GRAVE INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23677, 28 November 1938, Page 5

GRAVE INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS

Workers Prepare To Strike This Week SOCIALISTS DEMAND NEW GOVERNMENT HINT OF MILITARY ACTION BY DALADIER (United Press Assn— Telegraph Copyright) (Received Nov. 27, 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 26. Two major developments in France threaten a political and econolnic upheaval. The first is the trades unions’ decision to hold a general strike on November 30, to which the General Confederation of Labour has unanimously offered support, and the second is the Socialists’ demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister (M. Edouard Daladier), thereby officially withdrawing from theGovernment’s majority. M. Daladier has stated that he will not tolerate the holding up of essential services, and has conferred with military and municipal chiefs with a view to their maintenance in the, event of a complete stoppage. A decree was being issued today empowering the Government to requisition the coal mines and cognate industries in northern France engaged in war work, in which 51,000 men are on strike. The socialist leader, M. Leon Blum, appeals to M. Daladier to resign, enabling a “Government of union and moral unity” to establish internal peace. M. Blum asserts that the strike movement was provoked by the Government, and describes the situation as “a social battle, the consequences of which cannot be foreseen.” The Paris correspondent of The Evening News says the trades unions decided on Friday to call a 24-hour general strike of 4,000,000 workers on December 1. CLASH AT RENAULT WORKS Ten thousand guards and police came into conflict with the strikers in the course of evacuation of the Renault works and arrested 200. Twelve guards were injured and one policeman had his skull fractured and an eye gouged

out . i The Government banned all open-air f meetings in the Paris area arranged ; for today. _ ! M. Daladier intends to dissolve the < Communist Party because of its refusal to obey the social decrees. i The Government will requisition the railways today; the mines are already requisitioned. The strikers number 100,000 altogether. Mobile Guards have evacuated strikers from 50 out of 70 factories, leaving 12,000 in occupation. A military staff took over the Anzin mine and railway works, which have resumed. Rail workers held up suburban trains for 30 minutes, passengers joining in the shout of: “Down with Daladier and the decree laws!” Chemical workers and builders in various districts will go on strike today. The Government has forbidden mass demonstrations organized in the Paris region. The Trades Union headquarters has sent telegrams to unions throughout France demanding complete observance of the stoppage on November 30 and ordering resumption of work afterwards and the avoidance of incidents and hasty action. Sixty men were arrested during antiGovernment demonstrations at a Parisian railway terminus. The Communist Party in a statement bitterly attacks M. Daladier, alleging the “Hitlerization” of France and condemning the use of tear gas against the Renault workers. DALADIER DETERMINED M. Daladier, facing a troubled weekend, feels that in spite of the adverse votes of the leftist parties he still possesses considerable support throughout the country. He is determined to maintain a strong hand. All the strikers, numbering 50,000, employed in metallurgical works and mines have been dismissed. They will now have to apply for re-employment, which will enable the rejection of agitators. Most of the 60 men arrested at Parisian termini will bo charged with insurrection. There was no work today in factories at Lille and Valenciennes, where the strike is complete. The leaders ordered the strikers on a mass parade | at Lille, resulting in the municipality | demanding M. Daladier to prohibit assembly. The agitation is spreading to the colonies. > General Douming, commander of the Nord military region, has arrived at Valenciennes, where he will open a court-martial in the morning. A later message says that military! law has relaxed the, tension and most of the miners are resuming. Sixty thousand metal workers are idle in the north of France. In Paris 282 demonstrators were arrested and four were sentenced to 10 days’ imprisonment. GERMAN VISIT MAY BE CANCELLED (Received November 27, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 26. The Berlin correspondent of The Daily Telegraph learns that the German Foreign Minister (Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop) may not go to Paris in view of the French internal situation. COMBINING - TO REBEL! ALLEGED I ARRESTED STRIKERS IN CUSTODY (Independent Cable Service) PARIS, November 25. The police announce that 290 of the 700 men arrested after the disturbances at the Renault works are being kept in custody and they will be charged with combining for an armed rebellion. The police were forced to use tear gas to clear the works. The workmen erected barricades and used iron bars as weapons. The strikers broke the machinery and all the windows. After a hurried Cabinet meeting it

was decided that the Government should commandeer the railway in the Anzin district, where the miners have occupied the pits. Bank and Stock Exchange workers decided to participate in a general strike if called upon.