The Soldiers7 Revolt

"Soldiers! You are wasting your time here. Learn to use your weapons well because one day they will be useful. You will be able to turn them against your officers, your bosses and the society they protect."

So reads one tract currently circulating in French army barracks from Bordeaux to Strasbourg. That kind of broadside might seem rather tame to soldiers in anarchic Lisbon, but it has had a jolting impact on the somnolent 330,000-man French army, which until recently might have been described as a force de nap. In response to these anonymous calls to arms, there has been a widespread effort to organize trade unions or soldiers' committees within the armed forces. Last month a group of soldiers in the 19th Engineers Regiment at Besangon in eastern France tried to organize a clandestine local with the support of a chapter of the Socialist-dominated Confederation Franchise Democratique du Travail, the country's second largest trade union.* Also, a group of enlisted men wearing masks to hide their identities held a press conference to announce the creation of a similar union at Chaumont, 140 miles southeast of Paris. Since then, other illegal army organizations have sprung up, and a Socialist group was sighted recently distributing inflammatory leaflets at a Paris railway station to impressionable recruits on weekend passes.

Two weeks ago, the French government moved to restore discipline to the ranks of the military. Defense Minister Yvon Bourges, a tough Gaullist who had been given the job of shaking up the armed forces a year ago, sternly announced his intention of indicting such soldiers on a charge of attempting "to demoralize the army for the purpose of harming national defense." He also reactivated an emergency special court for national security that had been set up in 1963 to suppress terrorists of the O.A.S., the secret army organization of French Algerians. Soon afterward, 16 soldiers were arrested. If they are found guilty, they face a maximum often years in prison. Declared Bourges' deputy, General Marcel Bigeard: "The government has now decided to destroy those who openly advocate the destruction of our society through our army."

Bigeard estimates that there are about 500 active left-wing extremists in the French army organized into 60 revolutionary cells. Their rebellious appeals fall on fertile soil at the parade grounds. Despite government attempts to quiet unrest in the ranks and improve morale by tripling the pay of draftees (from 600 to $1.80 a day), French troops are the lowest paid in Europe. Career officers also complain about low pay and the slow pace of advancement in spite of recent efforts to accelerate promotions.

The enduring unrest in the French army is all the more dangerous because of the chilling example of Portugal. Since the April 1974 military coup in Lisbon, governments in Western Europe have been scrutinizing their armed forces--once regarded as citadels of conservatism--for dread signs of "Portugalization." French government officials believe that leftists have taken advantage of the recent military malaise to alienate the army. Defense Minister Bourges claims that Portuguese officers have been dispatched to France to spread revolution in the army and that more than 100 Frenchmen of draft age have gone to Portugal to learn subversive tactics they can put to use when drafted at home. The government has also accused the Socialist Party--a partner of the Communists in France's United Left--of causing trouble in the army by supporting soldiers' committees. The Socialists answer that they merely wish to secure democratic rights for the man in uniform. But according to Premier Jacques Chirac, the Socialists have "gravely compromised the organization of our defense by putting in doubt the indispensable principles of discipline and authority."

* The Dutch army has its own unions, whose members include draftees, NCOs and even officers. The German army permits soldiers to join a civilian union.

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