Medical Advice

L'Humanite the Parisian Communist newspaper, beat the drums. Go on strike! it urged the faithful, protest the jailing of Jacques Duclos! And incidentally, wheedled L'Humanite protest the jailing of the paper's own Editor Andre Stil! The big day was Wednesday, designated for a one-day strike of the Red-led C.G.T. (Confederation Generate du Travail), which used to have 6,000,000 members but now has only a third as many. Expecting an exemplary show of violence, L'Huma published medical advice on what to do for riot injuries, e.g., bleeding from the nose and ears, black eyes, head cuts.

The cause of it all, pudgy Jacques Duclos (France's No. 1 Communist now that Maurice Thorez is in Russia "for his health"), languished in prison, charged with threatening the internal security of the state, but able to see a liberal number of visitors. In the presence of his lawyers, he was questioned by a magistrate for 3 1/2 hours about his part in the Ridgway riots a fortnight ago. They wanted to know what he was doing in a car equipped with short-wave radio, pistol and blackjack.*

The Flop. Apparently the French Reds expected a fine turnout to sympathize with Comrade Duclos. They ignored the fact that most French workers--Communist, anti-Communist and all the shades in

etween--are fed up with political strikes that cost them wages.

They also failed to count on the invigorated government of Premier Antoine Pinay. After a cabinet meeting, Pinay threatened immediate suspension and discipline for any government employees who answered the strike call. Said Interior Minister Charles Brune: "There will be no provocations on our part, but if the demonstrators act roughly the countermeasures will be even rougher."

The strike was a gigantic flop. There were some riots and train delays in outlying towns, but in Paris, ordinarily the showcase of Red agitation, the streets were quiet and transportation was almost normal. M. Brune announced that only 2% of the C.G.T.'s membership had answered the strike call. Of 240,000 postal and telegraph workers, only two walked out--and were instantly suspended.

In previous strikes the Reds could always count at least on closing down the Renault plant--long a Communist stronghold--in the Paris suburb of Billancourt. This time, Red goon squads succeeded in shutting off power and steam, but were challenged and thrown out by fighting contingents from non-Communist unions, and production was soon back to normal.

Wounds. There were rumors that Jacques Duclos was in disgrace with his party for "lack of vigilance," i.e., getting caught. While he remained in jail, the party would probably put up bumbling, hard-boiled Andre Marty of Spanish Civil War notoriety as the front man. The government, which had already jailed scores of Stalinists amid general applause, went on a hunt for big game. Pinay's men said that they raided Communist centers in Brest, Lorient and Bordeaux, and announced that they had broken an espionage case at Toulon.

Even L'Humanite did not claim any success for Martyr Duclos' strike. In its pre-strike advice, it had failed to recommend any solace for wounds of the spirit.

* As well as two dead pigeons, which the government suspected might be homing pigeons hurriedly suffocated. After an autopsy last week, however, experts sheepishly pronounced them month-old eating squabs.

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