Poultice?

The people of France were confronted last week by a peculiar political situation.

The party which had won the biggest vote in last fortnight's municipal elections --Charles de Gaulle's R.P.F. -- has not a single official representative in the national Assembly, for the simple reason that the last national elections were held before the R.P.F. was mobilized. To what extent, therefore, would De Gaulle view the municipal voting as a mandate? "Faster Than I Thought." Gaullist hot heads urged the dreamy, inscrutable General to seize power at once. But he dislikes coups d'etat. His top political adviser, Novelist Andre Malraux, advised prudence and the General favors prudence.

When his brother, Pierre de Gaulle (whom the elections boosted to Paris' municipal council), telephoned word of the R.P.F. victory to the General's retreat at Colom-bey-les-Deux-Eglises, De Gaulle said merely: "Well, things are going faster than I thought."

De Gaulle wants the constitution changed to increase executive power in the head of government. To do that, a two-thirds vote of the Assembly would be required -- hardly possible unless some new and worse crisis looms, such as a Communist-fomented general strike. Meanwhile, under the present constitution, there can be no national elections until next May. Last week, Charles de Gaulle seemed content to wait.

"Concentration of Authority." Caught in a crossfire from Gaullists and Communists, Premier Ramadier blasted back in both directions and looked behind him for shelter. Shelter there was: immediate stopgap aid from the U.S., Marshall Plan aid behind it, unwavering support from a large and determined minority of Frenchmen who are not yet impelled to choose between De Gaulle and Stalin.

The Communist effort, said Ramadier, is aimed at "social strife, collapse of production, monetary collapse and famine." The Premier reduced his Cabinet from 25 members to 12 -- a move which he called "a concentration of Government authority." This was a concession to the Gaullist cry for efficient leadership, but Ramadier told off the General, too: "[He represents] an attempt to upset the institutions which the nation has freely chosen." Paul Ramadier was ready this week to ask the Assembly for a vote of confidence.

He seemed likely to win by a tiny margin, but the outcome depended on the disgruntled M.R.P. (Catholic Republicans), which lost heavily in the elections, and which also opposed last week's Cabinet cuts. The cuts were derided by a Communist writer in L'Humanite and by an anti-Communist writer in L'Epoque, both of whom by coincidence hit on the same sarcastic phrase: "A poultice on a wooden leg."

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