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HE Congress of the Communist

Party of France was a remarkable

demonstration of that  party’s
power and very close connections with
the people, particularly with the work-
ing class.

There were 788 delegates from the
various federations. of the Communist
Party of France in all parts of the
country, as well as fraternal delegates
from 40 countries. a fact which attests
to the importance given to the congress
by the world Communist movement.

At the same time the press coverage
of the. congress, even on the very
closely government controlled TV,,.
showed that the enemies of the Com-
munist Party and the labor movement
‘in no way underestimated the impor-
tance of this particular congress.

Le Monde, which is the most re-
spected daily, the paper that would
correspond to the New York Times,
and which together with l’Humanite
form the two papers that serious read-
ers of the press read every day, gave
the congress about two pages daily.
The main reason for this, I think, is
that the Cmmunist Party, as a result
of its success in achieving an electoral
accord with the democratic and Social-
ist left, as it is called, and also with
the “unified Socialist Party, while the
Congress was on, projected the Com-
munist Party in an entirely qualitative-
ly different way into the legislative
elections which are to take place in
March.

The Communist Party and its allies —

and associates in the electoral pact
which was concluded on Dec. 20, just
before the opening of the Congress,
mow represents a real threat to the
personal power of De Gaulle and the
monopolies that stand behind him. The
whole speculation and discussion in
the press and in the country as a whole
was on the effect the pact would have
on the election result itself.

First, about the electoral pact, which
was discussed in great detail during

the Congress. The Communist Party .

had proposed to the democratic and
Socialist left, which is a grouping of-
various parties of the left, the largest
of which is the Socialist Party led by:
its general secretary, Guy Mollet, the
conclusion of a pact the centre of
which would be a common program
on the main questions of foreign and
internal policy in France, directed
against monopoly and the, personal
power of De Gaulle.

The Socialist Party and the demo-
cratic left as a whole did not accept
the idea ofa common program on the
grounds that, although they have many
points in common which are specified
in ‘the electoral agreement, the adop-
tion of a common program could lead
to the impression that there was agree-
ment on basic questions of policy be-
tween. the Communists and the non-
Communist left which in fact is not
the case. And this is laid down in the
communique itself.

This, of course, is a matter of great
concern not only to the Communist
Party but to many who follow the
Communist Party and who in the
Thirties were supporters of the Popu-
lar Front. They feel that it is impor-
tant that the basis of unity should be
as clearly understood as possible. in
view of their.sad memories of the
betrayal of the Popular Front by Leon
Blum.

A further distinction between the
position of the Communists and the
democratic left has to do with those
constituencies in which, after the re-
sults of the first round in March come
in, the left does not appear to have a

res with the workel

good chance of defeating the candi-
date of De Gaulle. In those constitu-
encies the Socialists do not agree that
there should be a policy of withdraw-
al of the candidate of the left who did
not receive the highest vote of the left
candidates instead they think such a
candidate should withdraw in favor of
the candidate of what is generally
called the Democratic Centre, led by
Lecanuet.

Lecanuet disagrees with De Gaulle
on the latter’s European approach. He
has a pro-American approach on for-
eign policy. The Communist Party re-
gards him and his party not only as
an anti-Communist party, which it is,
but as a reactionary right-wing party
which uses the name “center” and is

~ entitled to use it’only because it differs

with De Gaulle on that aspect of De
Gaulle’s policy which is of the greatest
interest to the working people of

conclude an electoral pact, that finally
the democratic and Socialist left
agreed for the first time in 20 years
to a meeting with the Communist
Party. .

It is interesting to note that: it was
Guy Mollet who seems to havé been
the first in the leadership of the demo-
cratic and Socialist left to propose to
Mitlerand that such meetings should
take place in order to conclude a for-
mal pact. Guy Mollet has the reputa-
tion of being a right-wing Socialist—a
reputation which is deserved, in view
of the fact that it was he who went to
De Gaulle and urged him, begged him,
to become the savior of the nation,
and in view of his position on Algeria,
where he was for the continuation of
the war.

But the fact that the Socialist Party
still has a working class base, particu-
larly in the north among the miners

SAM WALSH was a fraternal delegate
at the recent congress of the Communist
Party of France from the Communist
Party of Canada. In this interview with
the Tribune he discusses the current poli-
tical situation in France and gives some
of his impressions of the congress.

France, so that in some respects he
appears to be to the right of De Gaulle.

The attitude of the democratic and
Socialist left is that alliances may be
made with anyone who is opposed to
De Gaulle. They also laid down in the
communique that, in cases where the
left alliance does not appear to stand
a good chance of defeating the Gaullist
candidate, they would support the can-
didate of Lecanuet’s party.

In respect to the agreement made
between the Communist Party and the
Unified Socialist Party (a small group
of people that split from and is to the
left of the Socialist Party), and a
rather diverse group of Republican
middle-class people led by Mendes
France, there is agreement that, in a
constituency where it does not appear
that a candidate of the left might win
on the second round, there should not
be withdrawal in favor of a candidate
of the Lecanuet group. But this group
is a very small minority group, that
gets a very small percentage of the
vote and is not likely to lead the poll
on the first round in many constituen-
cies. 5

A very important aspect of the con-
clusion of the electoral pact is the fact
that it was made possible only as a
result of a large campaign launched by
the Communist Party to bring pressure
on the democratic and Socialist left to
begin negotiations. ,

The Communist Party had sent sev-
eral letters to the left without any re-

' sponse whatsoever. It was only when

large groups of workers in the big
plants and mines sent “2legations to
Mitterand, who was the presidential
candidate of the left in the last election
and represents diverse Republican
groups, and to Guy Mollet, general sec-
retary of the Socialist Party, and Wald-
eck Rochet, general secretary of the
Communist Party, demanding that they

and others, turned out to be the deci-
sive factor in making it possible to
bring pressure on Guy Mollet and his
party regardless of what his personal
inclinations might have been.

Guy Mollet also, when the pact was
announced, was asked on a TV broad-
cast to explain how the same Guy
Mollet who was urging an electoral
pact with the Communists was the
same man who asked De Gaulle to
come and take over power and run it
as a one-man show. His answer was
very simple. “I made a mistake,” “he

ed.

Another aspect of the Congress
which I noted was the fact that it re-
flected a very intimate relationship
between the Communist Party of
France and the working people in the
Paris area.

I was sitting in the car with a driver
who was looking after some of the
fraternal delegates, when a _ street
cleaner went by. He glanced in the
car and saw the delegate card of Marie-
Claude Vaillant-Couturier on the dash-
board. A big friendly grin spread all
over his face._He lacked many teeth
and was no Hollywood star but it was
a beautiful look on his face just the
same.

He asked us to roll down the win-
dow. He told us he had always sup-
ported the Communist Party. He had
never. been a member, but he had al-
ways supported them in the days -of
Marcel Cachin and Maurice Thorez
and was very happy to see that when
they passed from the scene there were
cadres ready, as he said, to take their
place and to stand at head of the
working class in France and to give a
worthy account of themselves.

Said he: “I’m not the only one that
feels that way. I don’t really belong in
the Communist Party because I can't

said. The answer was very well receiv-

really make the kind of comlll
that a Communist should may
don’t let anybody touch the
nist Party because France Cl
without the Communist Party: |

The same kind of relation’™
tween the Communists and tt
ing people was seen even im By
a shopping expedition for 8)
with the Mayor of Ville Jullé)
relationship with the people |)
street of his municipality—w a.
all knew him and 65 percent |
municipality vote Communist (5
both easy and respectful, 1)
the close relationship with the)
ing people at least in suburbaly
which is one of the main bas?)
Communist Party. In Paris, U™
cities of North America, it is fy
ing class that lives in the sublul)
only a small portion of workels)
in the city where the rents)
high and where unfortunately
no Communist deputies. But SU
ing the city the number of CO™)
mayors and deputies hasn't eV)
counted, as there are so many 9)

The Congress seated 788 Ce
out of a total of 801 choset .|
federations. Women formed

cent of the delegates, althoug™ /
last congress they were 25

- The average age of the delegat

35 years, the same as the
gress. F,

The youth of the congress was
noticeable. It was also ex)
noted and commented on in they
There were 28 delegates UN)
years of age and 87 from 21-2 i
A total of 73 percent of the a
were under 40.

The Congress, of course, paid a
deal of attention io the support,
French people for the cessall”
bombing in Vietnam and the ™
of U.S. troops from Vietnames? 4
formed a big part of the rel.
Waldeck Rochet on behalf of ©
going central committee. Th ¢
ences in all the federations % i
formed an important part of the
tribution of every delegate wh”
It was very clear that the my
in support of peace and the 1
self-determination in Vietnam P|
widespread,

Of course the fact that the Dé
regime, as a result of its oW"y

a

“ences with U.S. imperialism, 4,

it necessary in. certain aspects |
policy on Vietnam to come oul %
the Americans, has created 4 sh
where the resistance to the U»
in Vietnam is almost una
among the French people. i
But it is to the credit of thé
Communist Party that it hasaly
ed De Gaulle to be the only ex?)
or even the main expression
resistance of the French peor
was clear from all the discus*)
the Congress, the Communist * |
very actively engaged in gettitey
port for the policy of U.S. withty
and sending medical aid to Vi"
and demonstrating in every Pi
way its hostility to the U.S. im
ist’s attack on Vietnam. i
Fraternal delegates to the ©%
from the Republic of North V&
and from the National Libts
Front paid tribute to the sol
actions and moral and mateti@
they were getting not only ff?
French Communists but from)
French working people. They mm
major point about this and pr
the Congress with a flag from tn
namese people expressing w!4)
obviously very sincere gratitl” |
the help that they were gettie:

ff

February 3, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—?™

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