Victor Vanquished

In 79 years, no one has ever dared challenge the Deputies of France in their one-sided warfare against Premiers. At their whim, Premiers came, and Premiers fell, but Deputies went on forever--or at least until the end of their appointed terms. No one could have been more surprised than the Deputies themselves when Premier Edgar Faure, of all people, that most artful of political dodgers, suddenly turned on them. Muttered old Robert Schuman in amazement: "The rabbits are shooting at the hunters."

The Deputies were almost gay as they assembled early last week to deal the routine death blow to the Faure government, as they had to 20 other governments since 1945. Even Faure himself was resigned to his execution. Back in his constituency he had ruefully declined comment on a constituent's praise. "It is not customary for the dead man to reply to the funeral oration," he had said wryly.

The vote came on Faure's much-battered proposal to hold elections six months early. In his nine months, Faure had kept the economy stable and thriving, got the Paris Accords through the Senate, and provided the West with a sturdy friend in the person of Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay. But Faure had lost much of his right in his concessions to Morocco, most of the left in his hesitations in making the concessions. The Communists, who had saved him twice, had now changed their minds. His only sure supporters were Pinay's conservative Independents and the Catholic M.R.P., and the result was a foregone conclusion. "At best, a third-rate funeral," shrugged one Deputy. The obsequies would be short, and the opposition forces of Pierre Mendes-France were gloating.

Traitor to Parliament. When the votes were counted, the majority against Faure was 318 to 218--six more than a constitutional majority of the 622-man Chamber. Only ten months before, Mendes had also been defeated by a constitutional majority, and the constitution provides that the Assembly can be dissolved if two successive governments are so overthrown within 18 months. But no Premier under the Fourth Republic ever has invoked this right, nor any chief executive under the Third Republic since Marshal MacMahon did it in 1877. MacMahon succeeded only in discrediting himself as an "anti-parliamentary traitor," and the device with him. Under the Fourth Republic, Deputies have always taken the precaution of "dosing" the vote so that Premiers were brought down judiciously short of constitutional majorities. But last week overconfidence made the Mendesists careless. "The more he is humbled, the better," they crowed. To scattered cries of "dissolution," they answered airily: "He wouldn't dare go that far."

At the Elysee Palace, Faure and his Cabinet met with President Coty. M.R.P. Leader Pierre-Henri Teitgen, Minister of Overseas Territories, proposed that Faure dissolve the Assembly. This meant January elections, which would have to be held under the 1951 rules. Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay, the sturdy small-town tanner who is the Cabinet's strongman, backed Teitgen vigorously. Five of the Radical ministers stormed angrily that they would resign if Faure approved elections without changing the old, loaded electoral system. "Just how do you resign from a government that has already resigned?" asked Faure sarcastically. Finally, as debate raged on, Faure ended the meeting: "Let me reflect until tomorrow." Next day, he made his decision: "The Assembly will be dissolved."

The Winner Loses. Mendes-France, with the fury of a man who sees his hard-won victory blow up in his face, took to the pages of L'Express to attack Faure. Once they had been schoolmates, colleagues and best friends; both still belong to the same center party, the Radical Socialists. Now Mendes charged bitterly that Faure's plan for dissolution was "an affront to the country . . . a coup de force . . . a defiance of republican principles." Peremptorily, Mendes, who controls the Radical Party machinery, ordered Faure summoned to a meeting of the party executive. The party leaders kept their Premier waiting five minutes, then listened stonily while he argued that the Assembly had proved itself ungovernable. Electoral reform was a prime article of Radical doctrine, he was told, and forthwith was expelled from the party on grounds of "persistent indiscipline."

The Outer Extremes. Not even Edgar Faure himself approves of the discredited "alliance" system under which the new elections will be held in January. (Mendes had pushed hard for a system of man-to-man election by districts, on the U.S. pattern, and the Assembly had already approved it in principle just before its dissolution.) The 1951 rules were loaded in favor of the center parties and against the extremes of left and right, who could find no other parties to ally with. Now the right extreme of 1951, the Gaullists, are divided and disowned by their leader. Pinay's conservatives hope to get most of their 4,500,000 votes. In 1951 the Communists, on the extreme left, were identified with the Viet Minh who were killing French soldiers in Indo-China; now, under the cloak of Geneva, they have recovered some measure of respectability. In a short campaign, the Communists expect to have an organizational advantage over their less highly disciplined rivals.

The man who is apt to be hurt most by the quickie election is Pierre Mendes-France, who hoped, with his center-left coalition, to cut into the 5,000,000 votes the Communists got in the last election. But now he has little time to get a coalition started. Judging by the public- opinion polls, Pierre Mendes-France is overwhelmingly the choice of most Frenchmen for Premier; the question is whether he can contrive the political machinery to transfer that popularity into effective voting strength by Jan. 2.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.