The Press. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1909. THE FRENCH POSTAL STRIKE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13427, 20 May 1909, Page 6

The Press. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1909. THE FRENCH POSTAL STRIKE.

; There is a great- deal moro in the [ postal strike in Franco than a casual ■ observer at this distance would be apt ; to imagine. In its present stage it is ; a fight "a I'outrance - ' between a group I of revolutionary Socialist* and the i Government, backed l by Parliament; ! and for the present tho latter seem to ! bo gaining tho advantage. At the I same time there is a good l deal j to support the view thai Parliament is the Frankenstein who created tho monster now giving so much ■ trouble to '"lay. , ' The strikers and 1 their supporters are divided into two . important sections. There is one party of Civil Servants who complain of eeri- , ous grievances which they seek to have , remedied by Parliament in v regular ■ ' Constitutional way. There is also a revolutionary section which scouts the i ide-a of Parliamentary action, insists on ' the rights of Civil Servants to strike, and has allied itself γ-ith the Con- ; federated Labour Unions. Two years j ago thoro wtis a similar movement ; when a number of disaffected public servants sent an open letter to M. Clemenceau. stating their demands, j among which tho most important of all ] was the right to strike. In consequence ! of this manifesto a number of ■ officials were dismissed, among thorn being an electrician. M. Pataud. These dismissed p-jblic servants have / taken a prominent jtert in the recent i attempts to bring the dissatisfied Civil I iSrrvants into tho ranks of the revoluj tionnry .Socialists, and M. Pataud, j i,aid to be a very eloquent speaker, has j boon the loader. Our London correspondent sends us an account of a gTeat J meeting hold in the Paris Hippodrome 1 on Sunday, April 4th. the object of ! which, as explained by M. Pataud. was I to '"seal tho allianco between workmen " and officials."' M. Yvetor, tho revolutionary propagandist of tho General ; Confederation, of Labour, declared :— j " Pec.plo may say what they please. ;' " but the State employes will be on . I "our side in favour of tho general I j *' strikf, and if necessary tho destruction of property (lc sabotage'). *' It had loon said that it' war had broken \ out during tln> Past Offiw strike, Franct" ■would not have been abl-j to i i , make the preparations requisite for the j . doiVncc of the country. 31. Yvetot's! r reply to this supplies additional con- | ' firication to tho evidence wo havo re- I ; cently adducts] to snovv that Socialism i \ is urn notation of patriotism and , ■ loyalty, lie said :— i ''Wo want to' leave war out of ac- j ' count altogether, and that is v\ hy i \vr> made merry over the alarm, of til,? 'LourgeoLsie." W"c workmoii will > havo mini' of those Little fatherlands. : Our country is tho international workl, find l«>t mc tell the Post Office employes that their English comrades were pror/ured, if necessary, to : (■sabotor") the incoming j French maiis. Capitalism non- finds r it«t>U attacked by us on every si«ie. and when onco we havo the army on our sido <-very single bourgeois institution will cease to exist. It is ih»;

army which vro must work upon and v.-in over to our cause. Aβ soon as thi« army understands, wo shall make it cross over to the other side of tho barricade. Then we shall be armed with the weapons of the 'bourgeoisie' and revolution vriU bo, possible. Wo are only wnitins for vow officials in order to make a start." Resolutions were carried in opposition 1o the proposed iegislatioii regulating the status of State employee, and pled?in;; workmen in private employment to support their "comrades in the service •• oi tho .State," and adding—"lf tho • State attempts to repress tho move"meat among its paid servants, State ■ and private employe* together may ■• to every counter-measure, 111- ----•• eluding the general strike." A Jetter read Ly M. Pataud seemed to yiv«- general satisfaction, especially anions th»» gentlemen who talked to .eliMy of destroying public property, it vas trom a number of prison warders, who complained of their inadequate pay of £60 a year, sent, fraternal jzreetings to the meeting aud promised tj be in "at the death." The whole affair, it will be seen, ha?, it-i ut;ly look, and wo shall be surprised if it is settled by the dismissal of eomo live or six hundred officials reported to have taken place. That there are some genuine grievances among French Civil .Servants is undoubted. Evils which have made thoir appearance in New Zealand have been allowed to attain much more serious dimensions in Fiance, Tho service has been stutied with political nominees and promotion has taken place largely in response to political influence. In addition to this, the .spirit of Socialism abroad has ih-apn fanned, if it has not been actually created by members of Parliament anxious to catch votes. Even M. Simyan. the Postmaster-General., for whose removal the strikers have been clamouring, has simply been reaping that which he sowed. "When he and other members of the present Cabinet were simply deputies they constituted themselves active political agents of the discontented Civil Servants, nud demanded for thorn the right to constitute syndicates for the defence of their corporate interests. The Government of (he day yielded on this point, but when they found the syndicates joining the revolutionary General Confederation of Labour they became alarmed, and soon found themselves unable to check the movement which in their private capacities they had helped to foment. In the attempt to gain votes they made promises impossible of fulfilment. Just before the General Election of 190G the Chamber of Deputies voted a Bill by which-every workman on reaching his 60th year was to be entitled to a State pension of £20 a year. No means of providing the many millions of money required was suggested, and now tho Senatorial Committee to which the Bill was referred has raised the age to sixty-five years, and reduced the annual pension to £9 12s. All this, by producing intense disappointment, has added to the general discontent. One wonders what would be tho result if the Socialists got their way, and not only the Post Office and Telegraph Department, but all means of production were run by "the State," seeing that tho latter is evidently unable to manage even a couple of departments on sound business lines.