February 6th, 1943
Hotel des Cèdres, Chréa (50 kilometers from Alger, on the heights), 16:00 - It is in this charming and discreet establishment, whose guests were informed that it was closing exceptionally closed for three days, that Léon Blum and Georges Mandel bring together important political leaders representing the parties involved in the government.
- The SFIO is obviously represented by Blum himself. But he was unable to keep Paul Faure away from the meeting. Paul Faure, the party's secretary general, whose days in this position were however numbered (Faure had stated in 1939 that the declaration of war was illegal and he did not change his opinion, although he was only followed by a small number of SFIO deputies, nicknamed the "paulfauristes").
- The Independent Republicans are represented by Georges Mandel, Minister of the Interior, and Henry de Kérillis, Minister of the (Merchant) Navy.
- The Radicals are represented by two of their leading figures, Jean Zay, Minister of Information, and Edouard Herriot, President of the Parliament.
- Gaston Monnerville, deputy for Guyana, represents the Democratic Left.
- Charles Tillon, Minister of the Air Force, more or less unofficially represents the PCF (where he is not necessarily in the odor of sanctity).
- Louis Marin, minister in charge of relations with the Parliament, represents the Republican Federation.
- Auguste Champetier de Ribes, senator of the Basses-Pyrénées, represents the Parti Démocrate Populaire.
- Joseph Laniel, deputy of Calvados, represents the ARGRI (Alliance of the Republicans of the Left and Radical Independents).
A few other influential deputies and senators complete this phalanx.
Moreover, if Paul Reynaud is absent, he is represented by his chief of staff, Dominique Leca. As for De Gaulle, who was invited, he explained very courteously that his presence seemed inappropriate, since it was a meeting of senior political party officials, which he is not. His faithful Geoffroy de Courcel is however present, he will know how to listen, watch and...not forget anything.
The theme of the meeting (supposed to remain secret): how to avoid a parliamentary crisis and preserve the government (and the spirit) of the Union Sacrée when Paul Reynaud had to be replaced as President of the Council? Indeed, for several days, it has been an open secret: Reynaud would resign, probably in a few days, for health reasons. For a while, it was considered to wait until March-April and the elections planned in "all the free French territories" to proceed with his "succession", but it seems better not to let the present painful situation fester. All well-informed politicians (and therefore all the participants in the meeting) know that he had handed Lebrun his letter of resignation backdated a few days ago, while the President of the Republic had visited him in person in the residence of Sidi-Ferruch where he is resting.
After a long and somewhat convoluted preamble, and just as everyone thought he was beginning, as he sometimes does, to get a little tangled up in his speech, Léon Blum comes to the essential question: Who are we going to invest to replace Paul Reynaud at the head of the government?
Charles Tillon takes on a falsely outraged look: "We, we... Mr. Vice President of the Council, you can imagine that the French Communist Party would not accept that this investiture by anyone other than the representatives of the PEOPLE!" At this point, many approve around the table. "That said," continues Tillon, "it is undeniable that their choice could only be a man of the left...".
Here, inevitably, unanimity is no longer the order of the day. There are "various movements", as the Journal Officiel says.
Paul Faure, who had been gnawing at his brake for a while, intervened: "It's not because we have been wading in illegality since that fatal September 3rd, 1939 that we are going to choose the next President of the Council in small committee and by acclamations, like the Vatican curetons! I think that would be a bit rich!"
The most clerical people present protest loudly and some invectives fly.
After a few moments of cacophony, Georges Mandel intervenes, and from his first words, silence returns to the room: "Well, you see, gentlemen, that's why we are gathered here. Because of this bickering that is unworthy of the country's situation. You are well placed to know that the atmosphere in the Assembly is getting worse every day. If I were the only target of some very unpleasant jibes [he glances briefly but strongly in the direction of Louis Marin, who represents the Republican Federation and can only raise his arms to the sky with a sorry look], I have a strong skin... But there are also the scandalous remarks made my eminent colleague Mr. Blum - the insinuations about his religion are an insult to our democracy and to the principles we defend in our fight against Hitlerism, I am sure that our colleagues who are rightly or wrongly called "conservatives" will understand this. I am all the more sure of it that their mere presence here, on this side of the Mediterranean is enough to demonstrate their patriotism. This has not prevented some of them from being targeted by accusations of links with those of our ex-colleagues who had fallen into the mire of the Collaboration. This kind of accusation is unbearable. In the same way, I would like to point out that the... comrades, it is the right word, of our communist colleagues have been for nearly a year in the forefront of the struggle against the Nazi enemy, and that they spare neither their pain nor their blood. But I am sure that the whole Communist Party is well aware that this struggle began in September 1939, and that it has gone on for too long without it...".
Everyone takes their lumps and the audience seems subdued, for the moment.
Mandel: "We obviously do not claim to be calling into question the democratic game! The elections that will soon take place in the territories of the Empire, which have suffered for too long from a lack of democratic recognition, are there to prove it. But, as you have all learned in one way or another, President Reynaud... [Someone begins to applaud and soon the whole room does the same. Mandel waits until the cheers have died down before resuming]. President Reynaud was able to recognize that he was physically no longer in a state to assume the overwhelming responsibilities that are his, following the tragic attack that we know about. We are gathered here to avoid the chaos that could be unleashed by the official announcement of his resignation. That is to say, we are gathered here to put an end to the mediocre infighting that sullies our democracy.
In this difficult hour, when our compatriots in Metropolitan France are suffering every day from the combined yoke of Nazi Germany and of the few Frenchmen led astray by their obsessions who put themselves body and soul at their service, what image are we going to give them? That of Republican dignity or that of petty disputes?"
He breathes a few seconds before affirming: "I know that this word has been overused, but it is to create a true Sacred Union between all of us, representatives of the French People."
- As in the time of the Tiger?" asks Joseph Laniel in a falsely innocent voice, who knows - like everyone present - Mandel's loyalty to the memory of Clemenceau.
- Exactly. And it will be an even greater feat. For we have had our backs broken. We left our national territory and began to reconquer our Motherland from the lands of our Empire. In these unprecedented circumstances, we cannot afford to stoop to political bickering. [Mandel smiles, or grimaces.] I assure you, gentlemen, that when we get back to Paris - not if, but when - we can have fun doing again what we know best since the day of the Gauls. [Many smiled, thinking that Mandel was being witty, but this time his face has frozen into a real grimace.] But until then, we can only offer the French people... We cannot offer the world the sorry spectacle we have been inflicting on it for the past three weeks and which is increasingly difficult to conceal. Squabbles, disputes, rallies, betrayals! Each one of them is looking for a place in a government that would be in great danger, alas, of not even surviving until the Liberation! No, gentlemen, I do not propose a coup d'état, nor the installation of an authoritarian power, as some have claimed that the government wished it at the time of the reform of December 1940. I propose to you to appoint as President of the Council a man who is above political quarrels. Who, until Victory is won
personifies the Sacred Union to gather around him all the French people!"
Herriot says, half amused, half annoyed: "And this rare bird has a name, I suppose?"
Charles Tillon, in his memoirs, will tell of having ironized low: "Too bad that Pétain is dead, the role would suit him well!"
Dominique Leca opens his mouth, but barely had time to say: "You are right..." when Georges Mandel cuts him off with passion: "Yes, gentlemen. He has a name. A name associated with one of the most glorious Frenchmen. A name associated with Georges Clemenceau, the father of Victory in the Other War. A name associated with the Tiger! This man, gentlemen, this great Frenchman..."
Someone whispers, yet very audibly: "Come on, he's talking about himself in the third person, now!"
Mandel: "This man is General Henri Mordacq, director of Monsieur Clemenceau's cabinet at the Ministry of War [Mandel headed Clemenceau's cabinet at the Presidency of the Council]. General Mordacq has a brilliant intelligence, in no way weakened by the years. For more than fifteen years, he has been fighting against the weaknesses that we have shown, and I mean all of us! He already saw clearly in 1929, when he chaired a Committee against the evacuation of the Rhineland and the Saar!"
Astonished murmurs run through the room.
- Mordacq? But what does he know about politics?" exclaims Jean Zay. "He will not be able to be content to preside over the Council like a trophy wife!
- I have seen him at work and I can assure you that he was able to guide Clemenceau through the perilous circumstances that have remained and will remain unknown to most people. And then, an energetic soldier, what a symbol at a time when our Armies are getting ready for the Liberation!
This time, Dominique Leca is well prepared, and Mandel, a little out of breath, does not cut him off: "My dear friend, you are perfectly right! The Presidency of the Council needs a man who is independent of the parties while having the experience of political struggles, a man of unquestionable national stature as well as a soldier with a solid military career! But let me add: we need a man already known by the greatest number of our compatriots, a man whose voice has shown them without fail, since the first days, the way to Victory! And a man who, from the very beginning, has been associated with the refusal of abdication, renunciation, and the lowering of the country.
President Reynaud, who was informed of the situation in the Assembly, and whose spokesman I am here, suggested a name that met with the warm assent of Monsieur Blum [Leca turns to Léon Blum, who nods vigorously; he doesn't need to point it out: Reynaud plus Blum will almost certainly lead the majority of the Assembly].
His choice, I am sure, will seem natural to all our fellow citizens, who already know him very well. It is General Charles de Gaulle, Minister of Defense and War!"
This speech triggers a general hubbub. Overcoming the murmurs and exclamations, Paul Faure protests: "While Marshal Pétain, three years ago, had a certain legitimacy to stop the cataclysm that struck the country...".
Jean Zay stands up, electrified: "No doubt because he had something to do with this disaster, wasn't it, Mr. Faure?"
Faure mumbles a protest before continuing, at all costs: "Finally, is it really a colonel with temporary stars who is going to take over the country? Are we still in a democracy? Are we with the warlords of China? The speeches of De Gaulle that you appreciate so much prove only one thing: his ambition! This character is nothing but an apprentice dictator! And I weigh my words: De Gaulle, dictator!"
Kérillis cuts him off: "Don't be ridiculous! All the members of the cabinet have been meeting with him every week for three years, and often more! Honestly, who could be honest and serious enough to dare this kind of nonsense! The General has many defects, but he is obviously a democrat!"
Perhaps anxious not to leave the field open to the right, Gaston Monnerville takes the floor with the authority that his outfit of officer of the National Navy gives him: "It is true that, as a civilian in uniform, I don't appreciate very much the military meddling in politics. But if one is needed - and, in these exceptional circumstances, I tend to think that De Gaulle is undoubtedly the best. Let's be fair, gentlemen: he has no party likely to allow him to take himself for a dictator and, being only a brigadier general, I do not imagine that he can prepare a coup d'état of praetorians!"
As everyone begins to speak at once, Léon Blum intervenes and brings back calm: "Gentlemen, it is not a question of resurrecting the Clemenceau cabinet as it was perceived at the time by the parliamentarians. The Tiger relied on his popularity to take the decisions he considered necessary, often bypassing the Assembly. Like my colleague Georges Mandel, I am in favor of a new President of the Council from outside the political background and, in the current situation of the country, the choice of a military man seems to me a good idea. But this military man will, in any case, be solidly supervised by the other ministers - besides, under these conditions, even the War Ministry would be entrusted to a civilian."
But Paul Faure stands up again and does not hesitate to oppose his party comrade:
"Gentlemen, you all know me [Too well! shout several voices.]. You know my convictions. To seek the Sacred Union, why not. But you seem to forget something. There will be no new President of the Council without a vote of the Assembly and I won't let anyone force me to vote for a candidate who doesn't suit me.
That is why I announce that MY party will present a candidate to succeed Monsieur Reynaud."
Blum tries to reason with him, "Come on, Paul, you can't do that! I remind you that it is my party too! We are not going to support two different candidates!"
But Faure burns his bridges. He opposes Blum more than he challenges De Gaulle's candidacy: "I know that you and your friends have already planned to replace me, because I have been opposed to this war from the very beginning. You will easily find someone more flexible! But I am still the head of the Party. Do you want to go through a second Montrouge? Do you want my successor to reign only over rubble? I demand that a candidate of the SFIO can present himself. That the masquerade you are preparing for us leaves the real democrats, the real socialists an open door!"
Paul Faure's suicidal outburst seems to calm the spirits by showing everyone the risks they are running. In a rare burst of republican solidarity, most of the participants agree on the necessity of electing a President of the Council independent of all parties...which also means that he will not favour any party and that he will not be truly supported by any party, which should make it possible to dismiss him without difficulty the day when the Gauls can safely start quarrelling again.
