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French people alert to danger

Fitse events formed the
sound to the press state-

hun Made by General de’
d € on May 15, in which he
&lareg

he was ready to as-

‘ae the powers of the

: ¢, thus echoing the de-
‘8 Of the Algiers rebels.

abl Stand aroused consider-

¢

© feelin iz
ans. yy § among Republi

tts © recognised here the

~ tline of a direct chal-

2 pronunciamento.
Nn: Since a pronuncia-
JS characterised by the
tabi, tervening against es-
ia Power, how did the
8 rebellion extend to

Fran,
Macto and how did the people

a tlos: The shouts in Algiers
eh cy to power” were
Vit. 22 France by the acti-
tition certain military and
amon Seditious elements,

& whom was General

Chass:
In, wh i i
emands 0 made identical

Mento j

Dison > Since a military
a feted certain risks,
to ta al de Gaulle preferred
ante © power with an appear-
of legality, using the
of military sedition.
Was tg €se circumstances it
in @ question of dispers-
ha © deputies by force, as
Bona ®ppened in the Louis
finan Coup d’etat on De-
lotcine 2, 1851, but rather of
tag ee & majority of the depu-
by bt fall de Gaulle to power
the 4 kmailing them with
Davin meat of violence and
hig, 0 their anti-Commu-
Prejudices,
og Wever, this plan would
K ‘ve succeeded without
uf o. SSistance, including that
ty Mollet, who gave Gen-
Medeg Gaulle the pretext he
Ree 4 for his press confer-
Wesente May 19, which was
tring under somewhat re-
Of Sofie _ Colors with the aim
stance UP Republican re-

threat
]

de hile the agents of General
is te Were busy demoral-
the Pr € Republican deputies,
Set Booch Communist party
ian 2 thing in motion to
nna: these demoralisation
the pets, to give courage to
Unite ak and, above all, to
Mage oy Common action the
Mepup the working class and

As aa forces.

at . “Apitulation took place
tion a © when the determina-
ly tefe the mass of the people

Nd the republic was be-

ing most forcibly expressed.

The awakening of the mass
of the people was spreading
more and more each day, while
the advocates of personal
power were in a hurry.

Samson: Did the harmful
activities of those who split the
working-class and the mass of
the people play a determining
role in the turn of events?

Duclos: After the capitula-
tion of the Pflimlin govern-
ment the way was open to the
men from Colombey, but re-
sistance from the country and
from the assembly had still to
be reckoned with.

In particular the Socialist
group, which had declared
against de Gaulle by an over-
whelming majority, had to be
split.

For this it was vital that
General de Gaulle be pre-
sented as “a Republican who
respects democratic liberties.”

This was the role played by
Guy Mollet and Vincent Auriol,
former president ‘of the repub-
lic, who both acted in some
measure as the lieutenants of
the would-be dictator.

It was thus that the general-
premier was invested by 329
votes to 224, with 42 Socialist
deputies voting for him and
49 against.

The activities of those who
split the working class and the
forces of democracy had thus
made a breach in the particu-
larly vulnerable parliamentary
section, and it was through this
breach that de Gaulle was able
to gain power witha facade of
legality.

The seditious elements and
their agents carried on a veri-
table war of nerves to create
the conditions necessary for
surrender. Against this stood
the Communist party as the
indomitable defender of Re-
publican liberties.

It is evident from all this
that the formation of the de
Gaulle government. bears only
the appearance of legality.

It is, in fact, the product of
the coups de force in Algiers
and Ajaccio and at the same
time the result of the dishon-
orable surrender of the Pflim-
lin government and the treach-
ery of Guy Mollet, general
secretary of the Socialist party,
who turned himself into an
instrument for de Gaulle’s
personal power.

Samson: What is the first
lesson one can draw from
these events?

Duclos: In the first place,
workers and democrats can
now realize clearly that anti-
Communism played ‘into the
hands of seditious elements,
not only during the recent
events but also before:

There is no doubt, indeed,
that the causes of the present

JACQUES DUCLOS

situation must be sought in
the policy followed. for the
last 11 years by majorities
ranging often from Guy Mol-
let to Pinay, both of whom
are in the new government.

Out of these majorities,
bound together by anti-Com-
munism, have come govern-
ments which have piled up
national humiliations, accept-
ed severe inroads on our in-
dependence, have waged ruin-
ous wars, and refused to ac-
cept the legitimate claims of
the working class and the
working people of town and
country.

Workers and democrats can
see where there was treason.

It must be stated that the
seditious elements
their first objective: to im-
pose the de Gaulle govern-
ment.

For the working-class and
French people this means the
opening of a new stage in the
battle to defend the republic.

Samson: How will the sit-
uation in France devolp now,
do you think?

Duclos: The general-prem-
ier holds not only the ordin-
ary functions of an ordinary
government — he has execu-
tive power as well as legisla-
tive power.

De Gaulle, surrounded by
ministers who are slaves to
his person, threatens the insti-
tutions of the republic the
more because he also holds
the constituent power and
will himself elaborate a draft
constitution aimed to give
constitutional form to his per-
sonal power.

For the Gaullists the com-
mittees of so-called public
safety have two aspects. On
the one hand they want to
substitute these bodies, born
of the revolt, for the legal in-
stitution of the republic.

On the other hand they
want to set up a movement

attained _

of a fascist character which
by attacking political and
trade union liberties would be
called on to play a role more
or less like that which the
Falange played in Franco
Spain.

Since there is no mass
de Gaullist movement in
France the  general-premier
wants to build one. That is
what the committees of so-
called public safety are aiming
at — the committees which
de Gaulle’s agents are striving
to set up in localities and
factories modelled on Musso-
lini’s “fascio.”

Thus the new government
appears in its true colors as
the product of the most re-
actionary forces of big capi-
tal demanding continuation of
the war in Algeria, which is
against the real interests ef
France and carries with it
grave dangers of the war’s
extension to the whole North
Africa.

Of course, de Gaulle can
be expected to try to break
by coercion all resistance to
his policy of war and poverty
—with the help of military
cadres hoping to play a role
of political leadership and to
replace the personnel of what
the Gaullists call “the sys-
tem,” with the additional idea
of developing in France the
militarization of the people to
some degree.

With the cruel irony of his-
tory, one sees France losing
liberty as a result of the col-
onialism which France insists
on trying to impose on people
determined to win their right
to independence.

In the light of the facts, one
can see how Karl Marx’s
words apply in the present
French political situation: “A

nation which oppresses an- -

other cannot itself be free.”

Samson: How do you en-
visage the development of the
struggle of the masses?

Duclos: The workers and
the people of France have be-
fore them a perspective of
heavy battles to fight, as
much to impose peace in Al-
geria as to safeguard their
liberties and defend their con-
ditions of. life.

But the social and political
forces exist in France to bar
the road to fascism and to
check the exercise of personal
power,

Here one must underline
that the events did not unfold
entirely according to the
plans conceived by the sediti-
ous elements, who had aimed
to instal dictatorship by sur-
prise before the. workerrs and
all the democrats could have
gathered themselves together.

The French Communist party,
fully conscious of the respon-
Sibilities on its shoulders, suc-
ceeded in alerting the work-
ing class and nation in good
time, thus creating conditions
allowing the people to mobil-
ize for defense of the repub-
lic.

Thanks to these efforts, the
resistance which developed
throughout the country had
its effects also inside the Na-
tional Assembly where depu-
ties of various parties, among
them numerous Socialists and
Radicals together with all the
Communists, opposed the sed-
itious elements and refused to
vote for the investiture of de
Gaulle.

What matters above all is
that “in the whole country
men and women of all opin-
ions, Socialists, Radicals,
Catholics, workers, peasants,
students, intellectuals of the
highest standing, united to-
gether to save public liberty”
as the political committee of
our party underlined.

It is true that the powerful
demonstrations in Paris and
the provinces, the strikes, the
activities of all kinds which
multiplied in the recent per-
iod, were not able to prevent
the coming of personal power.

But all these actions led to
considerable progress in the
unity of all Republicans and
created favorable conditions
for a new rise in the struggle
of the workers and democratic
forces.

Strong with the prestige
which it won in the battle, the
French Communist party has
come out of this first phase of
the struggle stronger and
more united than ever.

Everything will be done to
extend anti-fascist unity, to
consolidate it, by setting up
thousands and thousands of
democratically elected com-
mittees of Republican defense,
in factories, towns and vil-
lages throughout France.

The political committee of
the Communist party, in urg-
ing “all Frenchmen concerned
with the national interests
and faithful to the national
and faithful to the cause of
the people confidently to de-
velop their activities for peace
in Algeria, for the demands of
the working masses, for the
lessening of international ten-
sion,” shows the way ahead to
prevent the fascists from mak-
ing France submit to the dis-
grace of fascist domination.

That way is the way of
unity and action at the end of
which, beyond all the obsta-
cles to be cleared, all the dif-
ficulties to be surmounted, is
the certainty of victory.

June 13, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 7