FRANCE: And Then There Were Twelve

General Charles de Gaulle has often wagged his finger at his country's greatest weakness: too many gabby political parties, all too small. Last week De Gaulle's own party, the powerful Rally of the French People (R.P.F.), added one more splinter group to the eleven squabbling parties in the French National Assembly. Thirty Gaullist Deputies and five Senators who bolted R.P.F. in protest against its "negative and sterile attitude" towards Premier Antoine Pinay (TIME, July 14) formed something called the Independent Group for Republican and Social Action. Edmond Barrachin, the fast-talking Parisian columnist who led the revolt, was elected president. De...

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