able to exercise sovereign power. Meanwhile, in
the Constituent Assembly the communists at-
tempted to gain the agreement of the socialists to
a common programme that would exclude the
MRP, but the socialists, who held the key and had
no wish to be swallowed up by the communists,
insisted on a three-party (communist, socialist,
MRP) alignment. The communists chose to bide
their time, all parties agreeing to offer de Gaulle
the presidency. In the complicated political
manoeuvrings that followed, de Gaulle refused to
give the communists any of the key ministries
they claimed – war, interior or foreign affairs –
and threatened to resign. The socialists and MRP
supported him, and the communists, faced with
a choice of exclusion or participation, gave in. So
the first round, with the critical help of the social-
ists and MRP, went to de Gaulle. The political
crisis of November 1945 provoked by the com-
munist demands was thus resolved and a govern-
ment, headed by de Gaulle and comprising
ministers drawn from all the major parties, was
formed.
But the fundamental issue remained to be
settled: despite deep divisions between the social-
ists and communists in the Assembly, it became
clear that these two parties would reject de
Gaulle’s concept of a strong, independent presi-
dency and executive in favour of leaving control-
ling powers with a parliamentary assembly. In
many ways the Assembly was already asserting the
right to make judgements on the policies that de
Gaulle wished to adopt. On the constitutional
question de Gaulle could count only on the
support of the MRP, and he reacted with bitter-
ness to the prospect of defeat in the Assembly.
He believed that he could rely on the support of
the mass of the French people. The politicians in
the Assembly, he was convinced, were combining
against him to safeguard their own selfish inter-
ests rather than those of France. Feeling nothing
but contempt for the parliamentarians, he decided
to force their hand. He confided to one of his
ministers at this time:
I don’t feel that I am made for this kind of
fight. I don’t want to be attacked, criticised,
challenged every day by men who have no
other distinction than the fact that they got
themselves elected in some little place in
France.... I can’t resign myself to enduring
criticisms of parties and irresponsible men, to
seeing my decisions challenged, my ministers
criticised, myself attacked, my prestige dimin-
ished. Since I cannot govern as I wish, that is
to say fully, rather than see my power dis-
membered, I’m going!
That conversation took place shortly before de
Gaulle dropped his bombshell on 20 January
1946 and resigned.
His frustration and anger were genuine. All his
policies abroad, in Germany, Indo-China and the
Middle East, had experienced setbacks as well.
But there was calculation too. He did not believe
the nation would be able to manage without him.
It was a tactical retreat and he expected to be
recalled on conditions he himself would set.
Several years later he acknowledged his miscalcu-
lation: ‘I have made at least one political mistake
in my life: my departure in January 1946. I
thought the French would recall me quickly.
Because they didn’t do so, France wasted several
years.’
After de Gaulle’s resignation, the French people
- influenced by his opposition – rejected the draft
constitution in a referendum held in May 1946.
Then a second constituent assembly was elected
to draft an amended constitution. This gave
women the vote, adopted proportional represen-
tation and created a second chamber but left the
real political power in the lower chamber, the
National Assembly, which also elected the presi-
dent. The constitution resembled in most import-
ant respects that of the Third Republic and was
to create the same governmental instability. But
despite de Gaulle’s strong opposition the new
constitution was narrowly approved in a referen-
dum in October 1946, nearly 8 million dissent-
ing and just over 9 million in favour, with almost
a third of the electorate not bothering to vote at
all. It was an inauspicious start for the Fourth
Republic.
The year 1947 was a particularly bad one for
France. Food became still scarcer in the cities, and
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