18 MAY 1944, Page 22

Leon Blum Before His Judges. With a foreword by the

Rt. Hon. Clement R. Attlee, M.P., and an introduction by Felix Gouin. (Routledge. 6s.)

THIS little book is a useful addition to our knowledge both of the ignoble farce of the Riom trials and of the history of the front populaire. The prosecution of M. Blum was dishonest and in- competent in the true Vichy fashion. Brilliant as the defence is, one cannot help wondering whether M. IKum was not lucky in having to deal with interrogators with no more advanced equipment as economists than the Riom judges had. But among other things the book makes plain that one weakness of the Blum Government was a naive hopefulness that Hitler really did not mean business and that old, optimistic slogans were still relevant. Are there any British stone-throwers in the house?