part of the problem...

...This last point is a very weak one...

...After some weak boasting, the Government has promised amelioration of conditions...

...The latest developments in East Germany, however, have sharply reduced West Berlin's significance in each of the three roles...

...Hence, in the long run, West Berlin's value as a haven for East German refugees will decrease...

...In all East Germany there were only scattered demonstrations against the collectivization program...

...For reasons of expediency, the Government chose a Constitutional procedure which was short and practical, but which violated both the spirit and letter of the Constitution itself...

...The danger is always present, so the risk entailed by Western intelligence operations, especially in the cold post-summit atmosphere, remains constant while their potential value decreases as economic conditions improve in the GDR...

...Bureaucrats, even capable ones, can never replace politicians who have their feet planted firmly in the world of realities, who can give voice to the opinions of their constituents and who are specialists in the handling of men...

...De Gaulle's team consists of men who support a strong, stable, authoritative state...

...A month later, when the campaign was over, the U.S...

...Again, the Opposition was overruled...

...But the fact that the Communists have been able to tighten their security net still further shows that they did not regard the refugee problem as an important threat in the past...

...By ignoring parties, de Gaulle leaves only one means of popular expression: the plebiscite, but even a plebescite becomes a fraud when there are no parties to lead the fight of public opinion...

...In Poland, by way of contrast, when workmen hauled awav a single cross from a construction site...

...Hence, as Undersecretary Douglas Dillon told the AFL-CIO Conference on World Affairs, the Berlin problem "represents a critical test of the integrity and dependability of the free world's collective security systems—because no nation could preserve its faith in collective security if we permitted the courageous people of West Berlin to be sold into slavery...

...The days of Soviet reparations-stripping are long past, and after 15 years of struggle and privation...

...As the months pass...

...In the first place, Western prosperity as such is no longer an unbeatable argument against Communism...

...Still, by ignoring or belittling the parties, he has helped to create the political vacuum I have discussed...

...What is really developing in France is not a presidential system, however, but a monarchical one...

...The political consequences are serious...

...However, if the final decision is left to the President, that guarantee disappears...

...he wants no intermediaries between him and the people...

...Treating parliamentarians like children is not good political pedagogy...

...And there is only one way to educate them: by having a public debate on the question in Parliament itself...

...The longer we wait to achieve a solution on Berlin the less eager the Communists will be to cooperate in one—as Khrushchev proved in Paris...

...The final decision lies with de Gaulle...

...There is an article in the Constitution enabling a recessed Parliament to meet again if a certain number of Parliament members request an extra session...

...But the step required a change in the Constitution...

...But it is important to note that the economy has profited from the fact that for the past two years France has known stability, order, authority and world-wide prestige...

...The mass defections have driven East German authorities to tighten travel restrictions in and around Berlin...

...Beside proving its hold over the people, the regime of Walter Ulbricht this spring has shown a total disregard for world opinion...

...West Berlin's special strategic value in the cold war has always rested in its three roles: • First as a shopwindow for the successes of capitalism...

...On May Day morning the battalions of tommy-gunners strutting the Marx-Engels-Platz symbolized the Ulbricht regime's new strength and self-confidence...

...Two cases stand out clearly...

...Second as an escape hatch for refugees from Communist oppression...

...Not far from Berlin rioting farm workers beat up the regime's agitators assigned to herd them into collectives...

...The West itself may have eroded any East German will to resist by refusing to take decisive action during the 1953 revolt...

...Impressive progress in the GDR is lessening the value of West Berlin to the cold war EAST GERMANY'S 'SOCIALIST SPRING' By Eric Dwight Pace "SOCIALIST SPRING" is in the air in East Germany, and especially in East Berlin...

...Between January and May the collectives gobbled up almost every acre of private arable land in the East Zone...

...Not a word in his speech discussed the railway strike...

...Where it is almost impossible to organize a public meeting of any size on the Algerian question, the committee for defense of the public schools has been able to organize enormous public meetings...

...They staged the trial in the East German supreme court building, not far from West Berlin's glittering Kurfurstendamm...

...Everything they do creates an increasingly bureaucratic government...

...and • Third as a peephole in the Iron Curtain...

...Or, conversely, he will hold out for even greater concessions from the West as the price of an agreement...

...By ignoring the will of the members of Parliament, de Gaulle almost invited the farmers to fight for their cause in their own way—that is, in the streets...

...But that was all...

...This has been a highly favorable season for the "German Democratic Republic" (GDR...

...The farm drive, of course, was intended to make East Germany's economy even more distinct from West Germany's before the summit, where Khrushchev had been expected to point proudly to East German accomplishments: and indeed any eventual reunification plan will have to take it into account...

...another is the fight between public-school supporters against Government subsidies for Catholic schools...

...Real wages have made no progress and in some industries have even fallen...

...And all the press warns against it...

...The seven-year plan passed last October will probably fail to match West Germany's level of prosperity, but it should narrow the gap considerably—and to a point where the contrast between the East and West sectors of Berlin will lose much of its propaganda significance...

...For two years there have been no strikes...

...He said that the farmers' resistance was unjustified and that by obeying extra-parliamentary movements Parliament was fore-saking its role...

...Even the meager powers it was granted in the new Constitution have been overruled when the Government found it convenient...

...it was part of the stability France at last enjoyed, arising out of de Gaulle's prestige and the bitter taste left from the defeat of the Fourth Republic...

...The West Germans have already shown disenchantment with the moral side-effects of the Wirtschaftswunder...

...Thus, West Berlin—the shopwindow, escape hatch and peephole —is like a poker chip losing its value with each round of betting...

...of human rights," the East Germans only tightened the thumbscrews...

...East Germany's "Socialist spring" may ripen into a Communist summer...

...This Government disrespect for its own Constitution angered the Opposition, which rightly considered it a dangerous precedent...

...Profiting by the disrepute which was attached to the French Parliament under the Fourth Republic, de Gaulle's colleagues—especially Premier Michel Debre—began to hollow out the authority of the Parliament...

...As a showcase for the successes of free enterprise, West Berlin is fast losing its propaganda value...

...The first was the conflict between the Government and the farmers...

...Moreover, a political system based on plebiscites is virtually based on "organized upheavals" and is inevitably very demagogic, for it means that the people's manifold interests have only a single form of expression...

...The concept of a strong state is thus turning into a strong bureaucracy which lives a life of its own and can even oppose the trends of de Gaulle's policies, the more so because de Gaulle is interested before anything else in what he himself calls "grand policy"—that is, international policy...

...At any rate, as many of East Germany's most courageous citizens migrate to the West and as the scars of collectivization heal, the regime will be increasingly willing to tolerate a small capitalist carbuncle on its body politic—and Khrushchev will be less willing to make concessions to ensure its excision...

...From all reports it is a happy hunting ground for a half-dozen public and private German agencies, not to mention the intelligence services of Britain, France and the United States...

...The Opposition had no difficulty in getting the requisite support, but the Parliament was nonetheless not convened—for the Constitution says too that the President of the Republic must also sign the decree to reconvene Parliament and de Gaulle interpreted this article as giving him the freedom not to sign...

...Farmers are pulled off trains and East German police have entered elevated train stations in the Western sectors in their efforts to hunt down East German refugees...

...As East Germany grows stronger and West Berlin becomes less of an irritant, Russia may price agreement entirely out of the market by insisting on flatly unacceptable concessions...

...No one goes to the Parliament with his difficulties for the Parliament is powerless...

...De Gaulle decided to give independence to the Mali Federation, in itself a sensible, progressive step...

...Political parties are the normal public schools for political education of the masses...

...But military and political intelligence is valuable only if it is acted upon...

...But the sanctity of our compacts and the freedom of large sections of humanity are at stake on all our diplomatic battlefronts...

...Both constitutional conflicts provoked much juridical talk and much comment was made about whether France was moving toward a presidential system like that of the United States...

...De Gaulle is surrounded by people who owe their jobs, their influence and their position to de Gaulle and only to him...

...But a dynamic nation needs even more than that...

...Thousands of desperate farmers managed to flee to the West, but their flight was grim proof of the increasing power of the state...

...It is strange to see how strongly the French feel on this subject...

...Characteristically, de Gaulle devoted the first of his three announced major radio and television speeches to the summit conference failure, though the speech was given on the night of the first general strike of railwaymen...

...Dissatisfied with the Government farm program, the farmers organized a series of demonstrations, some of them quite tumultuous, and called for an emergency session of Parliament, which at that moment was in recess...

...Consequently, the system can be better characterized as one of bureaucratic and technocratic rule...

...The GDR now ranks itself fifth among Europe's industrial nations and businessmen in anti-Communist and neutral countries are eager to do business with it...

...The Fourth Republic deserves much credit for this situation, of course, for de Gaulle's Administration is only continuing its economic policy...

...State Department declaimed, "We strongly condemn this program of compulsion which highlights once again the denial to the Germans living in the Soviet zone of the basic right of self determination and the completely unrepresented character of the East German regime" —but the GDR regime proceeded with its campaign to bring artisans, shopkeepers and professional people into the collective fold...

...Now, changing Mali from an autonomous territory into an independent country is surely more than a change of function...

...East German propagandists showed their contempt for West Berlin's prosperity when they tried Theodor Oberlaender, West German Minister for Refugees, on charges of murdering prisoners in World War II...

...De Gaulle also gave a number of political arguments...

...The economic situation is satisfactory, and though the rate of growth has slowed there is still progress and, above all, stability...

...As it is, the West has little margin for concessions without jeopardizing its position in Berlin...

...Furthermore, the differences in living standards between West Berlin and East Berlin will decrease as the East German economy expands...

...To compete on even terms with the West, the GDR has embarked on a hell-for-leather port-expansion program and even hopes to enter the world jet-liner market this year...

...When the Bonn Government branded the collectivization drive "a gross violation ERIC DWIGHT PACE is a specialist in East European affairs for the Foreign News Department of Life...

...Khrushchev has indicated that he would not press for an immediate settlement of the Berlin problem and would postpone action on his avowed decision to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany...

...There is only one way to remedy the situation: to educate Parliament and the voters...

...No layman can evaluate West Berlin's significance as a peephole for Western intelligence services...

...This was, of course, inevitable—no regime can rule for two years without disappointing a considerable number of its citizens...

...Near Erfurt, a handful of farmers set fires on collective farm property...

...Ulbricht's economic policies are paying off...

...In the week following Good Friday, 6,478 East Germans poured into the Marienfelde refugee center, more than twice the average weekly number over the past year...

...But, on the whole, the balance sheet over the last two years is not unfavorable...

...State industries are booming and the farm collectivization drive was a huge success...

...In France, as the system is developing, there is a powerful President, more powerful than any American President ever was, but there is no powerful parliamentary counterpart...

...There is much to be said on both sides of this debate, but the Government is not working out any procedure for real reconciliation between them: Debre simply ignores them, and that is dangerous...

...In the past few weeks a sudden spark of social unrest has flared up...

...Some say he has strong social sentiments, but he certainly is a paternalist...

...This is why he dislikes parties so much...

...But if it fails to reach some kind of agreement on Berlin shortly, it may never be able to reach one by negotiation...

...We did not act on our information in June 1953, and now that the East German population has swallowed farm collectivization, chances of another popular uprising are small, and will be reduced once the new collective institutions are "solidified...

...But its success has another, more general, implication for future negotiations: As East Germany grows more powerful, the Western enclave in Berlin is losing its strategic value in the cold war...

...Forty-two non-Communist nations sent exhibits to this year's Leipzig Fair, and American firms took part for the first time...

...some of the demands are so moderate that strikes seem much more a protest against the high-handed Government treatment than an all-out offensive on wages...

...The big problems are fought outside it...

...The flow of Fluchtlinge from the East had fallen off over the years since the revolt of June 17...

...This hollowing-out has gone so far that it is doubtful if under the new Constitution Parliament has any significance...

...It cannot afford to give in on access rights and it may need all its garrisons' present manpower...

...For unless the West acts quickly and wisely...

...The American system—whatever the power of the President—is based on a strong Congress, especially a strong Senate...

...The second case is still more revealing...

...Then came Ulbricht's decision to collectivize all East German farmland and the subsequent farmers' exodus...

...For the Government, that is always a fine occasion to cover up all cases of dissent by the single one on which there is consent...

...On the other hand, a false step by a Western agent—such as Francis Powers made in his flight over the Soviet Union—might provoke the Communists into some foolhardy aggressive action which could bring on World War III...

...Since the failure at the summit...

...As an escape hatch for refugees, Berlin regained a temporary significance this spring...

...They dare not and do not wish to contradict him, nor are they always interested in informing him correctly and fully, particularly where their own plans are involved...

...Worse, the high-handed methods of the bureaucracy have given the workers the impression that they do not count at all and that their interests are manifestly not well-protected...

...And the East Germans have been largely successful in shifting the propaganda debate away from the issue of economic well-being...

...Everyone recognized that part of the Fourth Republic's failure was its inability to give France a stable political and social system and, as a result, workers hesitated to use the strike again...

...And once the present collectivization pressure is eased, we can expect the number of migrants to dwindle as the overall standard of living improves...

...Having no confidence in tne parliamentary parties, made powerless by the new constitutional system (especially as interpreted by Debre), they have decided to strike once more...

...In fact, the de Gaulle Government's new modernization plan is simply the normal continuation of the modernization plans created in the first years of the Fourth Republic...

...His defense of this position with a number of juridical arguments was very weak, because it was obvious that the article intended to give a guarantee to members of Parliament...

...But, apparently, this two-year honeymoon between de Gaulle and the workers is over...

...These qualities, the great assets of the Fifth Republic, are due to a large extent to de Gaulle's unique personality...

...Hence, there is a dangerous political vacuum surrounding him...

...1953, and the number of migrants heading east had increased as conditions improved in the GDR...

...The Government obviously hesitates to make this the occasion for a decisive battle...

...Now may be the last chance for the West to press hard for an agreement that would not jeopardize West Berliners' freedom or our integrity as a treaty partner...

...Through work in the parties the individual becomes a citizen, an adult...

...Compared to the enthusiasm of May 1958, the atmosphere today is characterized by a certain degree of disillusion...

...A petition against the subsidy of Catholic schools has already gotten a tremendous number of signatures, approaching the point where it will soon pass 50 per cent of the electoral vote...

...By stifling Parliament, de Gaulle has dried up the entire political life of the country...

...Liberated from parliamentary control, bureaucratic technocrats can now devise plans, systems, laws, decrees and regulations without even taking note of the citizens whose interests are affected by them...

...As a result of de Gaulle's attitude, the French people are already displaying a tendency to look for extra-parliamentary means of defending their interests...

...As it is, there is some question whether the West gains by having East Germany's spunkiest citizens abandon their homeland to the meek...

...It used an article which spoke of a change in the function of the French-African Community...

...The Western powers have been proclaiming their rights in Berlin with as much idealistic fervor as Wilson once lavished on the Freedom of the Seas, and with clearer justification, since they hold title to their slices of the city by a positive compact which can be ended—legally—only by mutual consent...

...In addition, there is a strong and well-organized reactionary farm lobby which up to now has succeeded in blocking any progress in farm legislation thanks to the number of members of Parliament who hope to be re-elected with its help...

...Ulbricht will increasingly succeed in exploiting his subjects' skills and his country's spotty natural resources...

...2.000 steelworkers and their womenfolk sang hymns, stoned policemen and burned a town hall...