TO SURVIVE DE GAULLE
37
stability, and modernization sufficient to counterbalance both their disunion
over economic and social policies and the inevitable rivalries among their
leaders? Although the number and complexity of the factors which bear on
this question preclude a clearcut “yes” or “no” answer, it would appear
useful to point up some of the advantages enjoyed by Gaullist party-builders
and the problems which remain to be solved.
Elsewhere the emergence of catchall parties seems to have been associ-
ated with increasing social and political consensus; in France, a number of
the old sources of conflict are at least beginning to lose their importance.
Decolonization is all but complete, and cold war tensions have eased con-
siderably. Catholic farmers now sometimes join with Communist farmers in
defense of their mutual interests, as do Communist and non-Communist
trade unions.'sr,
Until the general strike of May and June, 1968, it appeared that a
decade of sustained prosperity, accompanied by increasing concern with
individual advancement and greater social and geographical mobility, was
beginning to lessen class tensions.'w That month of turmoil clearly demon-
strated once again that general affluence is no guarantee of social harmony.
And yet, in the main, French workers — unlike student activists — seemed
most interested in achieving better material conditions within the existing
social system.
Clearly the strikes and demonstrations of May, 1968, followed by a
bitter electoral campaign, divided Frenchmen as nothing had done since
the Algerian War. In the final analysis, however, student revolutionaries
discovered they had little support outside the universities — certainly not
from a Communist Party which disdained revolutionary “adventurers” and
strove actively for a more responsible public image. The grievances of
workers are mostly negotiable.
In comparison with the 1930’s, and even the 1950’s, when religion and
foreign policy still aroused political passions, the issues which now divide
Frenchmen are simpler and more susceptible to compromise solutions. In
the terminology of La Palombara and Weiner, the “load” on the French
party system has been reduced.'s7 Though the Communist Party still com-
mands the votes of a fifth of the French electorate, there are some signs
that dogmatic ideologies and the parties that preach them are losing their
appeal.,ss Never before have conditions in French society been as favorable
to the emergence of a large, coalition party.
Through their control over the French government, at least for the mo-
ment Gaullists are capable of manipulating their institutional environment
in order to favor the largest parties. Direct election of the president should
provide at least a periodical incentive to form political coalitions. In Decem-
ber, 1966, the National Assembly adopted a government bill which requires