Bread & Ballots

Quietly, as though there had been no long and terrible interruption, France began her first free election campaign in five years. At stake in the balloting between April 25 and June 3 will be only municipal and departmental offices. National elections will come later. Women will vote for the first time in French history, and they will probably be a majority, since over 2,000,000 Frenchmen are still prisoners in Germany. But to France it was a proud achievement that she should be the first liberated nation to put her trust in the people's vote.

The Communists got away first. They plastered Paris billboards with copies of a 500-word manifesto addressed to women: "Unite for war! Unite behind the Government! All for unity!" But party strategists were worried. Their new, pro-Government line (TIME, Feb. 12) had lost followers. Last week they announced a modification of their program. Like the Socialists, they said, they now stood for a limited nationalization program.

Hard on the Communist heels pressed the Socialists. The Mouvement de Liberation Nationale, No. 1 Resistance group and strongly socialist in outlook, put up notices, also addressed to women: "Sign our petition for more food!" MLN strategists thought they had a sure vote-catcher in the "more food" slogan. French daily rations--1,200 calories--were still gravely below the health minimum. Cried the Paris Combat: "On the food problem the Government has succeeded in rallying unanimity . . . against the Government." The Toulouse Patriote reported that housewives were saying, "We ate better when the Germans were here."

Also running, but late in starting, were: 1) The Mouvement Republicain Populaire, a new left-of-center party which included Christian Democrats, like Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, and the moderate bourgeoisie; 2) the Radical Socialists, the old center party of Edouard Herriot (still a prisoner in Germany), now leaning for strength on the conservative peasantry. Barred from voting were many who once formed France's extreme right. A Government decree had withdrawn the franchise from collaborators.

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