Quietly, as though there had been no long and terrible interruption, France began her first free election campaign in five years. At stake in the balloting between April 25 and June 3 will be only municipal and departmental offices. National elections will come later. Women will vote for the first time in French history, and they will probably be a majority, since over 2,000,000 Frenchmen are still prisoners in Germany. But to France it was a proud achievement that she should be the first liberated nation to put her trust in the people’s vote.
The Communists got away first. They plastered Paris billboards with copies of a 500-word manifesto addressed to women: “Unite for war! Unite behind the Government! All for unity!” But party strategists were worried. Their new, pro-Government line (TIME, Feb. 12) had lost followers. Last week they announced a modification of their program. Like the Socialists, they said, they now stood for a limited nationalization program.
Hard on the Communist heels pressed the Socialists. The Mouvement de Libération Nationale, No. 1 Resistance group and strongly socialist in outlook, put up notices, also addressed to women: “Sign our petition for more food!” MLN strategists thought they had a sure vote-catcher in the “more food” slogan. French daily rations—1,200 calories—were still gravely below the health minimum. Cried the Paris Combat: “On the food problem the Government has succeeded in rallying unanimity . . . against the Government.” The Toulouse Patriote reported that housewives were saying, “We ate better when the Germans were here.”
Also running, but late in starting, were: 1) The Mouvement Républicain Populaire, a new left-of-center party which included Christian Democrats, like Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, and the moderate bourgeoisie; 2) the Radical Socialists, the old center party of Edouard Herriot (still a prisoner in Germany), now leaning for strength on the conservative peasantry. Barred from voting were many who once formed France’s extreme right. A Government decree had withdrawn the franchise from collaborators.
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