Chapter Twenty: He Recognizes No One but the General

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“After coming to Paris, I heard that the French Communist Party has expanded rapidly. But if just anyone can join so easily, then the party cannot have much of a future.” Koman put away his party card and offered the assessment in an indifferent tone.

He knew that both the French and Italian Communist Parties followed what was known as the parliamentary struggle—or the European—line. But the final outcome had already proved that this path would not work.

“I see.” Alain understood that Koman was explaining why he had just gone to the headquarters of the French Communist Party. “But doesn’t absorbing more people make the party stronger?”

“Not necessarily. The portion that actually has fighting power is limited. New members may not add to that strength; they may instead introduce contamination and undermine cohesion.” Koman answered with his trademark dazzling smile.

In terms of strength, the Italian Communist Party was naturally more powerful, and it maintained its influence for a longer period.

But this had to be analyzed from the perspective of political institutions. France truly had a parliamentary system with parties everywhere, a system in which governments changed from time to time. During the Cold War, Italy’s parliamentary system was dominated by the Christian Democrats, who had consolidated every political force outside the Italian Communist Party—rather like the Liberal Democratic Party’s dominance under Japan’s 1955 System.

Thus, while the Italian Communist Party was suppressed, its influence was also preserved for a longer period. In France, by contrast, the influence of the French Communist Party was siphoned away by various socialist and other left-wing parties. When the left could be divided without limit, and there was always someone claiming to be more progressive than you, influence naturally began to slip away first.

In truth, Koman rather hoped that France would learn something from Italy. The French parliamentary system could dilute the influence of the French Communist Party more quickly, but France also had somewhat too many political forces.

This was not limited to the left. The same was true of the right. If the French monarchists had not split among themselves, the Third Republic could never have been established.

But because they were divided over whether the throne should go to one of the two Bourbon factions or to the Bonapartists, they broke into three camps. As a result, the monarchists, despite holding the advantage, lost to the republicans.

No wonder France was the pioneer of revolutions and the trailblazer of political systems. It had stepped into every pitfall those systems had to offer.

The Antioch Group’s investigation into French collaborators around Paris had recently been taken over by Alain. As for Martin, one of the two men who served as Koman’s right-hand men, he was responsible for processing the raw materials shipped from Syria into cigarettes.

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Alain knew about this as well. He informed Koman of Martin’s recent progress. “But it is wartime, and tobacco is monopolized by the state.”

“This has nothing to do with the state, and none of it will be sold on the domestic market.” Koman replied cheerfully. “Only the noble German people are worthy of the Profanation Alliance’s efforts.”

Many matters were indeed being handled somewhat hastily, but there was no need to panic. Koman had enough patience to advance step by step until he achieved the result he wanted.

Of course, he was not anxious about the national blood bank. What worried him was that women’s suffrage was about to be introduced, and if he did not put the matter into effect soon, it might be too late.

Koman did not dare underestimate the feminists of the old revolutionary heartlands. He knew something about Europe’s feminists as well. French feminists might not yet have been so blatant, but as early as the 1960s, Swedish feminists had openly called during elections for women to vote only for female candidates. They could not even be bothered to pretend otherwise.

There was a reason Sweden later became a sacred land of the progressive left. The country certainly had its own particular circumstances.

At this crucial moment, when de Gaulle was attempting to reclaim the armed forces subordinate to the French Communist Party, the headquarters of the French First Army issued a public statement. The statement expressed support for the decision to place the current French forces under a unified command and integrate them more effectively until victory was achieved.

The statement declared:

“At a time when the nation and people faced mortal danger, General de Gaulle cast aside personal honor and disgrace. With the outcome of life and death still uncertain, he established and led the cause of national liberation, restoring the dignity of the French nation. The present war has not yet been completely won, and only General de Gaulle can unite the strength of the entire society and cleanse the humiliation of the homeland’s occupation.”

“A country cannot have two armies that answer to different authorities. Only by standing closely united under General de Gaulle’s leadership can France achieve victory as soon as possible and devote itself to postwar reconstruction. At this moment, no party or individual may treat this decision—which benefits all of French society—with indifference. Every party and individual must cast aside private interests and devote all their strength to the war until complete victory has been achieved.”

The public statement from the French First Army was issued at the critical moment when de Gaulle and the French Communist Party were negotiating unified command of the armed forces, giving de Gaulle a powerful boost.

Agence France-Presse soon broadcast and published the First Army’s statement. Shortly afterward, General de Tassigny, commander of the French Second Army, issued a statement supporting de Gaulle.

The French First Army and French Second Army were essentially the country’s main forces. Their declarations of support for de Gaulle were based entirely on the balance of power. They made it clear to the French Communist Party that although it possessed two hundred and fifty thousand armed men, that force was still inadequate before the two armies. It could not dictate terms from a position of strength.

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“Should I write an article praising the general and declaring that we recognize no one else?” Koman could not help muttering when he saw Agence France-Presse’s report on the two armies.

As Paris’s old revolutionary districts—and indeed all of France—debated bringing every armed force under a unified command, the Americans were also paying close attention to the negotiations between de Gaulle and the French Communist Party over control of the military.

The Americans certainly did not like de Gaulle. Since the liberation of Paris, they had already begun to realize that he was not especially submissive. But compared with the French Communist Party, which the Americans regarded as an agent of the Soviet Union, de Gaulle was not entirely intolerable.

The question of unified military command in France also drew the attention of Eisenhower, who was clearing the way for an assault on the Siegfried Line. He was currently preparing to eliminate the remaining German forces in France in readiness for an offensive against the German homeland.

Eisenhower was rather like MacArthur, except that he was not nearly so flamboyant.

In essence, America had no shortage of politician-generals during the Second World War. Marshall, who had long favored Eisenhower, was the same kind of soldier.

As Eisenhower considered how to attack the German homeland, he had already keenly realized that once Germany was defeated, America’s next opponent would be the Soviet Union. Given the Soviet Union’s enormous influence over the French Communist Party, that influence naturally had to be suppressed.

“We should simply launch a surprise attack on the headquarters of the French Communist Party and disarm the forces under its command.” General Patton made no attempt to conceal his hostility toward the Soviet Union. “Germany’s defeat is already a foregone conclusion. We will eventually go to war with the Soviet Union, and if we allow the French Communist Party to operate unchecked, it will create problems in our rear.”

“How can we deal with it that way? We should also have faith in de Gaulle’s ability to handle the situation.” Eisenhower could not help replying. American generals often possessed considerable political awareness, so how had one appeared whose head seemed to contain nothing but granite?

Eisenhower too believed that America’s next opponent would be the Soviet Union, but he thought coexistence was possible. Patton, evidently, did not.

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