The French Socialists' Divisions The French Socialist Party, still the
largest party in the French Chamber, met in congress at Nantes this week faced with the danger of a profound split. The situation was serious enough to demand M. Blum's presence, even though he had been confined to his room with a fever, and, fortunately, his appeal to avoid a split on foreign policy resulted in a face-saving compromise. M. Blum is, on the one hand, for co-operation with the Daladier Government on questions of defence and foreign policy, and on the other for continued co-operation with the Communists in order to maintain the Popular Front. On the first question M. Blum is opposed by the large minority led by M. Paul Faure, who curiously enough continues to call for a policy of appeasement when even the Right regards it, at least tem- porarily, as defeated ; but so far M.. Blum has held the party together in face of M. Faure's pacifism. On the • second question M. Blum, as at the March congress, was decisively defeated when a resolution prohibiting member- ship of " para-Communist " organisations was adopted by a large majority, and the compromise resolutions put forward by M. Blum's followers were rejected.
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