Front Populaire Strains The annual Congress of the French Radical
Socialist Party, which met at Lille last week-end, came very near to making a final breach with the Front Populaire ; the situation on Saturday was serious enough to bring M. Chautemps from Paris in an effort to reconcile the divergent groups. The Radical supporters of the Front Populaire were weakened by the breaches of electoral engagements committed by the Socialists in the cantonal elections. Lille itself is in the political " territory " of M. Roche, the Right Wing leader, who had the support also of the Jeunesses Radicales ; and this group was greatly strengthened by the encouragement it received from M. Bonnet, the Finance Minister. By a snap vote it succeeded in passing a resolution virtually repu- diating the Socialists ; and though later the resolution was made less offensive, after M. Chautemps' intervention, the Socialists may still find it difficult to tolerate the provocation. This,. indeed, is what is intended ; for even the Right Wing Radicals fear to accept responsibility for overthrowing the Front Populaire. But if M. Bonnet was revealed as a possible leader of a new Government, with its basis to the Right, M. Herriot also made himself a candidate for office, with the support of the Front Populaire, by his remarkable speech demanding a more positive policy in Spain. But perhaps the most notable event of the congress was the declaration by M. Daladier, Minister for War, that in all circumstances France would aid Czechoslovakia against aggression.
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