THE TABLET March 21st, 1959. VOL. 213, No 6200

Published as a Newspaper

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

MARCH 2 1 s t , 1959

NINEPENCE

Exploiting an Advantage: The W est’s O pportun i ty in G e rm any

Separation or Partnership : T h e Choice F ac in g A frica. By P a tr ic k W a ll, M .P .

Liturgical Renaissance I B reaking H is to rical Barriers. By E dm u n d F lo o d , O.S.B.

1he Dream of the Rood : A R enderin g by V incent K e rn s , M.S.F.S.

At the Foot of the Cross: V. The M o th e r o f Jesus. By M ichael Hollings

* r’ifics’ Columns : Notebook : Book Reviews : Letters : Chess

THE LEFT IN OPPOSITION

i_jp HE second round of municipal voting in France has confirmed what the first indicated, th a t there are a great many Frenchmen who, although they supported the change from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic, now very much dislike some of the medicine President de Gaulle is asking them to swallow. A t the moment the Communists are the chief beneficiaries from this change of mood. But there is obviously going to be scope for an opposition which will be of the Left without being Communist ; and it is this position which M. MendèsFrance proposes to fill. Last week his paper L ’Express was stopped by the Government, which when it likes can always behave like a Government of a country at war. The Algerian operations can be considered as purely domestic police operations, with which the United Nations can have no claim to concern itself, or they can be treated as a form of warfare, against opponents operating from bases outside French territory and fighting for the possession of Algeria, so that France is a t war with an external enemy. The reality does not fit either category very closely. But the position can be called sufficiently abnormal for the Government to take and exercise special powers over the Press. This is notoriously dangerous in France, and it could quickly dissipate much of the strength that President de Gaulle enjoys, precisely because he has so far shown himself so solicitous to maintain constitutional democratic government, with the rights of citizens that go with it.

M. Mendès-France believes he can make himself the heir to that middle class leftism which made the career of Léon Blum. It is much more doubtful if he can make himself a leader of the masses, and when he comes to London to coincide with Signor Nenni, and talk with Mr. Bevan about how the Left can have a less disappointing next fifteen years, the common ground takes a good deal of finding.

Both M. Mendès-France and Signor Nenni are in the unenviable position—it is also Mr. Bcvan’s—that their political prospects recede if things go well fo r their countrymen. If there is unemployment in France and Italy if the Common Market does not develop as expected, their prospects improve. They are not likely to inherit prosperity. They might inherit economic troubles with which they would be very ill-equipped to cope. Unlike Signor Nenni, M. Mendes-France is not an old man in a hurry : he can bide his time. Mr. Gaitskell’s Short-sighted Tactics

M. Mendes-France has to take a longer view than Mr. Gaitskell, who is at present doing himself a great deal of harm. His recent parliamentary performances, over the Suez settlement as over the Cyprus settlement, give the impression of being primarily approached with his own supporters in view. It is as though he is determined to prove that, Wykehamist though he be, he can show them sport as a full-blooded party leader. With this preoccupation, he seems to lose sight of the larger and much more important national considerations, which a Leader of the Opposition ought always to have in the forefront of his mind, when the issue is one of foreign policy. He seized on the Cyprus settlement as a chance to arraign the Government’s policy, and he did just the same thing over Suez a day or two before Mr. Macmillan and Mr. Selwyn Lloyd left for Washington. This was not the time to rake over the events of November, 1956, which put such a great strain on relations, for very different reasons, with the United States, with France, and with the Asian Dominions. What matters now is that in all three directions the damage has been repaired, and repaired by Mr. Macmillan. In the missions on which the Prime Minister is now engaged, the Labour Party is not in disagreement with what he is trying to do, and its spokesmen ought not to let that important national unity be obscured by seeking to revive old quarrels. Even as party political tactics, sorrow ra ther than anger would pay the Labour leaders much better. But the course that would pay them best of all is to refrain from re tro ­