FRANCE: De Gaulle's Creed

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General Charles de Gaulle at last said exactly where he stood. For months, French democracy had suffered from the lack of a rallying voice. Arguments had racked the Free French movement as to whether it should remain purely military or take a political stand. Rumors spread that tall, solemn, Roman Catholic General de Gaulle, like many another French officer, had monarchist leanings. But last week, having talked in London with French underground leaders (whose names as well as their routes to Britain had to be kept secret), General de Gaulle announced a resoundingly democratic, five-point political program:

> 1) "Once the enemy is driven from their land, all French men and women will elect a national assembly, which will decide what course the future of the country shall take."

> 2) "The totalitarian system which roused, armed and incited our enemies against us, as well as the systematic coalition of private interests which in France has acted in opposition to national interests, must once & for all be overthrown."

> 3) "At home practical guarantees must be worked out to put an end to tyranny constituted by perpetual infringement of rights, and to insure liberty and dignity in work and life to every citizen."

> 4) "We want to destroy forever the mechanical organization of mankind, such as the enemy has achieved in contempt of all religion, morals and charity. We want the age-old French ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity."

>5) "We want this war to result in a world organization establishing lasting solidarity and mutual help between nations in every sphere."

There were some French exiles last week who objected to General de Gaulle's statement, seeing behind it personal political ambitions. This week General de Gaulle took special pains to contradict his critics.

Said he: "I distinctly specified that once the country was cleared of the Nazis it should choose its own constitution. One thing certain is that the people will uphold the principles of democracy." With this addendum, General de Gaulle's statement was a strong bid for the Free French movement to be recognized as the custodian of French democratic ambitions. In France, Pierre Laval had just publicly declared what everyone knew: "I hope for German victory." He did not publicly admit, as he has privately, that it was to save his own oily skin, but piously attributed his hope to fear of "universal Bolshevism." Meanwhile Laval was practicing vicious blackmail on the French working people.

Adolf Hitler already has some 160,000 French industrial workers in Germany. He wants more, to release still more German workers for the fighting forces. Laval declared that if French workers went to Gen many, French war prisoners would be sent home in exchange. Recruiting stations for workers advertised higher wages in Germany. But Pierre Laval was not depending on volunteers. He was also shutting down French plants not essential to the German war effort, thus pressing French workers into German cities scheduled for bombing by the R.A.F. Frenchmen were thus given the choice of: 1) risking their lives working for Germany; 2) starving.