From Our Own Correspondent The political situation in France is more serious today than it has been for a very long time.
The situation can be quite simply stated: M. Daladier sees no chance of settling the problems of France without reversing the policy of the Popular Front. M. Blum refuses support to any other financial policy than his own which caused the mischief.
M. Daladier must expect to have Socialists and Communists both against him.
This means that he is forced to the Right for support and once more the cry of Fascism will be raised.
Public Opinion and M. Daladier
Nobody can say with any confidence what the present state of French public opinion is.
It is tired of the Popular Front, but on the other hand it feels humiliated by Munich and is still very largely frightened of Fascism. The victory of Col. de la Rocque's Social Party in the election for the 9th Arrondissement of Paris is significant, but there are other pointers in other direc tions. M. Daladier, as I pointed out recently, has yet to prove himself a strong man. He failed badly with the financial problem and this has reduced his stock. It has increased the power of M. Reynaud, the friend of Mr. Churchill, and the undisguised enemy of the Munich plan on which he and M. Mandel (originally Rothschild) offered to resign from the Government.
Queries The visit of Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Halifax is regarded here as an attempt to give much needed support to the Daladier Government. What many people are asking, however, is whether the Chamberlain policy is firmly established in England, and from this point of view the Dartford election result is found very unsettling.
Germany Behaves Well In this very excited atmosphere the shooting of Herr von Rath at the German Embassy caused a painful sensation and it should be noted on the credit side of a not altogether encouraging balance sheet that there has been no attempt in Germany to exploit the incident against France.
Well Controlled from Moscow
The Communists must not be left out of account, but their principal activity may not be displayed in Parliament. There are 300,000 militants of the Party all very well controlled from Moscow and there is certainly enough explosive material lying about at present for them to make a good deal of mischief.
Events may move very rapidly between now and the time fixed for the visit of the Br itish statesmen, but it is hard to see how M. Daladier is going to solve his problems.