Democratic Paralysis in France

Abstract

DEFEAT is never so galling as when no battle has been fought. In the critical days of last May, the French left was obliged to retreat without having engaged its adver saries at any point. The fascists were at no time able to rally more than two thousand people in Paris. Observers were surprised at the apparent indifference of the French people. The reason was that events as they unfolded, whether in Algeria or in the higher echelons of power, were beyond their reach. This was a rev olution which developed almost mechanically as the various forces involved fenced invisibly until the moment when, with the sole exception of the Communist Party, they came together in support of General de Gaulle. Despite the intervention of de Gaulle in the r?le of mediator, it cannot be denied that we of the non-Communist left have suf fered a defeat in a major strategic battle. That defeat, however, is abstract and incomplete, for the victor does not belong to any camp. It was not a policy that triumphed but a man. And, al though this itself is extremely serious from the standpoint of democrats, the man in this case is the only one who can possibly avoid becoming the prisoner of the now dominant forces. Para doxically, the effect of this anti-democratic coup has been to give French politics a freedom which had been lost, and it is not be yond the bounds of possibility that this freedom, however limited, will benefit the cause of democracy. At this juncture much must be left to the ruses of history. As I write, the situation itself is characterized by ambiguity at all levels: in Algeria, in the body of opinion rallied round de Gaulle and in the purposes of the General himself. The battle will again be joined but it is not yet clear what positions the various camps will take and what forces they will be able to enlist. To give a clear picture of the way in which we succumbed to paralysis, I shall recall certain basic facts, the first of which is this: the French left was not the victim of militarists and fascists; it had already committed suicide. The demise of the French left occurred not on May 30, 1958, but on February 6, 1956. On that date Premier Guy Mollet, who as head of a leftist-oriented government had gone to North Africa