FRANCE: The Three-Stage Rocket

With the cold judgment of the professional soldier, Charles de Gaulle faced up to the fact that he was surrounded. For weeks past, the Soviet Union had been pointedly stepping up its propaganda support to the Algerian rebels, while Peking trumpeted promises of military aid to them. The U.N. debate on Algeria, scheduled for early next month, was sure to create strains with the French Community nations in Africa. And with the advent of Jack Kennedy, who three years ago publicly spoke up for Algerian independence, De Gaulle suspected that he could no longer count on Washington's tolerance. The only hope was to drive for some kind of end to the six-year-old bloodletting in Algeria before this sea of troubles could sweep down upon France. Abruptly, the steel-nerved general last week informed his Cabinet that he would submit his Algerian policy to a nationwide referendum in the first weeks of 1961.

As usual, just what De Gaulle's Algerian policy was remained somewhat uncertain. In a front-page editorial, Paris' normally pro-Gaullist Le Figaro grumbled that "it is not excessive for a democratic nation, in circumstances as grave as these, to ask to be informed—and clearly." Yet even such senior Cabinet officers as Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville were still unsure of De Gaulle's ultimate aim: whether he still hopes to keep Algeria federated with France or is reconciled to its total independence.

Terrified Thanks. Whatever his end, De Gaulle had chosen as his means a kind of three-stage rocket designed to surmount the towering divisions and dissensions of present-day France. Stage I of De Gaulle's plan, which will precede the referendum, consists of a series of administrative reforms in Algeria. A High Commissioner for Algeria (probably tough-minded Education Minister Louis Joxe) will take office in Paris, but his Deputy Commissioner in Algiers itself will be a Moslem. (Reportedly, two prominent Moslems have already been sounded out about the job and have declined with terrified thanks.) The political map of Algeria is to be redrawn, converting the present departments into new, decentralized administrative areas that will make easy the partitioning of the land between Europeans and Moslems, should that become necessary. The explosive highlight of Stage I is slated to be a De Gaulle visit to Algeria next month "to acquaint and explain himself." His closest advisers are arguing against the trip for fear of an assassination attempt.

Stage 2 of the plan presupposes a smashing victory in the referendum next year; De Gaulle himself is said to feel that anything less than a 65% majority would be a defeat. With the nation behind him, De Gaulle can then confront the disgruntled army and the rebellious European settlers of Algeria with a "provisional"—and primarily Moslem—Algerian executive, legislature and judiciary. Stage 3, for which no precise plan exists, would find the new "Algerian Algeria" deciding whether to retain ties with France or go its separate way.

Truncated Puppet. Frenchmen peered hopefully through the glorious opacity of De Gaulle's prose to see whether his rocket promised to go into orbit—or to fizzle. So far, the signs were not encouraging.