Poisoned Gift

To the rostrum in the National Assembly stepped three former Premiers of France, to discuss Socialist Premier Guy Mollet's request for sweeping powers in Algeria. Declared sardonic Georges Bidault, leader of the Roman Catholic M.R.P.: "As Pascal said 300 years ago, 'Justice without force is impotent. *We cannot accept the impotence of justice . . . Everyone must know that all France will fight for Algeria. I did not vote for your investiture. I will vote for the special powers."

Spry Septuagenarian Paul Reynaud, Premier when France fell to the Germans, was critical: "What are the deeds of the government? They have given an impression of hesitation and weakness." Radical Socialist Edouard Daladier, Premier during the Munich conference (1938), asked: "Can we stand by and watch Algerian Frenchmen made foreigners in a land they have created?"

For all of their differences, many Deputies were united in a willingness to let Mollet try an Algerian policy of quelling violence while introducing reform. But then from the left side of the Chamber came tubby Communist Leader Jacques Duclos. A consistent supporter of Algerian nationalism, Duclos is showing even greater interest these days in drawing the Socialists into a Popular Front in line with Moscow's latest directive. Said he: "We couldn't approve some of these military measures, but we are convinced that unity of action will bring about a cease-fire and the opening of negotiations." Amid an angry hubbub, a Deputy demanded that Mollet repudiate Communist support. Said Mollet: "I'm making concessions to nobody." From the benches came the voice of Bidault: "M. Jacques Duclos has just made you a poisoned gift. The policy he outlined is not compatible with ours. You must choose--and choose for the nation."

The final vote was 455 to 76, with most of the opposition coming from the Poujadists and from Reynaud's right-wing independents. Despite its margin, Mollet's victory was anything but solid: in the current crisis, the 132 Communist votes were like grains of arsenic in the veins of unanimity. The nation waited to see if the government had enough heart to resist the fatal paralysis.

*Pascal added: "Force without justice is tyrannical."

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