Rebels from the Rally
General de Gaulle is a statesman as consistently true to his principles as the Elder Cato. He has always maintained that the constitution with which the Fourth Republic saddled itself at the end of the waaz is unworkable. Any action which helps to perpetuate that is therefore a retrograde step. From this point of view the General has never swerved. Before the last general election he declared that his Rally of the French People would not become involved in the ordinary intrigues of French political parties. When the election had taken place, and the Rilly emerged as the strongest single party in the Assembly, the General astonished many observers by insisting that he meant what he said : he has rejected all sug- gestions for co-operation with other groups, and has affected to treat all varieties of coalition Governments as equally un- desirable. This logical detachment has proved too much for some of his supporters. Thirty-eight dissidents among .the Gaullists have found illogical the logic which obliges them to join with the Communists in securing the downfall of M. Pinay's Government, with many of whose measures they find them- selves in agreement. They have shown a restive spirit before now, but at last they have finally taken the plunge and cut themselves off from the orthodox Gaullists. Though their numbers are still small, and though their hopes of survival at a future election as a separate entity must be considered slight, their existence gives the other Parliamentary parties more room for manoeuvre in the immediate future. There are also signs that their restiveness is,shared. by other Gaullist deputies, who are irked by a state of affairs which makes their actions in the Assembly subject to decisions by a leader,who is himself outside the life of the Assembly.
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