By LANCE SAMSON

JARIS — General de Gaulle
Bi icted his draft con-
Rea designed to give the
‘ Pa Aictatorial powers
" at will be the Fifth Re-
Ee, if it passes the na-
Month _Teferendum in. two
S time.
a pended the draft last
” a 39-member commit-
deputies, senators and
i if! “experts” who
is ree weeks to give an
fon — which is not bind-
de Gaulle.
feet constitution would
bssemt the present National
thee y . which would not
Me, 22!n until de Gaulle

as eld v 4 i
ther elections” in Nov-

Ny
in

hae him the power to
teetonay decree under what
t Voti System the Novem-
fy ng should be held —
“ey Mowing attempts to
5 n” the votes of 5,500,-
“€ctors who voted: Com-
i Mg at the last elections.
® tp be elected for seven
Tears be elected for seven
“wT

The Night of selecting the

Dreg; :
te, *nt is taken from the
ht *d deputies — as at pres-

~

loray « and given to an elec-
College” of about 100.-

bular Front
it Finland?

1g TtSINKI — Will Finland
e's Front” gov-
Noy ,: this is the question
| “ing asked here.

ents important develop-
lin, .“V© followed the elec-
the pty in July in which
in, de Democratic Un-
Yon 50 by the Communists,
tigees Seats to become the
@ ,>arty in parliament.
“hich he Agrarian party,
Lola holds 48 seats, has been
Vith § private discussions
its -. Skog Group which
"tats Tom the Social Demo-

Ntliam E holds three seats in
Mag a Of the discussions
Naini. to be forming of a
one 80vernment with
pon, Democratic Union
Ug Pech a government
‘00s, ave 101 seats of the
® Parliament.

Sociay _iS reported that ten
have €mocrat members
ling x their own pariy and
Ne it he Skog Group swell-
1} “S number of seats to

Ths

vat leaves the Social Demo-
toy, 'th 38 members, now
Shop: aS the “Leskinen
boos he ten who left did
| ‘hin Re the party leader-
MS, cfsed to readmit the
Toup,

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

De Gaulle produces
dictatorship plant .

000, including deputies, coun-
ty council members and dele-
gates from municipal coun-
cils — due to the voting sys-
tem generally more reaction-
ary than that for the National
Assembly itself.

The president — the post
General de Gaulle aims for
—would have the power to
dissolve the National Assem-
bly, to name the premier, to
negotiate international trea-
ties, to ‘take wide, special
powers in an “emergency.”

He can appeal to the na-
tion by referendum over the
head of the National Assembly.

Assembly sessions are cut
to 5% months in the year, the
National Assembly would
only vote on budget and “fun-
damental” laws, leaving the
government wide powers to
rule unchecked on day to day
issues.

The National Assembly could
only overthrow the govern-
ment on a vote of censure
in which more than half the
total members vote against
the government. Any deputy
absent or abstaining would
be counted as voting for the
government.

The constitution leaves the
door open to a new “associa-
tion” between France and Tu-
nisia and Morocco—France’s
former colonies.

Ministers would have to re-
sign their seats on joining

the government — removing
them from the questioning of
deputies.

The referendum is expected
to take place at the end of
September or early October.

When General de Gaulle
came to power last month it
was promised that the Na-
tional Assembly would. meet
again in October.

Now even that promise has
been broken, and if the con-
stitution is pushed past by the
French people only a mockery
of elected representation will
remain.

Artists appeal
for H-test ban

LONDON — Over 300 Biit-
ish artists many with high na-
tional and international repu-
tations, have signed an appeal
to Britain, U.S. and the Sov-
iet Union to stop testing,
storing and making nuclear
weapons,

Among the signatories are
Agustus John, Edward Baw-
den, R. O. Dunlop, Ruskin
Spear, Carl Weight.. Henry
Moore, Michael Ayrton, Anne
Redpath, Misha Black, Der-
rick Greaves, Joan Haasall,
Barbara Hepworth, Leslie
Hurry, Edward Middleditch,
John Piper and Michael Roth-
enstein.

GENERAL SHEHBAB ..

. U.S. withdrawal his aim

Withdrawal of U.S.
forces Shebab’s aim

BEIRUT — General Fuad
Shehab, commander - in - chief
of Lebanon’s armed forces,
has been elected president.

Both government supporters
and opposition backed the
career soldier, who replaces
pro-imperialist President Cha-
moun.

It was President Chamoun’s
attempt to rule for a second
term, despite the constitution-
al bar to this, which set off
the 12-week-old fighting in
Lebanon.

Lebanese troops surrounded
the parliament building for
the special session and fired
jubilant shots when the an-
nouncement of. the vote was
broadcast.

The special curfew imposed
on central Beirut was lifted
in the afternoon, though the
dusk-to-dawn curfew remain-
ed. Army loudspeaker vans
toured the city, proclaiming:
“Rejoice with us in the elec-
tion of General Shehab, but
please do not use your guns
to do so.”

Some. guns were fired in
celebration.

General Shehab received 48
votes in the second ballot
from the 56 members present.
Ten members of the total of
66 did not attend.

Further. difficulties were
foreshadowed by the announce-
ment of Premier Sami Solh, a
pro-impéerialist politician, that
he would not accept Shehab
as president.

Top question in Beirut now
is; Will Shehab demand that
the U.S. troops occupying his
country leave quickly?

The opposition wanted him
to give such an undertaking
before his candidature .went
forward. But he did not com-
mit himself and did not at-
tend the session of parliamen
which elected him.

But in his first official an-
nouncement this week, She-
hab declared that withdrawal
of U.S. forces was “foremost
among our national aims.”

At the same time, Camille
Chamoun, indicating his re-
fusal to resign, said he was
determined to keep USS.
forces in the coun‘ry, obvi-
ously to bolster his own posi-
tion.

A French-trained | profes-
sional soldier, 56-year-old
General Shehab has _ been
commander-in-chief of the
Lebanese army since 1945.

He is a Maronite Christian
and a descendant of the
families who ruled Lebanon
under ‘the Ottoman Empire.
He is married to a French-
woman.

In Lebanon, a country of
mixed Christian and Moslem
people, a 1943 convention sets
out that the president, who is
elected for six years, must be
a Christian and the prime
minister a Moslem.

Throughout the present
crisis he has remained the
only man who appeared to
have some support from both
sides.

In the present crisis Gen-
eral Shehab has tried io keep
the army out of the trouble.

He confined the army's ac-
tion as far as possible to a
containing operation.

August 8, 1958 —

U.S. in

dilemma of
own making

PEKING — The U.S. and
Britain are caught in a dilem-
ma of their own making in
the Middle East, declares the
Peking Review Chinese
weekly journal, in an analysis
of the current crisis.

“The U.S. and Britain now
find themselves in a position
without running the grave
risk of provoking a _ serious
world-wide conflict nor back
down without serious loss of
face. They are caught in a
dilemma of their own making,”
the journal says.

“Alfred M. Lilienthal, a
ve'eran U.S. writer on Mid
dle Eastern affairs, deplored
the landing of U.S. marines
in Lebanon as a ‘tragic Am-
erican blunder.’ History re-
cords only too many such
‘tragic blunders.’ One need
not go far back to find them.

“For the imperialists and
colonialists, the ignominious
defeat of U.S. aggression
against Korea and the dismal
failure of the Anglo-French
gamble in the Suez attack are,
in the words of some Western
commentators, ‘tragic history.’

“But the U.S. and Britain,
it appears, did not emerge
any the wiser. In launching
fresh military aggressions in
the Middle East, they . are
writing another historical
tragedy for themselves. And
this tragedy will undoubtedly
add another stinking chapter
of world notority to their long
‘tragic history.’ ”

Charging that all Eisen-
hower’s and Macmillan’s
“pious talk about preserving
the independence of Lebanon
and Jordan is intended to
cover up their ulterior mo-
tives,’ the journal declares:

“Tt is common knowledge
that Washing‘on and. London
had planned armed interven-
tion in Lebanon for quite some
time. But they hesitated to
take the plunge for fear of
werld opinion. Things how-
ever, took a sharp turn after
the victory of the people’s
revolution in Iraq. . .

“Tt is quite obvious that
much more is involved than
the problem of Lebanon.”

Imperialism is adding to
its “tragic blunders” in its ef-
forts to maintain colonial rule
in the Middle East, the jour-
nal concludes, adding:

“For the peace and free-
dom-loving people of the
world, however, there is
nothing tragic about all this
. . . Imperialism and colonial-
ism must go if the nations of
the world are to live at
peace and to be free to man
age their affairs in their own
way.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3