ORDERED TO RETURN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26641, 11 December 1947, Page 7

ORDERED TO RETURN

French Strikes Officially Ended ' COMMUNIST LEADERS YIELD New Zealand Press Association—Reuter—Copyright. Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, .Dec. 10. The French strikes, which lasted three weeks, end officially to*day. The back-to-work order was given last night by. Communist leaders of the French Confederation of Labour, but the Paris correspondent of The Times points out that many thousands of workers had already returned to work and that the order can therefore only be interpreted as a retreat from what was swiftly becoming an untenable position. The conclusions to be drawn, the correspondent says, are both encouraging and depressing. First, it is obvious that the Communists in the Confederation are no longer able to wield their former power, not so much because the nonGommunist elements, which stand for professional as against political trade unionism, have grown stronger but because the worker himself seems to have sensed that he is being used as a pawn in a larger ahd more desperate game.

Secondly, the present French Government, unlike its predecessor, has stood up to the challenge, and this has probably done as much as anything to restore order. Nevertheless, the Communist power in the confederation remains a strong weapon. 1 For three weeks it has been able to hold up France’s industrial and social life, and many French observers feel there is no reason why the same thing should not happen again in two or three months’ time. The events have proved that it is not necessary to command the unanimous support of the workers in order to paralyse an _ industry or part of an industry. The Paris underground railway workers did not strike last week, but because the staff at the electricity plant did, the underground came to a standstill. Finally, the present strikes, unlijce previous strikes, have seen the ugly development of sabotage, and this has profoundly shaken the French people.

The French Confederation of Labour, in a communique on the back-to-work order, made no direct statement' that the confederation accepted the Government’s terms, but reviewed the Government’s offers and told the strikers: “ These .results you obtained by your strike.” Reuter’s Paris correspondent says the Government’s proposals were: First, a monthly living allowance for all workers from November 24 of £3 2s 6d; secondly, the Government will defer'wage freezing plans to June 1, 1948, and meanwhile take steps to stabilise relations between wages and prices: thirdly, the new minimum monthly wage from December 1 is believed to be £2O 16s, compared with the confederation’s demand for £22 10s, and the present minimum of £l6 13s 4d; and fourthly, a 22 per cent, increase in family allowances. The French Minister of Labour, M. Daniel Mayer, commenting on the confederation’s decision, said: “The working class has. made the necessary discrimination between the economic aspect of their claims and political exploitation of their claims.”