BLUM'S TASK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 173, 23 July 1936, Page 6

BLUM'S TASK.

So far Leon Blum, first Jew and Socialist Prime Minister of France, has. survived all attacks. He commands a somewhat motley crew, however, and whether he can' continue to weather what looks like choppy seas ahead remains to be seen. His party docs not control the Chamber. The Socialists merely are the largest unit in the Popular Front bloc, which combines Communists, so-called "splinter," or dissident, Communists, dissident Socialists, and Radical Socialists, for a total of 3SI seats out of 018.

To hold his position, the new Premier will have to please the Communists, who have pledged "loyalty" to the Popular Front Government. but decline to take part in it. The Communists want to nationalise the Bank of France and the munitions industry and curb the "200 rich families that rule the Republic." At the same time, however, M. Blum will have to please the Radical Socialists, who—despite their name—are mildly Left Republicans, mainly small merchants and land owners, who voted Left out of fear of Fascism, rather than love for Socialism. All, however, desire to see the League of Nations re-established in prestige; strong national defence; German and Italian Fascism restricted; and props put under the skittery franc.

"111 a country like France, with its long revolutionary tradition," commented the conservative "Daily Telegraph" of London, "it means a great deal for the Socialist head of a Radieal-Socialist-Communist coalition to declare that his aims can bo realised 'in the existing social regime within which we intend to act.' " "The Times" finds the "position of a Front Populaire Government . . . not nearly so secure as might be imagined. The Communists have refused to accept office in a bourgeois Government."