LEON BLUM
L'Experience Blum : Un an de Front Populaire. (Editions du Sagittaire. 15 francs.) Leon Blum : From Poet to Premier. By Richard L. Stokes. (Jarrold's. 12s. 6d.)
PUBLISHED a few days before Premier Blum's resignaticn, a statement of his programme and achievements might seem al- most anachronistic. But the problems which M. Blum's Govern- ment tried to solve are those of every French Government ; the constitutional reforms which he wished to inoduce have proved themselves all the more necessary now that he has failed ; and his ambitions, though only partially achieved, are still those of a vast majority of the French electorate.
It is difficult for the reader of newspapers to grasp, from the over-emphasis of daily headlines, the continuity of a movement, with its ideals, its achievements and its failures ; and it is there- fore all the more important when a book of this sort appears to remind us, like a summary, of the exact order of the chapters which we have only read individually, at random, mixed up with the chapters of so many other books. Everything can now be seen in its proper place ; the continuity of history is re-estab- lished, its logic re-asserted. .
The anonymous author of L'Experience Blum draws a parallel between Blum and Roosevelt. France's problems, of course, are not the same as those of America. But the methods of the two statesmen, who have both consented to change their programmes and adapt them to every unforeseen need of the country, every new political deadlock, are very similar ; and the enemies that they met, Wall Street and the Banque de France, are identical. Again, the author very wisely points out the important part that pure politics still play in France's tangled economics. The position of the franc was purposely _weakened to suit the ends of Blum's enemies. Devaluation was unnecessary. Blum was victorious in the fields of agricultural reform and of social reform ; but in the field of money, his opponents, who owned and controlled it, were too 'strong and managed to wreck many of his achievements ; the cost of living rose with the salaries. No democratic government can easily dispose of private property or enforce laws to regulate the movements of capital.
Dictatorial powers were needed, at least for economic and monetary reform. But the Popular Front's whole policy was anti-dictatorial ; Blum was defeated with his own arguments, distorted by an opponent who does not disdain bad faith. The author regrets the many concessions which Blum was forced to make. Indeed, these concessions finally led to his downfall, since more and more were expected of him. Today, with a new Cabinet, the Popular Front has veered towards the right. But will it achieve what the electorate expected of it ? Will the peasantry and the working class stand by a government which fails to break the powers of money ? . The future of France remains problematic. But so is the future of any democracy ; though its problems, more numerous than those of dictatorial neighbours, are also less pressing.
In his interesting and scholarly. biography, Mr. Stokes lays much stress on the intellectual development and youthful pre-occupations of the future Premier. Leon Blunt was a symbolist poet, a high-brow essayist and critic whose first works appeared in the same periodicals as those of Proust, Valery and Gide. To an Anglo-Saxon, this may seem strange; but literature and politics, in 'Latin countries, have always been closely interwoven. Without going as far back as Plato's Republic, we find Victor Hugo active in French politics, Lamartine successful as a statesman, Zola fighting and suffering for his creed; even today, Edouard Herriot is a distinguished man of letters, Gide dallies with Communism and the French Academy regularly elects a certain number of statesmen whose literary work offers more than historical interest.
Englishmen and Americans tend to forget the examples set by Bacon, Bolingbroke, Burke, Disraeli and Jefferson.
Mr. Stokes draws several parallels between Blum and Disraeli. But the resemblances that he finds are mainly superficial coincidences : race, literary leanings, the age at which both statesmen achieved power. Some years ago, I had occasion to publish, in a French periodical, a few remarks on Disraeli, Rathenau, Trotsky and Blum ; it seemed to me that the peculiarly liberal and intellectual atmosphere of the Jewish upper middle-class had determined their qualities far more than any hereditary talmudism. A more detailed analysis of their creeds and achievements might prove interesting and conclusive. In highly civilised democracies, like England and France, a Disraeli or a Blum can inspire confidence through his intellectual and political integrity. In Germany and Russia, the masses distrust such superiority and fall to the histrionic blandishments of a dictator : Rathenau was murdered, Trotsky failed miserably, lost his temper and much of his political judgement. Let us hope, for the sake of Western civilisation, that the dastardly attempt of February 13th, 1936, when a crowd of young thugs attacked one elderly statesman, will not be repeated ; and that Leon Blum will thus be allowed to live, complete his self-imposed mission and earn the respect which he deserves, being more intelligent, humane and scrupulous than many others, more fit to preside wisely over the destinies and happiness of his countrymen.
EDOUARD RODITI.
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