M. Bidault in the Breach
To the constant argument that M. Bidault, of the Moutyment Ripublicaine Populaire, or Progressive Catholic Party, is not the obvious man to lead a French Government, it may be objected that neither was M. Queuille, who held a Cabinet together for a year and thus helped to remove some doubts about whether the Fourth Republic could survive at all. To this may be added the consideration that the crisis has now gone on so long that the obvious Prime Minister for France is the political leader who is willing to take on the job. For unless some of Government had been formed there was a danger that the old doubts about the possibility of political stability within the present constitution would have revived. Indeed, General de Gaulle has already broken a long silence in order to repeat his unvarying argument that the
sort of game the politicians have been playing during the past month or so is highly damaging to France. Up till now this argument has not been accepted by the MSS of French citizens, who have carried on with their own business and clearly shown their opinion that the game is only damaging to the politicians, whose reputation is already so hopelessly battered that a few more dents will not matter. But neither the Gaullists nor the indifferents are quite right. The fact is that a number of political leaders have honestly tried to end the crisis during the past weeks, despite the fact that office in the last months before an election, which must take place in 1951, afford; no attractions. They have failed because the Socialists, who started the crisis by demanding wage increases which are bound to be dangerous to the French economy, have con- sistently refused to consider any other Labour Minister than their own M. Daniel Mayer, who was the real author of the new wage proposals. The least they can do is first to modify their attitude on this point and then behave with a little decency while M. Bidault carries on with his thankless task. There are now reports that that is the way things are going.
