14 SEPTEMBER 1945, Page 13

DE GAULLE AND JOUHAUX

Si,-1s not much of the comment on General de Gaulle's attitude towards M. Jouhaux rather unfair to the General? It leaves out of account the attitude of M. Jouhaux after the 1936 election. M. Blum, in a letter to " Citoyen Jouhaux," invited the C. G. T. to join the Government. This was criticised, not unreasonably, in France on the ground that the Con- federation had no responsibility to the electors. It became apparent during the stormy history of the Popular Front Governments that M. Blum was basing himself not on the electorate but on a rassemblement populaire composed of bodies outside Parliament. He was criticised cogently for this in an editorial in Le Temps on March It, 1937.

M. Jouhaux made his attitude clear with a speech at Clermont-Ferrand on June 6, 1937. According to The Times report of the following day, he said: If tomorrow events in Parliament brought about the fall of the Government, the C.G.T. would not accept this. The time for politics is past. Government must now be carried on in the sight of the country and according to the logic of democracy. In the economic sphere, the C.G.T. has a right to govern in, the name of the majority of the citizens which it represents: .

General de Gaulle surely has some ground for his mefumce.—Yours, &c., REGINALD J. DINGLE.

5 Talbot House, Sr. Martin's Lane, W.C.2. .