Trouble Assuming Shape Of Insurrection

Chronicle (Levin), 11 October 1948, Page 5

Trouble Assuming Shape Of Insurrection

Received Sunday, 7.30 p.m. , PARIS, Oct. 9. The • strike wave was assuming the shape of an insurrection and the Government would take the necess'ary steps to stop the agitation, said M. Gueuille. in a broadcast. The Government Would not tolerate such threats against the regime of the Republic because the constitution- did not allow it. It was inadmissable that workers should be asked to oppose the generous aid rendered by United" States. It was also inadmissible that the right to strike should be used as a means of exerting pressure on French policy. M. Queuille said the miners' strike was costing France 160,000 tons of coal daily and the stoppage at the coking plants would mean virtitally their destruction , causing a loss of £11,500,000. ' ' ' The strike weapon must not stab at the hea-rt of the country depriving it of production essential to its .existence, ' ' he said. Agency eorrespondents report that the Communist led General Confederation of Labour called a general p.rotest- strike in the Longwy area, Northern France, where troops and striking miners clashed last night. Strike ballots are being organised at rail centres throughout the country with the possibility of a general railway strike. An infantry regiment has been rushed to the liot area in the Lorraine eoalfields. Police with batons and teargas attacked demonstrators w:hen they tried to approach the Nancy railway station. The 24-hour strike by seamen endbd this morning but the Gommunist General Confederation of Labour, in a blow at key sections of economy, called a 24-hour strike of port -and dock wu-rkers. Paris taxidrivers remained off duty. . The outlook for a settlement of the natioiiwide French miners' strike was on the fifth day (Friday), if anything, blacker than ever, says The Times' Paris correspondent. The coking ovens in the industrial north have become the focal point of the dispute and the" maintenance of their fires is a matter of national importance. Coke ovens are normally kept at a temperature of 1100 degrees centigrade. The temperature falls about 40 degrees daily when the ovens cease to be fed with coal. The critical temperature below which eooling canses serious damage, is 700 de- ■ grees and the temperature has already fallen to about 800 degrees. The Government has issued an order requisitianing workers to teud the ovens. Reuter's Paris correspondent . says the Labour Minister, M. Daniel Mayer, is considering the results of talks he had with. France 's eight super police pref'ec.ts 011 further measures to .be taken if the strikes spread.