To Right Center

On two successive Sundays, Frenchmen voted on candidates for their local Conseils Generaux, which vaguely resemble U.S. state legislatures in function. The results analyzed this week showed that the Communists still had nearly 25% of the popular vote. But without losing much numerical strength in the electorate, Reds faced a worsened position in French politics. Whenever a Communist had a chance of getting elected, all other parties tended to combine against him. In the last (1945) cantonal elections, Communists got 184 seats; this time, anti-Red coalitions held Communist victories to 37. The Gaullists got 29% of the popular vote, and the government coalition of Socialists, Radicals and Popular Republicans did even better, with 35%. Failure of the Communist appeal to the Socialist rank & file meant that the Gaullist attitude toward Communism had pervaded the government parties. The political center of gravity in France had shifted to the right center. Continued progress toward economic recovery would keep it there.

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