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circles; and these hold that France should treat the Soviet violation of
territory with at least as much severity as the German violation. The more
prudent diplomats, however, are always counting on a new turn by Stalin;
and when challenged they reply: "Has Poland asked that we intervene to
defend the Ukraine? No! And besides, has the Franco-Soviet pact been
abrogated? No indeed!"
They are incorrigible!
And consider the almost insurmountable difficulty of the dual task
imposed on M. Daladier. He must humor Stalin on one hand, and on the
other hunt down the Stalinists. For the Stalinists do defend themselves;
and in spite of everything their pacifist pretensions still find some response
in the working class. This is all the more true because the reformist leaders,
though anti-Stalinist, are patriots, and adhere to the famous theory, so
dear to M. Jean Zyromski, of the "possible coincidence" between national
and international duty. Actually such coincidence never exists for the
workers, but exists all the time for the bourgeoisie; and that class is now
profiting by the nationalist position held yesterday by the Stalinists with
the purpose of disrupting the proletarian organizations. Only the social–
revolutionists of the PSOP (Socialist Workers and Peasants Party) have
maintained a correct line throughout. Anti-Stalinist from an international
viewpoint, they too are tracked down, imprisoned, virtually driven under–
ground. The future doubtless depends on their ability to seize control of
the revolutionary vanguard from the Stalinists.
And while all this is being played out in the depths, our big intel–
lectuals continue to disguise their bad logic in veils of rhetoric at five
hundred francs a yard. That heroic old Academician Paul Valery cooly
defines a free country as "one in which war or peace cannot be the act of a
single man." But why should not war and peace be decided by plebiscite?
That would certainly be better. Yet if this were the definition of a free
country there would not be many free countries. . . . Thus the whole
Academy is mobilized to provide new definitions for old phenomena.
The radio, meanwhile, exhibits one after another all the celebrated
French virtues: politeness, reasonableness, logic, chivalry. Gillet, Vallery–
Radot, Andre Siegfried, and Francois Mauriac take turns at the micro–
phone. And even Andre Gide retails lectures on "Shakespeare artd Mo–
liere," in the service of the entente cordiale. Obviously a literary subject
can be approached from many angles. Then why not discuss "Kant and
Descartes" or "Newton and Einstein"?
English at any rate is very much the fashion. People are learning it
in order to talk with the Tommies and also to understand a little better, if
possible, the soul of the great imperial sister across the Channel. Aristo–
cratic ideas are also in vogue. A great deal of importance is being attached
to the remarks of Prince Otto of Hapsburg, who recently talked with M.
Benes and who, it appears, is "a very nice young man." Another object of
current interest is the Reichswehr. On this subject we can't do better than
cite one of the greatest, most profound, most French of all writers, Clement
