COMMUNISTS IN FRANCE
Sts,—The author of the article, Whose Peace ?, makes some rather mis- leading assertions. Nobody who worked with the Free French move- ment during the war would agree with him that the Communists' part in it was in any serisa7a "disguise." To anyone in contact with Gaullists and Communists it was perfectly clear that both needed unity to defeat the Nazis—the Gaullists for reasons of nationalism, or patriotism, the Communists openly and proudly for reasons often proclaimed, chiefly that defeat would have spelled the end of the French working-classes' advance, the stamping-out of their acknowledged rights, their hard-woh trade union organisations and the extermination of all progressive and left- wing movements, Socialists and Liberals, too, as well as the Communists. This seems so obvious that it is absurd to talk about the Communist war effort (which cost tile party 50,000 executed) as a " disguise."
In just the same way it seems absurd to talk about the Paris Peace Congress as a " disguise." The Communists have never pretended that they would not prefer Communism in France to atomic war. They have always made it plain that they refuse to fight against the Soviet Union (which is surely obviously enough America's prospective " enemy," and itself has no intentions of launching a war). Why talk about " false- hood " and " trickery and meanness " when the cards are turned up for all to see ? As for'bad faith, Mr. Gillie might examine a few beams in the anti-Communist eye, before condemning Communist motes (of which he gives no concrete example)—for instance, the disarming and disband- ing of the Resistance forces in 1945 ; the ejection of Communists (repre- sentatives of the largest political party, and with 182 deputies) from the French Government in 1946 ; the amnesties and restoration of property to Vichyites, while left-wing " resistants " are persecuted for past action against collaborators (several cases in the French Press this month).
What about the faked Senate elections of 1948, where M. Moch introduced a new voting form specially so that the representatives of right-wing rural populations obtained more seats than the extreme left thickly-populated working-class areas ? What about Socialist bad faith in joining with the most reactionary elements in recent elections, at all costs to prevent Communists from gaining seats ? In municipal elec- tions (as at Issy-les-Moulineaux), in spite of a large majority of Com- munist votes, the Mayor or majority of councillors, through this "gang- ing-up," have been anti-Communist. What about the continued war in Vietnam ? What about the surrender of the reparations of Ruhr coal, by American requeu ? What about the Atlantic Charter, which engages France to be the ant line and " atomic cushion" in war if it comes ? I suggest that these acts break faith with the French people, and that the " States General " of the Communists and the Peace Congress are demonstrations, in all sincerity, of beliefs of what is in the best interests
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