Beginning a Dialogue

In France last week, as in the U.S., the presidential campaign was hotting up. The Socialist candidate, Marseille's handsome, able Mayor Gaston Defferre, 53, got solid party backing at a congress held in Clichy, north of Paris. Defferre went swiftly on the attack, accusing the Gaullist government of failures in education, housing and road building, and claiming that these objectives could best be met with "Horizon '80," his 15-year plan for strengthening France from 1965 to 1980.

Private Domains. In foreign affairs, Defferre argued for national independence based "on the economic rather than the military level," and hinted that, under favorable conditions, he would scrap De Gaulle's nuclear force de frappe. But above all, Defferre demanded changes in the Gaullist constitution, especially asking that 1) the President's term be shortened from seven to five years so that he can be elected at the same time as the National Assembly, 2) the President's role should be more that of an arbitrator than an arbitrary ruler with sole authority over such "private domains" as foreign policy, and 3) vital decisions be taken by the Cabinet "and not by one man alone, no matter how great he is."

Most observers expected De Gaulle to campaign by ignoring his Socialist opponent. As usual with De Gaulle, the observers were wrong. At his recent Elysee Palace press conference De Gaulle boasted of France's "general prosperity," then, in great detail, answered Defferre's criticisms of the French constitution. "Our constitution is good," said De Gaulle. "It has given proof of itself for more than five years," and was "neither rejected by the people nor invalidated by events." Assuredly, he declared, neither those who "sigh for the confusion of the past" nor "those who aim at a totalitarian regime" can willingly accept the constitution. "But let us keep it as it is."

Lackluster Speaker? Under Charles de Gaulle's stern and authoritarian rule, many Frenchmen have felt politically stifled. True, he has not proved to be the harsh dictator many critics predicted five years ago. But Frenchmen ache for a return to the clashing opinions of democratic rule--without the factional excesses of the past. Defferre, whom some think a lackluster speaker with little chance of success, represents the wistful inner hope for an end to political monologue and the beginning of dialogue in French politics.

Most experts give Defferre little chance of beating De Gaulle, now or in 1965. He is, after all, a virtual unknown. The most recent public opinion poll shows le grand Charles leading 61% to 38%, which Defferre finds not too discouraging. Campaigning hard in Paris and Bordeaux last week, Defferre was refusing to woo the Communists because, as he put it, "I couldn't sleep at night." To the Communist threat that they may run their own candidate, Defferre replies that this would simply play into the hands of the Gaullists and as sure the election of De Gaulle or his designated heir.

On his regular jobs, Defferre works a tight-packed, 15-hour day, both in his big, chandeliered mayor's office overlooking the old port of Marseille and at the offices of Le Provencal, where he serves as the newspaper's director. His chauffeured car is equipped with a hooded light so that he can read dispatches without disturbing the driver's vision. Fitting a presidential campaign into so rigid a schedule seems simple to hard-driving Gaston Defferre. "It is all," he says, "a question of organization."

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