YOUTH GIVE FRENCH CP LEADERS TOUGH BATTLE
By Pierre Frank
“The congress. of the UEC [Union des Etudiants Communistes] ended March 7 in Paris with the victory of the leadership of the French Communist party LPpCcF]. The outcome was visible for the past year. At -the preceding congress, partisans of the PCF leadership gained ground, particularly among the new members, those still very young at .the time of the Algerian war, This was what the PCF leadership counted on, and they succeeded, particularly in the provinces.
Nevertheless, the congress was not an easy one for the PCF leadership. Frcom beginning to end it was marked by the struggle of tendencies, something not seen at any congress of a PCF organization for some thirty-five years. About 350 delegates favored the PCF leadership; the opposition had around 150 which included some 100 for the left wing and 50 for the out-going National Bureau.
. The two sides fought very vigorously, the partisans of the outgoing National Bureau, a@ pro-"Italian" tendency, centering their efforts primarily on procedural questions. The left wing at one point walked out in full view to hold a caucus meeting.
The Stalinist character of the PCF leadership stood out. strongly. A speech by Roland Leroy, the Political Bureau member charged with staying on top of the UEC, was characteristic. Speaking after having gained the majority, he very violently attacked his opponents. The question that aroused the greatest anger among the PCF leaders was the right of tendencies. Against this right, virtually the entire old Stalinist vocabulary was trotted out. The PCF leadership had taken due precaution to see that no representatives of other Communist parties were present. We're internationalists, you see}
The newly elected leadership is virtually unanimously with the PCF leadership. Out of more than 80 members on the new National Council, only three or four representatives of the opposition were named and they refused to stay as hostages. But the current majority is not homogeneous, At the congress itself it could be seen that the majority was composed of about half who are rigidly with the PCF leadership and another half who are also followers but who were surprised and shaken by the problems raised during the discussion. On two points, one concerning the account of the congress in 1'Humanité, the official PCF newspaper, and the other concerning the possibility of opposition documents at the time of the next congress, this majority split down the middle, This promises something for the future,
and: not a distant one.
Victory won, Leroy wasted no time, He immediately moved into the UEC headquarters and removed from its. library, which is opposite the Sorbonne, the issues of Clarté (the UEC publication) containing documents written by the opposition, as well as all the "subversive' literature sold there, among other things books written by Trotsky. We're going to have order! ae wrt oe
We reported previously that the Communist university personnel carried the crisis of the UEC into the PCF. [See World Outlook February 19.] This could have had considerable repercussions and the leadership reacted vigorously as we have also reported. It seems that the leadership has succeeded. The intellectuals have not taken any public steps such as broadcasting their names. They were frightened by the audacity they had displayed and are now trying to forget it.» This is too bad; it is certain that it will not prove sufficient to win forgiveness from the leadership.
GENERAL HUMBERTO DELGADO