In France, a bitter struggle between the democratic and progressive forces and the reactionary capitalists was going on throughout the month of October over the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
In comparison with the draft rejected by the May referendum, the present draft was a backward step. However, it still contained progressive ideas. Under this Constitution, legislative power was voted in the National Assembly elected through universal suffrage; Republican Councils elected by representatives of communes and prefectures were simply consultative bodies. It ensured the newly-gained social and economic rights of the citizen, and equality between men and women in all fields. It was opposed to wars of plunder and colonial repression and undertook to respect the right of dependent nations to self determination. If this draft were adopted it could well be the most progressive constitution of bourgeois democracy since the founding of the French Republic.
For this reason the French bourgeoisie resorted to every possible device to prevent its adoption. This class wanted to maintain the existing instability in France in order to cause anxiety among the masses and, by proving the helplessness of democracy, to open up prospects for the setting up of a dictatorial regime. De Gaulle renewed his strong attacks on the draft Constitution. He maintained that the National Assembly had been given too many rights, while the executive had been left with almost no powers and the principles of freedom governing the French Union would only lead to the disintegration of the Empire. He even asserted: “If the constitution is approved, there will be a rebellion”. Such a threat had its effect on the French middle classes.
In the meantime, the French Communist Party made every effort to promote the people’s struggle and to maintain and defend democratic institutions.
On October 23, the Constitution was put to a referendum. Nearly one third of the electorate abstained. However the constitution was adopted with 9.5 million against 8.1 million votes. The democratic forces had won an arduous battle.
The majority of the French electorate in the colonies voted against the draft constitution. In Indochina in particular, the Gaullists opposed to the draft constitution made up a very large majority. 8,313 votes were cast against and only 1,701 for. This shows the reactionary political tendencies of the French living in the colonies as a whole and in Indochina in particular.
On November 10, France held general elections to the National Assembly whose term of office would be 5 years. In the results, the French Communist Party headed the list gaining 24 more seats. The Socialist Party lost 20 seats. The victory of the Communist Party was remarkable. But the reactionary forces also gained strength. The MRP, the Cartel des gauches (a rightist group) for instance won more votes than before. Thus the French political forces had lined themselves up in two opposing blocs.
In those circumstances, the Indochina issue, far from being obscured, emerged as a question of prime importance in French politics, the progressive forces believed that, in her relations with the countries associated with her, France should respect the principles of democracy and self-determination and replace the policy of force and repression by one of “reconciliation and cooperation”, while the reactionary forces held that, if France was ever to restore her strength and prestige on the international arena, she must pursue a tough policy to maintain her domination over her overseas territories.
It is noteworthy that the French ruling groups — big businessmen and the politicians in their pay — seemed to have learned nothing of the great and profound changes that had taken place in Indochina over the past years. They were still cherishing the “golden dream” of Empire as regards Indochina which although it made up only one-sixteenth of the area of all French colonies, accounted for two-fifths of the population and brought France annually over a billion francs. Between 1900 and 1945 the profits of the Bank of Indochina increased 33 times. Before World War II the greatest investment of the French monopoly capitalists had been in Indochina: more than fifty-two billion francs.
The financial magnates believed that, with money and weapons supplied by their imperialist allies, they would not have any difficulty in restoring “order” in Indochina. The then U.S. and British positions on the Indochina question were very favourable to France. Having ousted France from Syria and the Lebanon, Britain had made a volte-face and set out to make peace with her. In the United States, Roosevelt had died and Truman who was now in power, began cajoling France: De Gaulle was invited to Washington; a French representative was asked to attend the Japanese capitulation ceremonies and, later, France was offered a loan. As a matter of fact, what the U.S. was up to was to dominate France through the Marshall Plan and turn her into an anti-communist stronghold in Europe. As regards Indochina, the United States had long been keeping an eye on this Southeast Asian peninsula. It had attacked French Indochina policy demanding that France give the Indochinese countries more rights or that Indochina be internationalized for fifty years. These proposals had been strongly opposed by France and cold-shouldered by Britain. The United States had also considered using Chiang Kai-shek to drive the French out of Indochina but Chiang proved too weak. Now the United States wanted to help France put down the revolutionary movements in Indochina to give it time to work out a long-term scheme. Thus the French monopolists became dependent on the United States.
The general elections over, Bidault was now to hand over executive power to the National Assembly. As the new constitution would not take effect until mid- January 1947, the National Assembly nominated a provisional government. The political parties were again busy girding themselves for the battle for the presidency of this provisional government to be contended for at the beginning of December.
In mid-November, d’Argenlieu got back to France. The September 14 Modus Vivendi endorsed by the French Government had, in a sense, dealt a heavy blow to the policy pursued by the reactionary colonialists in Indochina. The French government’s reaffirmation of its respect for the spirit and some clauses of the March 6 Preliminary Agreement had demoralized the Vietnamese traitors in Saigon. The new developments in France such as the adoption of the new constitution and the emergence of the Communist Party as the front-runner in the general elections... had made d’Argenlieu and the French reactionaries in Indochina worried. He had thoroughly discussed his future policy with Valluy before he left Saigon.
In the outgoing Bidault cabinet which had stayed on as a caretaker government, the High Commissioner found reliable supporters. D’Argenlieu soon became aware of the anxiety felt by French ruling circles about the weakening of France and her obscure role in the international arena. Playing on these feelings, he tried to drive home that Viet Minh was seeking ways to drive the French out of Indochina, that only a tough policy could uphold the Empire and that concessions to the Indochinese Communists and to President Ho Chi Minh would endanger the whole French Union.
The Haiphong clashes gave d’Argenlieu a chance. Our resistance to Valluy’s acts of aggression was presented by the High Commissioner as evidence of the use of force by the Vietnamese to drive the French out. The French rightist press immediately made a hullabaloo: the French Expeditionary Corps had once again fallen victim to a Viet Minh plot! There must be a tough policy to replace that of compromise and retreat!
On November 23, a meeting of the Interministerial Council on Indochina, which was still presided over by Varenne, was convened. After hearing a report by the High Commissioner, the Council decided that force could be used against violations of the agreements when necessary. D’Argenlieu at once cabled Valluy that a hard political line had been adopted by the government and all the parties.