FRANCE: Ill Wind Rising

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In Fontainebleau last week squads of workmen yanked down statues of Lafayette and John Joseph Pershing. And in Vichy Marshal Henri Philippe Petain finally yanked off the veil of diplomatic phrasing in which for months he has swathed the face of French totalitarianism. He broadcast the basic rules of his new French order which he hopes will be profitably wedded to Adolf Hitler's new European order.

Words. The blunt phrases of French Fascism's aged favorite were in the megalomaniac strain of all dictators. "In 1917," rumbled he, "I put an end to mutinies. In 1940 I put a period to our rout. Today it is from you yourselves that I want to save you." There was nothing unusual about the rules that Marshal Pétain announced—they came right out of the common totalitarian rule book.

> Our parliamentary policy is dead.

> Authority no longer comes from below. It properly is that which I give or which I delegate.

> Activity of political parties . . . is suspended.

> I will double the means of police action.

> A group of commissars of public power is created. . . . They will have the mission of ferreting out and destroying obstacles.

> I have decided to use the powers given me . . . to judge those responsible for our disaster.*

For complete totalitarian equipment, France seemed to lack only some such easily chosen totem as the swastika, fasces or hammer & sickle.

But Marshal Pétain's speech also eloquently emphasized, by inference, what has long been suspected—that French totalitarianism is meeting much more open internal resistance than Hitler or Mussolini has ever had to face. Last week some of that resistance led to violence. The Marshal railed against Big Business opposition to Vichy, but a vastly more general discontent could be heard between his lines.

"Frenchmen!" he exclaimed, "I have grave things to tell you! For the last several weeks I have felt an ill wind rising in many regions of France. Disquiet is overtaking minds, doubt is gaining control of spirits. The authority of my Government is made the subject of discussion; orders are often being ill-executed. In an atmosphere of false rumors and intrigues the forces of reconstruction are growing discouraged. . . . The national revolution . . . has not yet forced its way through because between the people and me . . . there has risen a double screen of those favoring the old regime and those serving trusts. The troops of the old regime are legion. . . . We must start in now to smash their undertakings by decimating their leaders."

Actions. Prime question was whether Marshal Pétain's words portended quick French re-entry into World War II. Feeling was widespread that they might preamble an alliance with Germany against Russia, or the use of the French Fleet against British shipping, or joint action with Germany in French North Africa.

Last week Marshal Pétain raised his sly little Vice Premier Admiral Jean François Darlan to a new eminence—Minister of National Defense. Thereby Admiral Darlan apparently added to his Navy command that of Vichy's Army, whose largest. forces are in North Africa under General Maxime Weygand.