M. LEON BLUM.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20183, 1 May 1937, Page 13 (Supplement)

M. LEON BLUM.

Millionaire :: Socialist :: Prime Minister.

(Current Problems)

ON THE EVE of the Great War, the fiery Jaures, leader of France's Socialists, was shot to death by a fanatic patriot in a little cafe off the Grands Boulevards of Paris. Into the great man’s shoes stepped Leon Blum—dilettante, critic and boulevardier, and as unlike the popular conception of a Red chief as it is possible to imagine. Blum is a full-blooded Jew, the son of a wealthy family of Alsatian silk manufacturers. He had always been deeply studious, and after a brilliant career at school he entered the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, France’s famous training school for her high civil servants. Its examinations are reputed to be the stiffest in the world; the young Blum took each scholastic hurdle In his stride. Nevertheless, his connection with the Academie ended abruptly. He had become more and more interested in libertarian doctrines, and a series of disputes on points of theory with his professors ended in his leaving the school, his studies unfinished. Blum turned to journalism, and became noted for his theatrical and other reviews. Despite his personal wealth, the passing of his youth did not weaken his Allegiance to the Socialist Cause. The silver spoon with which he was born may have communicated some of its virtues to his tongue—his powers of oratory were invaluable to the party; but he is no mere loud-mouthed demagogue. His culture is profound and he has that appreciation of good food, fine wines and the classics which seems to distinguish the best type of French politician. Blum is now aged 64, and he has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies for 17 years. As far back as 1931 it was freely prophesied that he would be France’s first Socialist Premier. His resourcefulness, knowledge of Parliamentary tactics and reputation for oratorical dialectics have made impregnable his position as leader of his party. With his flat black hat and string tie, his weak eyes that peer myopically from thick spectacles, his walrus moustache and his frail figure, Blum has been for years the joy of the Parisian caricaturists, who are as savage with their pencils as their colleagues are with their typewriters. Despite his fragile appearance, however, Bluni ■is no physical weakling. He is a keen cyclist, walker and fencer, and each day the chairs in his office are pushed back against the wall while he goes through a course of exercises with an instructor, which end with a little medicine ball, boxing and massage. Blum is the owner of Le Populaire, the Socialist daily, and derives a substantial portion of his income from it. It

Owes a Good Deal of Its Success

to the colourful invectives of the owner in the leading columns. One of Blum’s few rivals in this type of journalism is Charles Maurras. of the Royalist Action Francaise. But Maurras went a little far, even for Paris, some months ago when he wrote, inter alia: “If Blum’s policy leads to war, Frenchmen should use carving knives to eliminate him and his followers.” He was sent to gaol for eight months for inciting to murder. Few Premiers have had as unpropitious a beginning to their term of office as Blum. France was floundering in the trough of the blackest depression in her chequered

•history. The Treasury was empty, the deficit staggering, and the country’s economic morale at the lowest possible ebb. Then a section of Blum’s electors scented the possibility of concessions to be wrung from the country’s first Socialist. Ministry. Demands were made and not immediately granted; and the first “stay-in” strike was initiated in a Paris factory. The idea of the new strike technique spread like wildfire throughout France. The majority of the country's Industries were paralysed, and for a while it looked as if the prophecies of

Civil War and General Rnin

that were freely made would be justified. But France kept her head, as she usually does in acute crises. The new Ministry called conferences of employers and employees throughout the country, agreements were drawn up and signed granting the workers most of the concessions they demanded, including increased wages and annual paid holidays; the trouble gradually settled down, and the country breaithed again. Whether France, in the present state of her industries, can continue to afford these concessions remains to be seen; the latest cable news suggests she cannot. Blum’s next important step was to alter the constitution of the Bank of France, hitherto controlled by the wealthy and powerful clique known as the “200 Families.” The general public now has representation on the board of governors, and other important changes have made the organisation of the Bank more liberal. But the most courageous action of Blum’s so far has been the devaluation of the franc —a move which every Ministry for years past has secretly recognised the need of but has feared to make. A naturally frugal nation which has seen fourfifths of its savings swept away in the collapse of 1925 had developed a fullblooded phobia against interference with it 3 currency.

‘Hands Off the Franc!”

was an accepted battle-cry at the hustings. Blum himself promised before the elections that the sacred coin would not be touched; but he saw the inevitable and the international agreement by which the franc was lowered to 105 against sterling and held there was so quietly and skilfully engineered that scarcely a voice was raised in protest. Whether devaluation has come in time to save France economically remains to be seen. The cables are not reassuring. It is claimed that confidence is returning; but Blum’s higher-wage and shorter-hour programme has not brought the expansion of trade he expected. M. Vincent Auriol, his Finance Minister, has to find £280,000.000 for this year’s estimates, and the £50,000,000 borrowed from England on the security of France’s railways has to be repaid. M. Auriol is against increased taxation, inflation or further devaluation of the franc, and hopes to borrow internally. He frankly admits the country is “in low water,” and the chief ray of light in his darkness seems to be the coming Paris Exhibition. “The great influx of visitors,” he says, “will help me to finance the necessary foreign exchange.” France has suffered much, and it is to be hoped that the Minister’s optimism will be justified. But the next six months wil be vital and dangerous ones for his country.