NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE adoption last Sunday of a new draft constitution for France, by the affirmative vote of only 36 per cent. of the electorate, settles very little. Even the statement that the French would prefer a bad constitution to a succession of seven-month Parliaments is not confirmed ; for neither the 31 per cent. of the electorate who voted against this draft nor the 31 per cent. who did not vote at all really wanted the constitution which they now have. It remains to be seen what they will do with it. The single fact that the Third Republic lived for sixty-five years with an unsatisfactory constitution, originally passed by one vote, makes it rash to predict that the new regime will be quickly overturned. But this at least can be said—that if the maintenance of the constitution requires the con- tinuance of government by three parties so ill-assorted as the Com- munists, Socialists and M.R.P., its chances of survival are small. The alliance between Communists and Socialists must always be uneasy so long as French Communist policy is closely linked with Russian Communist policy ; and the M.R.P. has already paid the penalty for its pretence of agreement with the other two by split- ting itself in half. It now has the choice of revising its views on the constitution to bring back its Gaullist supporters or of allying itself with the centre party, the Socialists. So much will be decided in the next month that it is unnecessary as well as impossible to prophesy the outcome now. On November loth a National Assembly will be elected with a possible life of five years. It is possible to hope, but not to expect, that it will produce a cohesive Government. It may amend the constitution, after a referendum, but since the one thing the French people really are sick of is frequent visits to the polls, no early change is likely. General de Gaulle does not budge an inch from his demand for a stronger executive than the constitution permits. But he also hates dictatorship and respects legal process. Consequently he must either retire or wait for France to call him back in her own way—and General de Gaulle knows how to wait.
