Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎153r] (309/978)

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the principles of Benelux. Let there be no
illusions: the eyes of the world were
turned towards Benelux and Belgium.
That had been said to him only a few days
before by two business men—one from
Scvoh America, the other from the East.
Much could be expected if they succeeded.
The Netherlands
The Government are understood to have
decided upon the second half of September
for the meeting of a ££ Round Table Con
ference ” with delegates from the Nether
lands West Indies to discuss the future
relations between these territories and the
Netherlands, in accordance with the prin
ciples laid down by Queen Wilhelmina’s
broadcast of the 7th December, 1942. A
joint Secretariat is in process of formation.
FRANCE
The thirty-ninth French Socialist Party
Congress opened at Lyons on the 14th
August under the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of M. Cersot,
Federal Secretary for the Rhone Depart
ment. Delegates representing Socialists in
the U.K., Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy,
Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Austria,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bul
garia and Palestine also attended and
addressed the Congress. The first day’s
proceedings were mainly devoted to a
consideration of reports submitted to the
Congress, the most important of these—
the Rapport moral —being adopted by
3,068 votes to 1,111, with 606 abstentions.
The voting on this report was preceded by
a speech from M. Guy Mollet, Secretary-
General of the Party, who put in a strong
plea for its adoption and warned delegates
against the dangers of disunity in the
party ranks. He did not deny that there
were weaknesses in the party machine; and
it was for this reason that he earnestly
appealed to the Congress to accept the
proposals (made earlier in the day) for
party reorganisation, under which the
machine would be adapted to meet present
necessities.
On the 17th the Congress heard M.
Ramadier, the Prime Minister, vigorously
defend his Government’s policy, which has
been criticised as being out of harmony
with Socialist principles. What other
policy, he asked, could the Government
possibly pursue while on the one hand they
were confronted with the ££ Gaullist
danger ’ ’ and on the other the Communists ?
There had been a time when the party had
k£ perhaps been too inclined to observe what
the Communists were doing, before under
taking its own action.'’ France now knew
“ how to see through the temporary
tactics '' which were “ a part of the general
strategy of the Communists.” Referring
to the strikes which had occurred earlier
in the year, M. Ramadier asked : “Was not
their ‘ spontaneity ' surprising when one
considers that all these strikes were
directed against the State and national
ised industry?” The rest of his speech
was taken up with current questions. He
had no intention of yielding to any
measures which might help to increase
inflation; the French Union would be
erected on the principle that all peoples
who w r ere capable of enjoying all its
benefits were entitled to liberty; the
Marshall offer was welcome, but he rejected
the inevitability of a struggle between “ the
two Great Powers of the World;” lastly,
he affirmed the Socialist Party’s duty-
united action, not opposition. Fresh from
the triumph of seeing 20 of his supporters
elected to the Directing Committee of the
party, M. Mollet (who is known to be the
Prime Minister’s most determined critic)
replied with a speech which depicted a
Socialist Prime Minister dealing with
economic and social problems in such a
manner as to suggest that the rights and
interests of the workers—the backbone of
the party—were not being put first. Next
day (18th August), M. Mollet scored
another success when his motion, calling
for support of the Government in return
for certain fundamental changes of policy,
was carried. 2,443 bloc votes were cast in
(i) greater State control in economic affairs:
(ii) more liberal colonial administration
and immediate peace in Indo-China;
(iii) a reduction of military credits;
(iv) party reorganisation; and (v) no col
laboration with the Communists.
The whole meeting of the Congress has,
indeed, been an unqualified success for
M. Mollet and his doctrinaire supporters,
who dealt their heaviest blow when a reso
lution of M. Mollet, which declared that
the Parliamentary group of the Party had
ceased to practise the true principles of
Socialism and called upon them “now to
follow that policy in the Government if
possible, and in opposition if necessary ”
was carried. 2.443 bloc votes were cast in
favour. On the other hand, the delegates
showed little inclination to get rid of
M. Ramadier altogether, a motion for his
resignation receiving only 274 votes, while
another, supporting his policy, received
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