G. L. Arnold
FRENCH POLITICS:
FAILURE AND PROMISE
Watching the French struggle with their problems these past
few months has been an enlightening experience for obsezvers here in
London, especially since both the problems and the attempted solutions
contrast so markedly with our own experience. England this year has
been basking in the sunshine of an unusually long and agreeable sum–
mer stretching into mid-September, and in the metaphorical sunshine
of the Coronation, the Everest exploit, various sporting triumphs, a
slightly improved economic situation, and the world-wide attention
roused by Churchill's dramatic intezvention in the role of global peace–
maker. By contrast, France has been an unhappy land: rent by strikes
and political crises of uncommon length and ferocity, plagued with the
endless war in Indo-China, alarmed by tension in North Africa, scolded
or pitied by its allies in NATO, and latterly faced with the spectacle of
a resurrected Germany taking the lead in Europe. No wonder British
politicians, editorialists and commentators have adopted a rather super–
ior tone in dealing with French affairs. There has always been a tendency
here to deplore the un-British behavior of the French, but of late a
veritable chorus of woe has come into action. Even the newsreels have
caught the fashion: it is scarcely possible these days to enter a cinema
without being shown a French liner capsized, a Moroccan dignitary wear–
ing angry looks, or even a Parisian model clad in unsuitable gowns.
Tourists have been irritated by last summer's strikes which left a good
many of them stranded, and popular sympathy went out to the well–
publicized martyr who told the
Daily Express
he was through with holi–
daying in France ("and anyhow you can't get a decent cup of tea in
the place"). Not since the debacle of 1940 in fact have the British felt
so superior to their neighbors across the Channel, or taken such good care
to let the world-and especially the United States-know it.
And yet-there is scarcely an intelligent obsezver here who would
not prefer to live in Paris, and that not merely for the sake of beauty,
wit or gastronomy. There are more serious and enduring reasons why
