By LANCE SAMSON
TS — The French Na-
ae ey was dismiss-
ana ednesday last week for
"Vive ee — to the cry of
thin a Republique” — after
& voted General de
: ponder duress, his abso-
decree, ers for government by

tional

re aul, who now has been
x paca powers for the
tana : Algeria and a free
fitation draft a revised con-
: ot Without consulting
Use sie has no further
Ltives € elected represent-
5 ah Le Troqquer, assembly
€nt, received applause
Circle pope the whole semi-
ee Ted plush benches for
at he of “Vive la Republique”
a €nd of the brief session.
boweve assembly commissions,
tinct; T, willl continue. to
retion,
the 'S the united resistance of
mon, €Nch people, already
the Bo tted in the events of
‘tua three weeks, which
Shy, © mits de Gaulle’s ab-
lea. it is expected, will
he Gaulle to make various
his ag overtures, such as
list yegation ion Wednesday
trade ®ek to the leaders of the
unions, Catholic and
Munist, to confer with

tim,
fe Toit Frachen, leader of
Cone Munist - led General
(Cg: ‘deration of Workers
fn? the largest in the
tig, -2? Gemanded an invita-
writing — and got it.

Ater |
i, | the day he rejected

?
his we CGT, he explained in
iso, »Y, had never refused to
ley, Westions' with a
Ment constituted govern-
lion,’ Ut the abnormal condi-
yen Which the de Gaulle
cay nent was set up had
Considerable anxiety
: on the workers.
th addition, we know noth-
tiong » your program or inten-
“Th, € wrote.
have © absolute powers you
th, °Dtained, your refusal in
Rarangembly yesterday to
ing Ute explicitly the exist-
Mteneth rights, have only
la, ened the legitimate
eS the workers.”
Agi Committee of Resistance
wy Fascism has called
the the committees formed
fo g,, PaSt weeks of struggle
Lisi On guard against the
‘hd to danger which remains
the in Ply to all attacks in
. The Tties.”
* ores tional committee itself
Snag Zing a nationwide
Vhat a to let people know
Raunt” legislation of de
Seizure of power

De Gaulle’s powers limited
by French people's opposition

ES z

GUY MOLLET

Plan rejected
by Algerians

PARIS — General de
Gaulle’s “integration” policy
“can in no way be accepted as
a basis for the solution of
the -Algerian problem,” a
spokesman for the Algerian Na-
tional Liberation Front said
in Cairo last week.

“We completely reject this
plan,” he added.

With that he immediately
deflated the myth of de Gaulle
as Algeria’s savior — the myth
built up with the aid of
the crowds mustered for de
Gaulle’s visit by the settlers
and paratroops in Algiers,
Constantine and Bone.

Even the pro-de Gaulle sec-
tion of the French press ad-
mitted that the Algiers crowd
consisted predominantly of
French Algerians.

In Consstantine there were
more Arabs in the crowd —
they are a larger percentage of
the population there — when
de Gaulle repeated his affirm-
ation of the ultras’ integration
policy, which means continua-
tion of the war.

But the vast majority of Al-
gerians live in the country and
support the National Libera-
tion Front’s demand for com-
plete independence.

De Gaulle declared that in
three months the ten million
“French” who live in Algeria
“will take part with all France
in the greatest referendum in
with France will decide its
destiny.”

He thus obtains some six
millon-odd votes for his con-
stitution proposals, for, with
the paratroops and police
forces in Algeria, the idea of
any “free” vote just does, not
exist, os

He also repeated his pro-
posal that after the new con-
stitution the Algerians should
elect their representatives for
public office. But he left it
vague as to what powers these
representatives, to be elected
in a single college, should
have.

LONDON—Adadresssing the
British boilermarkers’ union
conference at Scarbourough
last week, Hugh Gaitskell,
British Labor party leader,
refused to condemn General
de Gaulle’s seizure of power:
It was his first comment on
the French crisis.

He could not discuss whether
those Socialists who voted for
or against de Gaulle were
right or wrong, he said, speak-
ing as a fraternal delegate
from the Labor party.

The decision was a _ pro-
foundly difficult one, he added.

He claimed that it was made
in complete sincerity by men
equally devoted to democracy
but differing as to the best
means of defending it.

Any attempt to label those
who were for de Gaulle as
right wing reactionaries and
those who were against him
as left wing irresponsibles, in
his opinion was foolish. A
glance at the list of voters
showed this.

For example, Jules Moch, a
strong opponent ‘of the Suez
policy, voted for de Gaulle.
Christian Pineau, foreign min-
ister at the time of Suez, voted
against de Gaulle.

But whatever the merits of
the new de Gaulle government,
he said, the British people
could not but be profoundly
concerned at the way in which
the change had been brought
about.

A legal republican govern-
ment was rendered powerless
and driven from office despite
the fact that it had a sub-
stantial majority in  parlia-
ment — because it could not
rely on the loyalty of the
army and police against the
threat of civil war from a
politico-military junta which
had seized power in Algeria.

$e bes xt

PARIS — The French
Socialist party executive de-
cided last week to confirm its
leaders in their present posi-
tions in the party pending the
next party congress.

This was to have been this
month, but right wing leaders,
headed by Guy Mollet, now a
vice-premier in de Gaulle’s
cabinet, succeeded in getting it
put off till a date to be fixed
later-and instead to hold a na-
tional information conference
on June 29, which will have no
opportunity to make any de-
cisions.

The executive instructed all
militants in the party to “re-
gard with fraternal respect the
different positions taken under
particularly difficult condi-
tions.”

DEFENSE ONLY

No U.S. bases

for Iceland

REYKJAVIK—Iceland will not allow the establishment
of rocket or atomic weapon bases for attack on other countries
na her territery, Prime Minister Hermann Jonasson told the

Icelandic parliament last week.

He explained that the treaty
permitting the stationing of
U.S. troops in Iceland was
purely defensive.

In December 1956 the Ice-
landic parliament voted for

withdrawal of all U.S. troops.
It then agreed to allow them
to remain at the Keflavik air
base, subject to an agreement
which can be terminated at
six months’ notice.

Keflavik air base in the midnight sun

USSR backs Iceland

in fisheries dispute

REYKJAVIK—The Soviet Union is backing Iceland in the
12-mile limit dispute which has brought threats of naval action

from the British government.

The Icelandic Foreign Office has published the text of a
message delivered by Soviet Ambassador Pavel Ermoshin.

This said that the Soviet
Union recognised Iceland’s new
12 miles fishing limits in ac-
cordance with the Soviet
Union’s attitude at the Geneva
conference.

Release of the Soviet note
follows the British note which
spoke of “preventing any un-
lawful attempt to interfere
with British vessels on the
high seas” when the new 12
miles limit comes into force on
September 1.

The new limit has been
challenged by big trawling
nations like Belgium, West
Germany and Britain which
take large catches from around
the Icelandic coast.

The Soviet Union, which has
a large trawling fleet in many
fishing areas, is getting Ice-
landic fish—one-third of the
total—by paying for it.

On British trawler owners’
insistence two years ago, the
British government banned
Icelandic trawlers from land-
ing catches in Britain. The
surplus fish left in Iceland was
then sold to the Soviet Union.

The British note has caused
considerable indignation among
the 160,000 Icelandic people, 97
percent of whose exports are
derived from fishing.

June 13, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3