In 1924, the Left Bloc electoral alliance between the Radical-Socialist Party of Eduard Herriot and Leon Blum’s Socialist Party formed a government. Would it govern the new French mandates differently than their conservative predecessors? Joseph Berger answers.

‘Syria Under the Rule of the French Left Bloc’ by Joseph Berger from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 5 No. 15. February 18, 1925.

France has no luck in its policy in the Orient. The great aspirations for supremacy in the Mediterranean, which French imperialism had never abandoned since Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, seemed to be approaching realisation after the defeat of Germany in the world war and the dividing up of conquered Turkey. But the seven years’ rule of French imperialism in Syria proved only too clearly the opposite, that France is no longer a decisive factor in the East. Oriental policy is the chief source of worry to the French Foreign Ministry.

France’s share of the booty in the Near East yielded at first little enough. Of the rich morsel which, according to the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1915 was to fall to the lot of France, only a few poor crumbs remained. Clémenceau bartered Mosul in the East to England for a 25% share in the exploitation of the petroleum wells. Cilicia in the North had to be returned to Turkey as a pledge of the Franco-Turkish “friendship”, in order to restrain the Turkish Irredenta in Syria, which is still very strong. In the South the English, under various pretexts, pushed the frontiers of Palestine as far as possible into Syrian territory. What remained of Syria was a helpless trunk, strategically hard to hold, politically a centre of unrest, economically non-viable. The Syrian people had become a victim of imperialistic greed.

First of all experiments were made in the administration of the country. General Gouraud, the first supreme Commissary, is described, even by many Frenchmen, as a model of political stupidity. He combined ruthless brutality as regards the suppression of a movement for freedom, with despicable irresolution, when it was a case of carrying through economic reforms, even such as were absolutely necessary to the country (re-establishment of industry, improvement of the trade balance, agrarian reform). It was Poincaré’s government which recalled Gouraud who was thoroughly incapable and, at the end of 1923, sent a new High Commissioner into the country; no one less than general Weygand, the famous saviour of European civilisation from the Bolshevist danger, the victor of Warsaw and organiser of the Polish White Army.

Weygand did full credit to his famous energy. He understood how to create order. Weygand administered the country in a proper and approved manner: the last organs of the opposition Press were suppressed; the Court sentenced revolutionaries to penal servitude. On the other hand the French capitalists were favoured. The silk weavers of Lyons put the silk industry once more on its feet. The Bekaa however (in Central Syria) was by extensive planting of cotton to become to the French textile industry, what the Sudan is to the English textile industry of Lancashire.

Since May 11th 1924, Weygand has been the representative of the French Left Block in Syria. As long as it was a case of opposing Poincaré, Herriot was an enthusiastic advocate of autonomy, even of the evacuation of Syria by the French troops. Herriot was the idol of many Syrian nationalists. The Blum Socialists had also repeatedly declared in favour of self-determination for Syria. Herriot and Blum formed a government. Weygand remained in Beyrout.

The Left Block did not depart from Poincaré’s Oriental policy one jot. In the discussion as to the ratification of the Lausanne Treaty, the Communists were the only ones to demand the evacuation of Syria. The Left Block and the National Block joined hands in a brotherly way in voting for the budget for the occupation of Syria. Weygand was allowed for a full six months to continue to hold the mandate over Syria in the name of Edouard Herriot, the democrat. The misery increased, the number of emigrants from Syria did not decrease. The trade balance did not improve. A large number of the intelligenzia who had been in favour of the French, turned to the anti-French camp, when they saw how thoroughly Herriot the Democrat had deceived them. It was only then that Herriot decided to recall Weygand.

The general then completed his last act: he visited Sir Herbert Samuel in Palestine and prepared the way for Anglo-French co-operation against the revolutionary, and especially the Bolshevist peril, in the East. Weygand who, in addition to all the other good qualities with which he had blessed Syria, had made himself particularly unpopular with the mainly Mohammedan population by attending masses for hours at a time and kissing the hands of Jesuit and Capuchin fathers as often as possible the Catholic General Weygand had found a language in common with the confidant of the Jewish banker in Palestine, the Zionist and pious frequenter of the synagogue, Sir Herbert Samuel. The free-thinker Herriot and the Socialist MacDonald came to an understanding through their worthy representatives against the Bolshevist machinations!

Weygand departed at last. The French Press indulged in interminable paens of praise for the General. The population is said to have parted from its beloved High Commissioner, with great regret. What was the actual state of affairs? A group of paid students from the Beyrout Jesuit College accompanied the general to the harbour. There the dignitaries of Church and State awaited him. The streets were fairly empty. The shouts of “Long live Weygand!”, “Hurrah for France!”, which the poor students were obliged to shout at the top of their voices in order to earn their pay, met with no response. Not a hand was waved, but a murmur arose which expressed anything but sympathy. As the ship departed with the general on board, the general atmosphere was one of relief combined with an anxious anticipation of the arrival of the new general.

The new High Commissioner is Serrail and is a friend of Herriot’s. Soon after his arrival he let the Syrian people know that he did not intend to change the main lines of policy, and the working masses of Syria who have seen Weygand for the last six months representing the Left Block, know now what they have to expect. The fact that Serrail, in order to gain the favour of the aristocracy in the Lebanon district, will appoint a governor from their circle, does not alter the situation. It is especially in the colonies that the Left Block shows its true reactionary character.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1925/v05n15-feb-18-1925-inprecor.pdf