Brigitte, France and the Secret Army

...Politically, even the most naive foreign correspondents, after lapping up Gaullist propaganda for three years, are now admitting that for the ministerial crises of the Fourth Republic the "stable" Fifth has merely substituted far more dangerous military convulsions...

...if you are of modest means you are free to give what you wish...

...But even in this sphere, heavy military...

...In mid-December, the sober Catholic-conservative Popular Republican Movement (MRP), which has supported de Gaulle faithfully since 1958 and still holds three portfolios in his Government, issued the following statement: "France is menaced...

...The non-cooperation of conscripts (who in some cases sabotaged their vehicles) contributed to the collapse of the last military coup in Algeria, though it is only since the end of October that an official effort has been made to organize and coordinate potential conscript resistance to the ultras...

...Economically, de Gaulle was for nearly three years the beneficiary of the sound planning and investment of his predecessors and of the stringent orthodoxy of his first Finance Minister, that pillar of the Fourth Republic, Antoine Pinay...

...But loyal troops may one day capture or shoot them, and the last illusions of the settlers would be shattered like a punctured soap-bubble...

...Aware of the danger, the French President has ordered" that stocks of food, ammunition and fuel in Algeria be run down...

...In two or three towns Left-wing businessmen and storekeepers have agreed to reject OAS demands and set up a solidarity fund to aid those of their number who suffer...

...In order to suppress violence and safeguard civil peace it is essential to form a government which is truly representative of, and supported by, the nation...

...Eight years ago, before violence had actually erupted in Algeria, I published a plan for an overall partition of French North Africa on something like these lines...

...the Algerian enclave would have remained attached to France...

...The governments of Tunisia and Morocco are known to covet Algerian oilfields adjoining their territories, but collusion with Salan would expose them both to domestic upheaval (the Algerian National Liberation Front—FLN—probably controls more armed men inside Tunisia than President Bourguiba...

...Not wishing to live under a Nazi regime, she said, she had refused to pay...

...The freedom with which Salan and his aides move about Algeria, and the ease with which their followers distribute leaflets, make pirate broadcasts and collect funds, are indicative of the extent of the support and sympathy they can count on in military and administrative circles...

...But the Government was, as ever, divided on the severity of the sanctions to be taken...

...The private soldier is peculiarly vulnerable to victimization, and the more hostile he is to the ultras the more likely he is to be critical of de Gaulle for having played up to them for so long...

...Salan has dissociated himself from· the wilder neo-Fascists and disciples" of Mao Tse-tung who came to the fore in Algeria in May 1958, and he approved General Franco's decision to place Pierre Lagaillarde and more than a dozen other Algérie française hotheads in preventive detention in October...

...BLUEPRINT FOR SALAN'S 'FRENCH-ALGERIAN REPUBLIC Brigitte France and the Secret Army By Ray Alan Paris You receive a neat, formal, typewritten note in your letterbox informing you that a percepteur of the Secret Army Organization (OAS) will be calling on you in the near future to collect your contribution to its funds...

...What inspiration is there in either prospect...

...Which is where General de Gaulle came in...

...Franco's action was requested by de Gaulle, who, in exchange, ordered restrictive measures agamst Spanish democrats exiled in France...

...But on the whole, up to the beginning of this month, the average Frenchman showed no sign of being awakened from his fatalistic political apathy even by bomb explosions in his own main street...

...Unlike the last three ultra uprisings in Algiers, the next one will not seek to unseat the Paris government...

...Its aim will be the establishment of a "French-Algerian Republic" in those parts of Algeria where European settlers are relatively numerous (principally the Oran-Algiers-Bougie coastal zone) and in adjoining areas that can be controlled without undue logistic strain by the Army...

...He believes that if he could hold out for a month metropolitan France might be induced by pro-colon propagandists to thaw sufficiently in his favor to permit a resumption of economic relations between France and Algeria...

...The OAS has two clear, straightforward aims: to discredit and if possible topple de Gaulle, and to keep as much of Algeria French as possible...

...Peripheral Moslem areas will be ceded to Tunisia and Morocco if their inhabitants so desire...

...The plan was well received by liberal Frenchmen and Moslems, but could not even be discussed with the myopic settlers...

...The majority of Europeans in the Oran region are of Spanish origin, and, now that Spain's flirtation with the Arabs has been wrecked by a dispute with Morocco over oil-prospecting on the fringes of the Spanish Sahara, General Franco is believed to be willing to offer the Europeans of Algeria some form of association with Spain if they succeed in establishing their autonomy...

...And officers loyal to de Gaulle have been advised to facilitate the implantation within their units of yet another French secret society, the Organisation Clandestine du Contingent...

...De Gaulle has been urging decisive measures for three months and complaining at Cabinet meetings about the mysterious "osmosis" between official and activist circles...

...Prime Minister Michel Debré and his friends are inhibited by the knowledge that the OAS leaders were their political allies only three years ago...

...First, it published a fatuous decree "dissolving" the OAS...

...This simple procedure was the prelude to most of what, to the outside observer, appear to be senseless explosions which have damaged homes and business premises in Paris and other French cities in recent weeks...

...The problem of supplies is a suffer one...

...In the meantime, however, their obtuseness has provoked a Moslem revolt and lost them sympathy in France...

...that the OAS rank-andfile are recruited among Right-wing militants who campaigned for the Fifth Republic and its President in 1958...

...This is a loose alliance of, for the most part, Left-wing conscripts who, like conscripts the world over, dislike their regular officers and noncoms and wish to return home as soon as possible...

...General Salan now takes pains to emphasize in his statements that he is, at heart, a good republican— indeed, a defender of republican legality, since de Gaulle's offer of self-determination to Algeria violates the French Constitution...

...It is probable that if a beleaguered "French-Algerian Republic" were then subjected to an all-out Arab attack, French sentiment would swing in its favor...

...In any event, the leaders of the OAS, having learned the lessons of last April, say that after proclamation of the "French-Algerian Republic" conscripts will be shipped home and replaced by Algerian-bom reservists and youths...

...But when the Communist party, the pro-Communist General Labor Federation (CGT) and the United Socialist party (PSU) held joint demonstrations in every major city to protest against OAS terrorism and the Government's failure to do anything energetic about it, "Vive BB...

...Today, the settlers would be glad to accept far less than was suggested then...

...Journalists in Paris have received several leaflets signed "OCC," and two or three of the leaflets have been seen in Algiers, but the movement is not thought to have made any important headway...

...Most of those approached pay, and many make regular monthly contributions: some because they are in sympathy with the extreme Right anyhow, others through fear of being "plastiqué," a few because "you never know—these people may be in power in a month or two...

...But it would give his opponents greater satisfaction to see him humiliated—like Pétain—by the collapse of his policy and the desertion of his followers...

...Another attempt to assassinate de Gaulle is not to be ruled out (the last one was carried out amateurishly by hotheads of the old-school Algérie française movement, not by one of the trained OAS sections which, under the overall command of Jacques Susini, specialize in this type of operation...

...An offer to cede certain Moslem areas of Algeria to Tunisia and Morocco, justifiable when no assertive Algerian national consciousness existed, will be interpreted now as an attempt to divide the Moslems...

...How can you expect the French people to take an interest in public affairs...

...and that most Army officers and an important section of the Security Police are today more critical of de Gaulle than of the ultras...

...They are critical of the advocates of Algérie française and would, as far as possible, resist any attempt to be used by them in a putsch...

...Just as de Gaulle's supporters (notably Jacques Soustelle, now in opposition, and Debré) undermined the Fourth Republic by provoking crises at every opportunity and sapping the public's faith in Parliamentary institutions, the OAS seeks to demonstrate that, far from bringing France stability, de Gaulle has plunged it deeper into uncertainty and disunity...

...Its President, provisionally, will be General Salan...

...Moslems will be declared full citizens...

...Salan claims substantial Moslem support, and it is known that the OAS has Moslem members...

...The only political event which could catch the nation's interest would be the formation of a new party by someone like Brigitte Bardot or Princess Margaret...

...If you are a wealthy businessman, propertyowner, politician, doctor or entertainer, a sum will be fixed...

...Whether or not Salan survives to proclaim his "French-Algerian Republic," it is clearer than ever now that France's Gaullist interregnum has solved nothing...

...Not to be outdone, a group of Left-inclined Gaullists—who had supported the General in 1958 because they were convinced he would clamp down on the Algiers ultras— formed a semi-secret "Republican Defense Committee" and sent OAStype leaflets to known and suspected Right-wing activists, some of whom are members of the Gaullist Union for the New Republic (UNR...

...But before rounding up Lagaillarde and his companions, the Spanish authorities consulted Salan's personal representative in Madrid— who is still there, on good terms with officialdom...

...We appear to have acquired a taste for chloroform," the conservative Le Monde has observed...

...Uneasy, perhaps, at finding herself in the wrong kind of spotlight, Brigitte subsequently described the whole thing as "une farce," and the OAS denied that it had approached her...

...General Salan expects to receive sufficient basic supplies to tide his republic over its first month from Spain, Portugal, South Africa and, possibly, Belgium and Southern Rhodesia...

...Only a week later, on December 1, Brigitte Bardot was making political headlines...

...De Gaulle, more courageous than Pierre Pflimlin in 1958, would impose a boycott on Algeria...

...Since 1958, the French-Algeria movement has been tainted in France, by the justifiable suspicion that it sought to "Algerianize" France — to impose neo-Fascist, "corporativist" doctrines, and if necessary a military dictatorship, on the whole French nation in an attempt to save itself from the consequences of its errors in Algeria...

...and UN...

...This impressed no one because the OAS had never existed legally anyhow...

...Even in France the Army's supplies are being issued on a hand-to-mouth basis...

...Information presently available suggests that the "French-Algerian Republic" may be proclaimed soon after the publication of a peace agreement between General de Gaulle and the Algerian nationalists...

...By mid-December similar committees were being formed, generally under Left-wing auspices, in dozens of French towns...

...was a heaven-sent rallying-cry...

...The Government, alarmed by the prospect of a wave of competitive violence, leaped into action...

...There also have been calls for a Government fund to aid OAS victims...

...a leading Paris editor asked me...

...OAS militants have been instructed to slap down European hotheads who indulge in anti-Moslem incitement...

...and "OAS assassins...

...The only alternatives to de Gaulle are a Right-wing military dictatorship and a CenterLeft coalition of opportunists like Guy Mollet—the gravediggers of the Fourth Republic...

...Terrorist outrages are on the increase, violence goes unpunished, extremism is leading the nation to the brink of civil war, and anarchy is overwhelming the state...

...Then official spokesmen hurriedly promised stern anti-terrorist measures and the internment of OAS sympathizers...

...Not only 4s Algeria in a worse state than in 1958: In international affairs, France has never been more isolated...

...Ray Alan is a British correspondent who has reported on Europe, Africa and the Middle East for many years...

...We realize now that he was simply making use of us, in order to hoist himself to power, when he paid lip-service to Algérie française and associated himself with the uprising of May 13, 1958...

...He also hopes for some form of diplomatic recognition from most of these states, and will apply—not very hopefully—for recognition by the U.S...

...The nation is chloroformed," sigh former Foreign Minister Christian Pineau and other moderate commentators...

...The leaflets warned them to expect counter-terrorist bombings and other reprisals if the OAS kept up its campaign of intimidation...

...She had not, unfortunately, founded a party, but she had written—or, to be precise, signed —a letter to the liberal weekly L'Express denouncing the OAS, which had "assessed" her for a contribution of $11,000...

...If you refuse to pay he will not threaten you, but a charge of plastic will probably wreck your car or the entrance to your house a week later and the OAS will increase your assessment to cover the cost of the operation...

...The percepteur turns out to be a well-dressed, curt but polite young man who, if you doubt his credentials (for some non-political crooks have tried to exploit the racket), can show you a photostat of a message signed by the Commanderin-Chief of the OAS, ex-General Raoul Salan...

...and "prestige" expenditure is reopening old sores, and inflation, rising prices, and industrial and rural unrest and strikes are again in the headlines...

...It is de Gaulle," officers say, "who has betrayed the principles on which the Fifth Republic was founded, not the so-called ultras...

...Other attacks have been directed against journalists and political leaders who had offended the extreme Right...

...And a few days after that thousands of demonstrators were tussling with the police in Paris, Toulouse and elsewhere, shouting "Vive BB...

...A French civil servant said to me recently: "I would not like to be the loyal gendarme or soldier who tried to arrest Salan and company...

...Its aim was to satisfy Moslem aspirations and safeguard the undoubted rights of established European settlers...

...the vice-president will be a Moslem...