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France's slick Communists make few mistakes; last week they made a lallapalooza.

The party leadership has been under pressure from the rank-&-file, millions of whom are so new to the party that they still think for themselves. The militant members did not relish the idea of tame Communist participation in a government headed by moderate Georges Bidault. To appease this sentiment, the party's legislative leader Jacques Duclos (who knows better) permitted an all-out Communist effort to prevent the seating of certain Rightist deputies elected by the people.

They accused Frederic Dupont, a Paris city councilor for 13 years, of "intelligence with the enemy" during the occupation. Rightists answered that such an accusation should be heard in a court of law, not in the legislature. The Reds promptly let go with shrill invective. Pierre Herve, Communist intellectual, flung "Vichyite!" at Rightist Andre Mutter. The wizened but agile editor leaped up and started across the floor with fists doubled. One-armed Andre Le Trocquer, Socialist ex-Minister of the Interior, and two stiff-shirted, bechained ushers restrained Mutter. Meanwhile, the bedlam grew. The 150 members of Bidault's M.R.P. rose as one man and nonchalantly strolled out. ("We will not stick around while debate sinks to such levels.")

When order was restored, the Assembly seated Dupont (vote 341-to-130) with only the Communists voting against him. A similar effort to unseat wartime Premier Paul Reynaud met a similar fate.

The Reds had been isolated on the kind of issue every French voter can understand--an effort to thwart the will of the electorate. Observers wondered whether Duclos would try again this week when the name of Edouard Daladier, who was also elected, comes up.

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