GENERAL STRIKE CALLED

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 387, 19 March 1937, Page 5

GENERAL STRIKE CALLED

MILLION FRENCH WORKERS READY TO ACT. WARNING TO M. BLUM TO REJECT FASCISM. (Press Association—Copyright.) Received 1 2 nodn. PARIS, March 18. A million workers are estimated to have answered the overnight call of the Federation of Trade Unions for a general strike. While it is emphasised that this action is not directed against the Government, there is no doubt that it is meant as a warning to M. Blum not to remain inactive in the face of provocation by the Fascist organisations. Paris was uncannily quiet this morning. There was an almost complete absence of traffic, resulting in a stillness comparable only with that on Armistice Day. The question uppermost in everyone’s mind is how far the Government will be affected. The administrative committee of the Socialist Party in a communique affirms “unfailing confidence in the Government, but the Communists demand action against those seeking to apply the methods of General Franco and Herr Hitler to France. Later in the morning the strikers overturned two taxis and set on fire two “blackleg taxis.” Another incident occurred on the steps of the Bourse, where 200 Communists engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with 700 brokers, until driven out beyond the railings, from which the contestants shouted and spat at each other, until the police cleared the streets. The prevailing atmosphere, however, is holiday-like, pickets bantering the footsloggers good-humouredly. The strikers returned to work at noon, and traffic is now normal.