view raw text
FRANCE FEARS "CIVIL WAR" IN PARIS LABOR STRIKE. i - - - - PARIS, France, Nov. 26. Both leftists and rightists publicly expressed fears of serious civil strife today as Premier Edouard Dala-dier forged rapidly ahead with arrangements to crush expanding strikes by military rule. Some authorities even mention "civil war" as a possibility, since neither the General Federation of Labor, which plans a one-day strike of its 5,000,000 members Wednesday, nor Daladier, who is trying to enforce drastic economic changes, is showing any signs of backing down. The alternative was plain to observers. France is about to see either the establishment of centralized authority resembling a dictatorship or the downfall of Daladier and his center right government. There are now between 125,000 and 200,000 persons on strike. The labor federation insists that they are battling the ney decree laws of Finance Minister Paul Reynaud, which raise taxes and end the forty-hour work week maximum, but Daladier contends the strikes have no economic motive, being merely intended to bring about the overthrow of his cabinet, which has repudiated the leftist-popular front.
