M. Bidault's Task
The stages by which France obtained its latest Cabinet followed each other quite inevitably. Once the M.R.P. had taken the lead, there was nothing left for the Communists to do but co-operate and for the Socialists to take a seat on the band-wagon. The possibility that the Communists might take office with Socialist support alone never really existed. The vote at the referendum on the constitution and at the general election, the hesitant attitude of the Socialists, and what survives of the spirit of a united resistance all pulled in the opposite direction. So once again the tripod has been set up. The M.R.P. have eight seats in the new Cabinet, the Communists seven and the Socialists six. Once again a super- ficially united but actually divided Assembly must try to produce an agreed constitution. A great deal now depends on M. Bidault. Besides being Prime Minister he carries the ex-Leung duties of Foreign Minister and Minister of Information. He has to preside over the drafting of a new constitution,—which means making another guess at the riddle of What the people of France really want. He has to keep the country's economic life on an even keel while conceding the Communist demand for an increase of at least fifteen per cent. in wages. And always he has to play his part in the exhausting negotiations for an international settlement. M. Bidault was a successful leader of the resistance, but it has yet to be proved that he is a really great statesman. The next four or five months will provide the test.
