it aroused public opinion against " defeatist ft Socialism. Mean- while Longuet and his followers defeated Renaudel, and the patriotic section and all Socialist connexion with the Govern- ment was broken. At the Congress of 1920 a number of deputies were excluded. They had refused during the general elections to fight in the same lists as Jacques Sadoul, a notorious French officer who was playing a big Bolshevist part in Russia, and who had been sentenced to death in contumaciam by French court- martial. This was the first scission. The extremists were growing in numbers, and it was soon the turn of Longuet and his followers. At the Tours Congress adhesion to the Soviet was voted by a large majority and the moderates were expelled.
In 1921 there remained three parties amid the ruins of former Socialist unity. The Communist party, having I'Humanite and the Internationale as its organs, belonged to the Soviet or Third International. Its leaders were Marcel Cachin, Frossard, Daniel Renoult, Souvarin, Rappoport, Amedee Dunois and Victor Meric. Its organization was centralized, and its affairs were controlled by a central committee. Fourteen deputies represented it in the Chamber of Deputies, and its adherents numbered about 100,000.
The Socialist party had Le Populaire as its organ. It had about 50,000 members and 60 representatives in Parliament, among whom the chief were Sembat, Guesde, Basly, Leon Blum and Paul Boncour. The French Socialist party, the third portion, was of minor importance. (R. R.*)
POLITICAL HISTORY
The political history of France from 1909 until 1913 was that of a slow awakening of the country to the real meaning of Ger- man foreign policy. One danger signal was given in 1905 with the Casablanca incident; 1911 furnished another warning when the German gun-boat " Panther " appeared off the Moroccan port of Agadir. In 1913 the new German army law and special taxation for military purposes made the menace even more clear. At the outset of this period, however, internal politics, rather than those of Europe, occupied attention. On July 20 1909, the Clemenceau Ministry was defeated on a personal question, arising from a remark made during a naval debate on M. Delcasse's foreign policy. Briand followed Clemenceau in office three days later.
Briand Ministry. The new premier took the portfolio of the Interior, and had as his chief colleagues Barthou, Justice; Mille- rand, Public Works; Viviani, Labour; Cochery, Finance; Gen. Brun, War; Adml. Boue de la Peyrere, Marine. Briand, in his ministerial declaration, July 27, showed by concentrating on social reform (old age pensions, income tax, customs tariff, and reorganization of the civil service) that he hoped to be allowed to let the sleeping dog, Germany, lie, and to prosecute a liberal policy, both towards capital and labour at home. During the recess which followed soon after his arrival in office he made an eloquent appeal (Oct. 10) at Perigueux, for the broader handling of political questions; for greater tolerance of opinion; for the destruction of parish-pump politics, and the cleansing of the " stagnant pools " of local interest in which national issues were all too frequently decided in a purely selfish sense. This speech, in which for the first time the policy of appeasement was openly preached by a Republican minister, made a great stir among public and Parliament, and aroused the fear among Socialist-Radicals and Socialists that too close a rapprochement with Conservatism was intended. Briand managed, after the assembly of Parliament, to allay these apprehensions.
Electoral reform, on the basis of proportional representation, was the first measure submitted to Parliament. The claims of this system had been advocated by an influential body of Parlia- mentarians, and their propaganda had made headway. Never- theless, political leaders felt disinclined to take a leap in the dark, and Briand, having made the vote upon the matter one of confi- dence, the reform bill was rejected. After voting the State pur- chase of the Quest railway, the House strengthened the protective system of 1892 by voting a general increase in the customs tariff which was justified, or at any rate rendered necessary by the new fiscal burdens placed upon home industry by social legislation.
Elections of IQIO. Considerations of a large policy, rather than those of small concrete interests, dominated the elections of 1910. The Socialist-Radicals, having put through their drastic anti-clerical programme, had started upon equally sweeping schemes of social reform. Class appetites had been aroused, and every fresh act of social legislation led to an increase of the eco- nomic, social and political demands of Labour and its leaders. A series of strikes and disturbances, in 1907-8-9, some of them re- quiring to be quelled with great severity, coupled with the steady growth of taxation, had aroused the " black coat " population to the perils of demagogic competition. Radicals, never at any time very advanced, broke with their Socialist and Socialist-Radical associates, thus putting an end to the union of the Left which had waged the war against the Church.
While the extreme Left became more and more clamorous in its voicing of the demands of Labour, moderate Radicals sought to create a party of Order with which to stem the rising flood of taxation, and to curb the precocious proletarian ambition. Bri- and was the natural leader of such an effort. At Perigueux he had already drawn the attention of the country to the dangers of political and class intolerance. Speaking to his constituents at St. Chamond on April 15 he was more definite. After declaring that the spirit of party and anarchism were the worst enemies of society, he outlined a programme of government, the chief feature of which was a proposal intended to tame the Labour movement by giving to workmen's syndicates the rights and re- sponsibilities of property and corporative status. These unions, under the influence of the extremist leaders of the Confederation Generale du Travail, were fast becoming dangerous centres of anarchy and hotbeds of class-hatred. Briand proposed to alter this by giving these unions full legal status. This was the con- crete expression of his policy of appeasement.
The results of the elections were (the corresponding numbers in the previous Chamber are shown in brackets) : Reactionaries (80) 71; Nationalists (16) 17; Progressives (60) 60; Left Republicans (82) 93; Radicals and Socialist-Radicals (269) 252; Independent Socialists (29) 30; Unified Socialists (55) 74. These results favoured Socialists at the expense of their Radical allies. Proportional representation was favoured by the great majority of the electorate, and became part of ministerial policy as laid down on June i 1910 by the prime minister, Briand.
During the autumn vacation of that year a big railway strike gave Briand an opportunity of displaying statesmanlike courage, and of driving a further wedge in between the extreme and the moderate elements of the Left. The strike first broke out on the Nord railway, and spread to the Quest and Midi systems. The Est and Paris-Lyons-Mediterranee lines were not greatly affected. There was a good deal of violence used by strikers, and sabotage was practised on a large scale. Briand faced the situation with great firmness, and used the army, not only in protecting prop- erty, but also in actual strike-breaking. All railway servants of military age were called to the colours, placed therefore under martial law, and left at their civilian posts, desertion of which became thus a military offence. Agitators among the men were drastically weeded out, and within a week a strike movement of a magnitude previously unknown in France had collapsed. The struggle had been carried on with great determination on both sides, and left much bitterness behind it. Briand's action in mobilizing strikers had naturally aroused the fury of the Social- ists, who, on the reassembly of Parliament, attacked the legality of his action. The Ministry was kept in power thanks to the growing scission on the Left of the House, but a reconstruction of the Government was deemed advisable. Briand resigned on Nov. 2, and next day formed another Cabinet.
Briand's Reconstructed Ministry. This new Government was composed exclusively of moderate Radicals. MM. Millerand and Viviani, who represented the Left wing in the Ministry, went out of office, and it was soon evident that Briand intended to lean more and more upon the Centre. He refused, in spite of very great pressure, to force the railway companies to reinstate the men dismissed as a result of the strike, and pressed forward his policy of compelling Labour organizations to confine their activi-
