The People Win

Charles de Gaulle is a French general with an ultraconservative Saint-Cyr background and a well-deserved reputation for being difficult to deal with; H. G. Wells has called him "an artlessly sincere megalomaniac." De Gaullism is something else again. To many & many a Frenchman, especially those inside France, De Gaullism stands for the France that never surrendered, the France that was betrayed by her leaders. General de Gaulle, the individual, derives his strength from the people of France, who are his potent political weapon.

This hard fact dominated last week's parleys in Algiers, at which Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Honore Giraud hammered out the mold of a new, united France. Through De Gaullism the people of France struck a blow for themselves and a blow against secret diplomacy. Neither General Giraud, whose authority in North Africa had been recognized by the U.S. and Great Britain while De Gaulle fretted in London, nor U.S. Minister Robert D. Murphy, who has a distaste for both De Gaulle and De Gaullism, dared to flout their will.

A Faction's Fight. There were times during the week when a unified France seemed impossible. Slander and counter-slander muddied the Algiers atmosphere. The mudslinging began even as General de Gaulle arrived (TIME, June 7) to receive a correct but unenthusiastic welcome from General Giraud and Minister Murphy, an ovation from the people. To the cheers, the Fighting French leader responded by raising his arms in a V sign. Anti-De Gaullists sneered that such a gesture hardly differed from a Hitler salute.

To their first meeting the Generals brought the representatives they had agreed on after weeks of negotiation. For De Gaulle: Andre Philip, Socialist deputy in contact with the French underground, and Rene Massigli, veteran diplomat. For Giraud: Jean Monnet, able businessman, well known in Washington and London, and General Alphonse Joseph Georges, No. 2 in military command during 1940's lost Battle of France. As seventh man and balance wheel: tactful General Georges Catroux, chief intermediary in arranging the Algiers conference.

The job of these men was to constitute themselves a French Committee of National Liberation, the central power that would rule united France until France could choose her own government. When they gathered, General de Gaulle stood adamant on two principles: 1) the North African administration must be purged of ex-Vichyites; 2) the military must be subordinated to the civilian authority of the central power.

The Giraudists rocked back on their heels. They held out against a purge. The meeting broke up.

A Principle's Victory. For two days nothing could be settled. Fantastic incidents, cloak-and-dagger rumors confused the scene. When puffy-eyed, opportunist

Marcel Peyrouton, anathema to the De Gaullists, patriotically offered to resign as Governor General of Algeria, General de Gaulle promptly accepted. Furious Giraudists charged that the Fighting French were usurping power, plotting a coup.

When General Giraud appointed Vice Admiral Muselier, out-of-favor De Gaullist, as Algiers police chief, the De Gaullists hurled back the charge.

The sticky atmosphere, in which anything could happen, cleared suddenly. The impossible became a fact. After three hours behind closed doors, the seven conferees announced that the French Committee of National Liberation had begun to function. By week's end it was clear that De Gaullism would dominate the central power. Peyrouton was replaced by General Catroux. Notorious ex-Vichyite General Auguste Nogues (he had opposed the U.S. landing at Casablanca) stepped out as Resident General of Morocco. The purging process, first of many hard tasks before the new France, had begun. This week, the seven-man committee expanded its membership to 14, assigned portfolios.

A Diplomat's Defeat. The breaking of the deadlock had been preceded by secret talks among General Giraud, General de Gaulle, Minister Murphy and his British colleague, canny Harold MacMillan, who commented: "Better to have an argument now than civil war in France later." Winston Churchill may also have had something to say. Clearly London and Washington were pleased over the agreement in Algiers. But to broad-shouldered, ingratiating Bob Murphy, whose inclinations -- and those of many of his operatives -- are toward the Best People and not the People, the victory of De Gaullism was a sharp defeat.

Protege of onetime Ambassador William Christian Bullitt, later Councillor of Embassy at Vichy, Minister Murphy had helped to organize the fifth column that eased the way for the Allied North African landings. The connections he established then made it difficult for him to form unbiased judgments. He erred in underestimating the strength of De Gaullism, and therefore the strength of De Gaulle. He erred in supposing that even an imprisoned people could be ignored in the choice of their leaders. Perhaps he supposed that General Catroux could be weaned from support of De Gaulle. Now he appeared to be siding with the Giraudists against "indiscriminate" treatment of former collaborationists. General de Gaulle rudely upset Minister Murphy's delicate balance of forces.

Balance Sheet. French unity meant these things:

P:Great Britain and the U.S. had gained an ally ranking in strength after Russia and China. The armies of Giraud and De Gaulle would merge into a force nearly half a million strong.

P:Underground France would be immensely heartened. It would no longer be confused by diverse propaganda from Lon don and Algiers. Its power would grow.

P:By approving the union in Algiers, the U.S. would make a measure of amends for an enigmatic foreign policy that had troubled its own people, lost the confidence of many an ally. The victory of De Gaullism would have tremendous significance to the patriots of Occupied Europe, to whom expediency has been a disturbing policy.

One thing the union in Algiers did not mean: that the French political struggle has ended. It would go on. But the new France rising from all the bickering looked healthier than the old.

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