THE SOCIALIST PARTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26041, 3 January 1946, Page 5

THE SOCIALIST PARTY

POPULARITY WANING (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 2. The feeling of the French Socialists that they are losing ground resulted in the crisis over the defence vote, says the Paris correspondent of The Times. As the “ white collar ” party, and especially as the party of the lower grade civil servants, it suffered a setback recently when the Government forced it to accept a limitation of its claims for an immediate allround increase of civil servants' salaries. It is also the party which produced the former and present Ministers for Food, M. Pineau and M. Pierre Prigent. M. Pineau is blamed for lifting bread rationing, and M. Prigent for re-introducing rationing. The army estimates seemed a safe target for the Socialists. The regular officers are disliked because they are still regarded as relics of the 1940 defeat, and suspected of Petainism. The younger and newer officers are disliked for their ostentatious use and even abuse of army privileges. The Socialists hoped by a firm stand to renew their waning popularity and appear as defenders of the taxpayer. Batting on such a good wicket they thought they might score a few boundary hits against General de Gaulle, whose political use of his personal prestige offends the Socialists’ conception of democracy. The crisis leaves the impression that the Government’s position has been strengthened, and little has been achieved to restore the Socialists’ prestige.