FRANCE ON VERSE OF SERIOUS INDUSTRIAL UPHEAVAL

Evening Star, Issue 26138, 27 June 1947, Page 5

FRANCE ON VERSE OF SERIOUS INDUSTRIAL UPHEAVAL

LONDON, June 26. The majority of French morning newspapers predicted an early Government crisis as the result of the new austerity Budget, says (Reuter’s Paris correspondent. The independent resistance paper, ‘Combat.’ went so far as to forecast the seizure of power by a dictator if the Government fell “as a consequence of the Ministerial crisis, which certain people are still inclined to regard as a parliamentary incident.’’

The Socialist, 31. Blum, writing in ‘ Populairej’ admitted the failure of the price-reduction plan which he inaugurated in December. He added: “ France has experienced a lot of parliamentary crises, hut they ‘were small compared with the present one."

With a quarter of a million workers already striking,. 40,000 textile workers are prepared to walk out to-day if the Government does not meet demands for increased production bonuses. The National Union of Metallurgists, representing 300,000 men, announced a 24-hour protest strike for July 1, and 1,300 administrative workers in mining offices joined the 180,000 striking miners. A strike of 50,000 bank employees has crippled business transactions throughout France.

The Christian Federation of Trade Unions, which has hitherto maintained a moderate attitude on the question of wage increases, has now joined the Communist-controlled General Confederation of Labour in demanding general wage increases and condemning the new “ Save the Franc ” financial measures. Reuter’s correspondent says that although the strikes throughout France cannot all be directly attributed to the Government’s austerity Budget, the passage of the Bill has acted like oil on the flames of Labour unrest. The Communist newspapers’ and leaders’ Condemnation of the Bill as calculated to increase the cost of living has caused the temper of the strikers in the past 21 hours to harden. This is shown by the fact that bank workers’ representatives, when negotiating with the employers and the Government, walked out during the discussions.