The name is absent

crease working class grievances. When the Federation of the Democratic
and Socialist Left posed a motion of censure in the midst of the general
strike, Capitant resigned his seat in parliament rather than support the
Pompidou government. Again, as on lesser issues in the past, de Gaulle
gave support to Capitant’s demands for social and economic reform. On
May 31, 1968, Capitant became Minister of Justice in a reformulated gov-
ernment which also included such Left Gaullist leaders as Yvon Morandat
(President of the Front Travailliste), Philippe Dechartre (President of the
Union de la Gauche V^e République), and Albin Chalandon (a longstanding
spokesman for reformists among Gaullist party regulars). All but Morandat,
who was defeated in his constituency, were kept on after the June, 1968,
elections. They were joined in the new cabinet by Jean de Lipkowski and
Jacques Trorial, both members of the Union de la Gauche V^e République.
Violent pressure from students, workers, and the formal Left opposition
parties apparently reaffirmed de Gaulle’s conviction that “the Left must be
present in Gaullism and Gaullism in the Left.” De Gaulle’s proposed solu-
tion to the social crisis of May, 1968 — greater mass “participation” in the
administration of economic and governmental affairs — was reminiscent of
a score of Notre République editorials.

Recalling both their premerger weakness and de Gaulle’s desire that
they remain in the fold, Left Gaullists usually feel that, at least for the time
being, they are more influential within the UDR, where they have found
numerous kindred spirits, than outside.”⁵ Those Left Gaullists who remain
outside the UDR, notably the members of the Front Travailliste, have
little hope for power and influence save insofar as de Gaulle and the UDR
choose to call upon them.

There is indeed still a Left wing within the UDR, a wing which despised
the fiscal policies of Giscard d’Estaing, and which looks upon Michel Debré
and Georges Pompidou with some suspicion. Though Notre République
speaks most consistently for that wing, it is not infrequently joined by UDR
leaders of the stripe of the editor, Jacques de Montalais, of the UDR
daily.¹"’

One must not exaggerate the strength and unity of the Left wing, how-
ever. A study of roll-call votes in the hectic last half of the spring, 1965,
session of the National Assembly revealed no solid opposition group within
the UNR delegation. From April 27, 1965, to June 26, 1965, as the gov-
ernment pushed through the Assembly important bills on national military
service, tax reform, reform of corporation law, and revision of the comités
d’entreprise, the dissenters and abstainers within the UNR group tended
to vary from question to question. In a total of thirty-eight roll-call votes,
six UNR deputies — Lccornu, Meunier, Schwartz, Taittinger, Vallon, and
ZilIer — dissented or abstained from the majority UNR position on four

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