THE FIERY CROSS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 114, 10 November 1934, Page 11

THE FIERY CROSS

BLAZING IN FRANCE

THE COLONEL AND HIS CORPS

FIGHT WITH PARTIES'

A'large hall. It is filled with men and women who are unusually animated. Awaiting the entrance of the new champion' of the public, they engage in bribk 'conversation. Electricity in the'air., writes Sisley Huddle&tou ia tlie '^Christian Science Monitor."

The hero of the evening—Colonel Francois do la Boeque—-cannot be there at the beginning of the inecling. For it is his busincbs to carry the ''fiery cross" to another gathering.. 'At this moment lie is stirring to enthusiasm a crowd of citizens, arid when-he'has stirred us to enthusiasm, he will ..hurry off to a third assembly.

Everybody wants to hear him.' Everybody wants to judge him. Is he indeed the "Chief whom we expect—the French Fuhrer, the French Ducci Time will show. There are other>candidates.- The circumstances are changing rapidly. But in the meantime, it -can be said that he is the most striking personality among those who denounce the incompetence and the corruption of the' existing Parliamentary regime.

The Colonel has troops. How many, it would be hard to estimate. They are irtj creasing daily. But the nucleus of the organisation, known'as the Croix de Feu, is a band of veterans of the Great War who were actually under fire, and who received honours and citations for courageous conduct. They are, as it wore,' the elite of the Anciens Combattants. Anybody of a certain, age could be, and was compelled to be, a soldier. But these men are the pick of tlie ex-soldiers. To bring them together and to command them is a special distinction. Let us put these valiant followers of Colonel de la Rbcque at fiO.OOO men. They are merely the core of the Croix tie Ifeu. There are tens of thousands of more youthful adherents, who will be called upon, if France is drawn into another war by the diplomacy of its elder statesmen, to emulate the • preceding generation. There are civilian'adherents whom it would be difficult to number but who certainly form a sufficiently considerable body to influence —perhaps to direct—the course of events. The sympathisers with the Croix de Feu are of all ages and of all classes. "Nothing is more foolish," remarked my neighbour! "than this modern method of counting head's. I have a profound contempt for statistics which try to measure a vital impulse. The bulk of the people is always somewhat apathetic until the time for action arrives. What it requires is a leader." AFTER FEBRUARY. After the tragic happenings of February 6, the Croix de 'Feu, which had attracted only the mildest attention, suddenly came into prominence. It was regarded as the spearhead of the opposition to, the party system which has brought France to its present pass. There are plenty of rivals of the Croix de Feu, especially on the Left, where the sentiment in favour of dictatorial measures, though of a more political character, is'probably stronger than it is on the Eight. Looking ■ round .this meeting, ■ one is bound to confess that the middle classes predominate. ,The workers are doubtless drawn by • the professing Socialists and Communists. The old-fashioned anslocracy, greatly depleted and submerged by the' new-fashioned plutocracy, is doubtUxa taken ' over by the Royalists. let after all—-the peasants apart—it is the bourgeoisie which constitutes the backbone of France. There is nothing particularly soldierlike in this assembly. Well-dressed women mnke up a good proportion of the' audience. They are by no means the least zealous. As for the men, they appear to belong to every grade. There are those whom one would take to bo foremen in the factories, employees in the bureauxj shopkeepers, manufacturers, intellectuals. They have become aware of maladministration.' Their proverbial indifference to public affairs has not' resisted the revelations and the intolerable conditions of these times. They represent an immense force. ■ How ready they arc-to applaud! lliey are not the ordinary frequenters of public' meetings. It is obvious that the proceedings are unfamiliar to them, and that they*»re prepared to listen with unusual respect. On the platform itself the politicians were conspicuous by their absence. One deputy, blinded in the war, who is particularly popular among ex-servicemen, was invited to sit on the platform. But ho decided to remain in the audience. "The Colonel would not wish to have a Parliamentarian by. his side," he explained. THE COLONEL. ~ The speeches-succeded each otheri winning applause. Yet everybody was impatient for the'arrival of the Colonel. At last a rumour swept the hall. And the cry, came: "Here he is!" . , • As the audience rose-spontaneously, like a "single peison, to its leet, the .Colonel appeared. Astonishingly young he seemed to be, for one who .had held the rank ol captain, in the war which already is, remote. Young, slender, quick in his movements, an impressive personality. "Vive la lloeque!" was shouted and repeated and echoed in the hall as he advanced to his place. Ko military parade. He was clad m black. His clean-shaven iace v as as expressive as that of an actor. In his small piercing eyes there flashed •trance names. His square, chin suggested energy, determination. He spoke simply, clearly, decisively. _ . Certainly he knows how to impose himself, but'it is not by exciting the crowd to action.' On the contrary he insisted on the necessity of calm and discipline. Nothing was to be gained by »«»w»d^ ate action. He made an appeal to the idea of self-sacrifice in the interest of Fiance. He exalted the bourgeoisie, which knows also how to do its duty. lUcn, amid a storm of applause he vanished He was already on his way to anotnci mThertare those who are puzzled by the ascendancy he has acquired without Vain rhetoric, without wild prophecies. But his maAner is the temperament of the haTnoTolrticiLs thate SS for the^ lotion of "leagues,*' by which is meant these organisations which are held to oHhe SfA'Si1 a S^ialiWaV actcr and may have' a revolutionary purpose? are m«ey acceptable and they, too, demand the dissolution of their adveibaries. '

A POSTER WAR- .=■: At present there is a battle, of- posters When the. Croix de JFeui «™M^;«« ■flame which burns;: under the. Arc de Triomphe it was accused- ot playing a, BrovSve role. To which.it responded, on the Valk of Paris, ,that those who so_ accmed it "vere the real W^rf s:oTofr^ h!a^^r| l mder thetricojor flag, -and who repeated "Marxist slavery," to join the move " is ' the programmed The bills wlSh are to be i5.4%11. oy f in the provincial towns declare that it stands for the public welfare. It demands thf punishment of those response for disorder, however high they,n^s;jf. placed; the suppression of secret organisations- the separation-of powers, tlie suence of parties. It de«o lmces specuW tion and; dear living. -There no deflation without a lowering <?^ Pr.icef • It'does not believe, in constitution Ikform in,conditions of trouble. The country wants a truce it wants peace, not for the politicians, but against them. It opposes corruption ,and government by ''inih^-Figaro/' whiclx^is not the orgah of'tlie'croix' de Feu, but is sympa ; thetic to the "patriotic .■ a ß ßoci.itions, General Niessel significantly, define^ the role of these associations in the event.,ol disorder. 'He says the Socialists and the Communists proclaim their intention of seizing power by violence. ■ They have formed a common front. If there is an uprising, will the Government act resolutely? Will the police and the gendarmerie suffice? The army, he intimates, may have to intervene. But the army is composed of young conscripts .. "It is, then, indispensable,' he continues, "that the patriotic associations should be. ready.-tq But,at ibe,dißposal,pf-,

the Government theeffectives necessary to guard public buildings, ■to aid the police, and to reinforce, voluntarily, and legally, the troops , employed in the;, maintenance of public. order. ~. . Each of . these associations should' have a list of good citizens ready to, march. ' There should "he a framework of men offering every guarantee of sangfroid and of moral-auth-ority, and the means o£ convoking and grouping' them ■rapidly at the demand of. the public authority. ■

A feeble government would render such co-ordination'still more necessary. There should therefore be an understanding in advance. It is to be doubted whether that ■: understanding is reached. . The Croix de T"eu insists on its 'complete" indepe_ndence, -: ;, .