VITAL TO BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25660, 7 October 1944, Page 9

VITAL TO BRITAIN

FUTURE OF FRANCE DE GAULLE’S LEADERSHIP France means far more to England than she does to the United States and to Russia—and England more, to her than they, writes the editor of Nineteenth Century, London. It is for England above all, therefore, to have her own opinion with regard to the French Provisional Government. She must defer to Washington and Moscow in much—but not in this. France will be a great Power when the war is over, or even before, on one condition, that she retain her national unity. Her empire has shown remarkable cohesion. Her African and Asiatic subjects could have risen against her had they wished to, for she was prostrate. Nowhere, except in Syria, has there been any manifestation of strong anti-French sentiment. The French divisions who have fought with such skill and heroism in Italy are made up, for the most part, of Africans,' though they were led by Frenchmen from France. /' • ■ ’

In the mother country the nation has been united in the wish to get rid of the Germans. But there unity ends. As a military leader General de Gaulle has 4he greater part of the nation behind him, but not as a political leader. He is the symbol of unity against the foreign foe, but is in danger of becoming a symbol of disunity at home. ' j/HVivr. ■ : r.

The French Communists are remarkably strong and well organised. Until Russia came into the war they were defeatists. But since then they have become a heroic elite in the movement of resistance. But they have intentions that go beyond liberating France from the Germans. - „ , Communists Organised There is as little desire for social revolution' in France as there is anywhere else in Europe. The Europe of

to-day, unlike the Europe of 1918, is not at all in a revolutionary mood (Europe knows only too rwell what revolution is like). But where men and women are apathetic after a long and exhausting period of strain and shortage. and where they are perplexed because authority is divided and loyalties are in conflict, the small but resolute and united minority is able to do much, especially if it is armed as the French Communists are armed.

De Gaulle is not a Communist and does not want the Commune anywhere. But he agrees with the Communists in one respect—“ collaborationist ” has be--come synonymous with traitor in his mouth.

But the truth is that there are among “ collaborationists ” men who are no less patriotic than de Gaulle •and more patriotic than the Communists. The armee de l’afmistice, which the Germans allowed France to retain, is no less patriotic than the forces of la France combattante. Few Frenchmen were able to leave their country when the collapse came. And among those who could leave there were those who would not, thinking it their duty to stay behind—even if to do so meant collaborating with the enemy. For, after all. France must live. French Foreign Policy It, seems, unlikely that de Gaulle, with his dictatorial leanings, will be able to work with the Communists for long—he is more a man of the Right than of the Left (in so far as the terms Right and Left still have any meaning). But for the time being he means to use them—as they him. What will French foreign policy be? No one can foretell, though the matter is one of great moment to Britain. General de Gaulle has shown a very independent spirit and will not adapt his foreign policy to suit the wishes of others, Britain included. -France shows little inclination to resume her old alliance with the Eastern and South-eastern countries of Europe, but is, rather, resolved upon a close alliance with Russia. Russia herself surely wants a strong France and is, therefore, hardly interested in a Communist France, which could not last and could not be strong even if it -lasted. When de Gaulle no longer heeds the Communists he will be able to dispose of them without incurring the displeasure of Russia. Regional Federations

The French are, of course, intensely anti-German. But national hatreds do not endure. De Gaulle himself is capable of bold empiricism and we cannot be sure whether France under his leadership will not revise her attitude toward Germany. The possibility of a Franco-German understanding within the next decade or so cannot be excluded altogether, in any case France will promote her own interests and will not allow those interests to be prejudiced by any feeling of gratitude which she may have toward Britain and the United States.

The idea that Europe should be organised in regional federations is gaining much support, especially in Europe itself. Three possible federations have been adumbrated: the Federation of the Middle Zone, (countries between the Baltic and the /Egean), the Northern Federation' (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark) and the Western Federation.

The third has the support of de Gaulle. Speaking in the Consultative Assembly on March 18 this year, he proposed that there should be a Western group of nations, whose main highways would be the English Channel, the Rhine and the Mediterranean. The group, therefore, would consist of the British Isles, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Portugal, and Spain. Customs’ Union Proposed

The Echo d’Alger of March 19 expounded General de Gaulle's speech of the previous day. According to the Echo the Western Federation should also include Switzerland and Italy. The negotiations between the Dutch, Belgian and Luxemburg Governments in London for a Customs union between the three countries show that the idea of regional federation, or at least of closer collaboration between groups of countries, is gaining ground. Justified as the concern may be that is felt by many because of the peculiar political idiosyncrasies of General de Gaulle, it must be admitted that he is a man of some force and that he cannot be ignored. But whatever he may or may not be, what matters is that we have lasting collaboration between France and Great Britain in Europe and between the French and British Empires in the world.