Seeing Red
I must admit (and, yes, I do admit to things from time to time) my main response to those plucky accusations of Communism is... Well, I'm touched.
First we must lay our scene. My delightful and tragically interesting life was lived at a time when modern democracy was experiencing... let's call it an adolesence. As Winston said "Democracy is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others." Sadly (and fatally), at that time many people had not yet grasped the second half of that statement. The Fascists thought that if everyone had a the vote they might never submit disagree. The Communists realized the same thing, but they hid it better. The only thing they could agree on was democracy was unfairly fair and unjustly just. 'How were you supposed to squash people's freedoms if they could vote you out of office?' was the question heard 'round the world.
Into this time I was born a Republican to a family of Republicans from a line of Republicans. For my new American acquaintances, I should explain that a Republican in France was one who believed in the ideals of the current form of government, the Republic, and did not wish to corrupt them with a monarchy, a theocracy, or an Austrian with a comedy mustasche. Rights, to a Republican, are rights. They are not munificently granted privileges generously bestowed by a wise parent-ruler. They are the cost of justice. They are the guardians of peace.
It's true, some of my closest compatriots were Communists. It's also true that some were Jewish, some were married, and some were De Gualle (he counts as two people, just ask him). Yet other than a devastating brief experience of marriage in my youth, I wasn't any of these things. Not Communist. Nor Jewish. Nor De Gualle.
The best term for what I was, other than Republican or Radical Socialist, might be 'an individual.' If the concept is unfamiliar, look it up.
So I worked with people I disagreed with for a common good. It's a concept many people are able to grasp. Unfortunately, it seems Mssr. Frenay can't do the same due to the fact he can't stand his well-earned rep as the Resistance's kid in the class with his hand raised that no one wants the teacher to call on simple colorblindness. He can only see two colors, red and more red.
Yes, when I was released from my post as Prefect, I made contact with Communists of my acquaintance. I made contact with everyone I thought might have a lead on how to keep up the fight. Including Mssr. Frenay, so it's interesting to see him paint me red with a guilt by associations brush. But when I presented my findings to De Gualle I warned him that Communists in the Resistance were one of the most powerful reasons why the Allies needed to take it in hand, lest the they corrupt it for their own ends.
In fact, the only leading Resistant who ever tried to sell out the Resistance to a foreign power was Frenay himself, to the Americans. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with his allegations.
De Gualle himself (who I'm still not, thank you for asking) once exploded at someone who insinuated this about me. "He was as straight as a die!" he famously snapped. As touched as I am by his response, my own is quite different. I can't help but be charmed by these groundless-accusors. They have the faith of children! They truly believe if you swing blindly at the same empty space for twenty or thirty years, sooner or later a pinata is bound to appear.
Can you blame me for not defending myself too conspicuously? It'd be like killing Father Christmas for them.
(But, if it's not too much trouble, could we possibly dispatch with the Moulin Rouge references? It was a good line for a while, but now it bears more than a faint whiff of lazy writing. Merci.)
First we must lay our scene. My delightful and tragically interesting life was lived at a time when modern democracy was experiencing... let's call it an adolesence. As Winston said "Democracy is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others." Sadly (and fatally), at that time many people had not yet grasped the second half of that statement. The Fascists thought that if everyone had a the vote they might never submit disagree. The Communists realized the same thing, but they hid it better. The only thing they could agree on was democracy was unfairly fair and unjustly just. 'How were you supposed to squash people's freedoms if they could vote you out of office?' was the question heard 'round the world.
Into this time I was born a Republican to a family of Republicans from a line of Republicans. For my new American acquaintances, I should explain that a Republican in France was one who believed in the ideals of the current form of government, the Republic, and did not wish to corrupt them with a monarchy, a theocracy, or an Austrian with a comedy mustasche. Rights, to a Republican, are rights. They are not munificently granted privileges generously bestowed by a wise parent-ruler. They are the cost of justice. They are the guardians of peace.
It's true, some of my closest compatriots were Communists. It's also true that some were Jewish, some were married, and some were De Gualle (he counts as two people, just ask him). Yet other than a devastating brief experience of marriage in my youth, I wasn't any of these things. Not Communist. Nor Jewish. Nor De Gualle.
The best term for what I was, other than Republican or Radical Socialist, might be 'an individual.' If the concept is unfamiliar, look it up.
So I worked with people I disagreed with for a common good. It's a concept many people are able to grasp. Unfortunately, it seems Mssr. Frenay can't do the same due to the fact he can't stand his well-earned rep as the Resistance's kid in the class with his hand raised that no one wants the teacher to call on simple colorblindness. He can only see two colors, red and more red.
Yes, when I was released from my post as Prefect, I made contact with Communists of my acquaintance. I made contact with everyone I thought might have a lead on how to keep up the fight. Including Mssr. Frenay, so it's interesting to see him paint me red with a guilt by associations brush. But when I presented my findings to De Gualle I warned him that Communists in the Resistance were one of the most powerful reasons why the Allies needed to take it in hand, lest the they corrupt it for their own ends.
In fact, the only leading Resistant who ever tried to sell out the Resistance to a foreign power was Frenay himself, to the Americans. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with his allegations.
De Gualle himself (who I'm still not, thank you for asking) once exploded at someone who insinuated this about me. "He was as straight as a die!" he famously snapped. As touched as I am by his response, my own is quite different. I can't help but be charmed by these groundless-accusors. They have the faith of children! They truly believe if you swing blindly at the same empty space for twenty or thirty years, sooner or later a pinata is bound to appear.
Can you blame me for not defending myself too conspicuously? It'd be like killing Father Christmas for them.
(But, if it's not too much trouble, could we possibly dispatch with the Moulin Rouge references? It was a good line for a while, but now it bears more than a faint whiff of lazy writing. Merci.)