ARISTIDE BRIAND

Mr. Aristide Briand denies the Bolshevik peril in France

Our distinguished colleague, Mr. Pierre Bermond, political director of Le Petit Niçois, had the good fortune to meet Mr. Aristide Briand in Nice:
We came to speak of the communist danger, and I want to repeat his words solely because of the authority attached to everything that emanates from a man whose perspicacity is recognized by all and who, eight times President of the Council, had the heavy responsibility of power in particularly difficult times.
"The Jaurès demonstration," Mr. Aristide Briand told me, "allowed the Communist Party to display its troops. But how many were there?"
"We have spoken of fantastic figures. Those who attended the parade were moved by the number of red troops. But you know very well that ten thousand men parading give the impression of a much larger crowd.
"And then, what was so unexpected about this demonstration?
Communism covers a very old commodity with a new name. Before the war, today's Communists were the Libertarians, the Anarchists, and if we look closely at things, their number has hardly changed.
Let's not talk about the number of votes collected by the Communist candidates in the elections last May. Alongside the votes of the Party's militants, there are those of all the discontented, of all the systematic opponents, who are sometimes men of the right. After a profound disturbance of the world balance such as that brought about by the war of 1914, there are inevitably discontented people.
Certainly, the duty of a Government is to avoid the disorders that a few agitators could try to create. But there is no more communist danger in France today than there was in 1919.
The maneuver begun by the political groups that cry out about political danger is the same as that which worked so well for Clemenceau, when he spoke of "the Man with a Knife Between His Teeth."
"And besides," adds the former President of the Council, "by engaging in such a maneuver, in a party interest, these men are doing a bad job. The foreigner looks and listens, and he is often tempted to believe the pessimistic rumors that reach him. During my last stay in Rome, I had to utter a considerable number of words to cut short the gossip spread at will and which represented the social order and internal peace of our country at the mercy of a street movement, the imminence of which was certain."

All French people should reflect on this serious subject and draw from the words so full of moderation and truth, which we have just transcribed, the lesson they contain.

Pierre BERMOND.