THE VICTORY of Mr. Poincaré

     Let us suppose that Mr. Poincaré has been slandered and that he is not seeking in the Ruhr adventure the annexationist and imperialist ends that evil people attribute to him. Let us assume that, things having turned out for the best and Germany having ceased passive resistance, conversations begin between the cabinets of Paris and Berlin and that an agreement is reached. Do you know where we will be on the repair problem? Exactly where we were before the occupation of the Ruhr? Except, however, that instead of dealing with a debtor able to pay, we will have before us a Germany struggling with financial difficulties that all the knowledge of Hilferding and his successors will undoubtedly not be able to resolve for a long time. . So, we will have to follow the path of the measures recommended by the socialists in Frankfurt, as we had planned, but after eight or nine months of losses, of wasted wealth, of millions of francs thrown down the drain. I am not talking about the number of marks, not having been used to counting to infinity.
      And you will see that Mr. Poincaré, served by the press with large numbers and a large circulation, will persuade a significant part of public opinion that he has won the game. He will have won it for panache alone. Germany will have capitulated, thanks to the admirable grip of the President of the Council. But payment of reparations will be postponed for many years and France's financial burdens will have been increased. This second aspect of Ruhr policy will be carefully concealed. We will be content to make all the noise around France's new victory. And many among the good public will not realize that two or three victories of the same kind would lead the country to a state of complete ruin. This is how we seek to prepare good elections for next year.
      It is up to us, socialists, to ardently denounce these perfidious maneuvers, these false calculations, this shameless exploitation of patriotism, this sickening bluff in which what remained of the good name of the French Republic has sunk among all the free spirits of the world, and which have made the solution of the problem of repairs more difficult and more uncertain.

Paul FAURE