Next but One?

It is required of the promising young politician that he should be a pace ahead of his time. Often, as in the case of Britain's Aneurin Bevan, the shining locks of promise turn white before the step ahead is spanned. Pierre Mendes-France, who has often been compared with Bevan, is still young enough (46) to feel that the future is within his stride. Last week, the third in France's governmental crisis, Mendes-France asked the Chamber of Deputies to give him the power to lead a government.

A member of the Radical Socialist Par ty, which is in fact conservative, Mendes-France has advocated ending the war in Indo-China by negotiation. As a lawyer, he has defended the Tunisian nationalists and has attacked French misrule in North Africa. He has been openly distrustful of Germany. He has advocated limited disarmament to halt France's slide into bank ruptcy. Are such views practical politics? In a brilliant speech, Mendes-France almost proved they were.

The Neutralist. By hedging a little on earlier attitudes, he was able to clothe his position in a cautious reserve: "No imaginable policy could enable us to escape if, unhappily, a new war were to break out. That is the fundamental error of the so-called 'neutralist' thesis." But he sounded pretty neutralist himself; he promised to submit a plan (unspecified) to the Bermuda conference for "lightening the load" in Indo-China. He was earnest about ratification of the European Defense Community Treaty, but hinted that defeat on this point would not cause him to dissolve parliament. He advocated a cut in rearmament together with a planned investment program calculated to stimulate production and halt unemployment. He promised continued close relations with the U.S., but the whole tenor of his speech was that France could not hope to have a real voice in international affairs, unless it obtained economic independence from America.

Mendes-France broke with tradition by not engaging in the usual horse trading with other parties before presenting himself for investiture. He now jarred the Assembly with the remark: "I will ask all [my cabinet ministers] to engage themselves on their honor not to participate in the government which will succeed mine." Young, ambitious Assemblymen were delighted. But older political leaders, the professional perennial ministers, were suspicious. When it came to the vote, there were 191 deliberate abstentions and 119 (including the 96 Communists) votes against him. Nevertheless there were 301, votes (including the 105 Socialists) in his favor, only 13 short of the number necessary for his investiture.

The Old Hand. "These debates will not be without a tomorrow," said Mendes-France. Conservative Figaro was inclined to agree with him: "Many of the young ... by giving their votes to this man whose words will echo in the political life of tomorrow--if only because he has made the Socialist Party come out of its solitude--have shown above all a desire for a change and renewal... A page has been turned." Like Aneurin Bevan, promising Mendes-France had the air of being "the next Premier, but one."

Meanwhile, President Auriol sent for an old hand to be next to try. His choice: Acting Foreign Minister Georges Bidault. Bidault is no man to offend the union rules among ministers by demanding undue personal sacrifices of them.

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