The newly elected president of the French Republic is being lavishly congratulated. Take a look at the Black-Hundred–pogromist “Novoye Vremya” and the liberal “Rech”: what a touching unanimity in their congratulations to President Poincaré, in their expressions of delight!

When we examine the assessment of foreign policy issues and the state of affairs in Western countries, the profound internal kinship between our Black Hundreds and our liberals becomes strikingly evident. When both groups hail “the national” President Poincaré—elected by the alliance of big bourgeoisie and clerical–feudal reaction in France—it becomes clear to everyone that the only difference between Black Hundreds and liberals lies in their differing views on the methods of combating socialism.

But Poincaré’s election holds significance far greater than that suggested by the zealous “congratulators.” Conscious workers, reflecting on the implications of this election, point out three key circumstances.

First, Poincaré’s election marks yet another step forward in the intensification of class struggle facing France. Poincaré had served as Prime Minister in a chamber dominated by the Radical Party. Yet he was elected president over the Radical candidate Pams, chosen with the support of clerical–feudal reaction, selected by the right-wing bloc.

What does this mean? In France, the last remaining bourgeois party—the Radicals{167}—is now firmly in power. The distinction between them and “reaction” is becoming ever more blurred. All sections of the bourgeoisie—from the Radicals to the most reactionary elements—are drawing ever closer in their united front against the socialist proletariat, and the boundaries between these two camps are increasingly erasing themselves. This was particularly vividly demonstrated in the election of Poincaré. Such a consolidation of forces is a sure sign of the extreme sharpening of class antagonisms.

Second, Poincaré’s career is highly significant—a typical trajectory for a bourgeois opportunist who sells himself in turn to every political party and to every wealthy individual “outside” politics. By profession, Poincaré has been a lawyer since the age of twenty. At twenty-six, he became Chief of Staff; by thirty-three, he had already risen to the rank of minister. Wealthy patrons and financial magnates in every country hold such shrewd careerists in high esteem for their political connections. A “brilliant” lawyer–parliamentarian—this is but a synonym for political schemer in “civilized” nations.

Third, the demonstration staged by French socialists during the election of Poincaré is deeply telling. Voting for Vallin was a tribute to the Commune. Vallin is a living memorial to that great uprising. One need only witness, even once, how Parisian workers greet the appearance on the rostrum of Vallin—gray-haired like an old owl—to understand this.

And so, in that very Versailles where, in 1871, bourgeois France sold its homeland to Bismarck in order to crush the proletarian uprising—in that very hall where, forty-two years earlier, the savage cries of France’s Black-Hundred landlords, thirsting for a king, still echoed—deputies of the working class cast their votes for the aged Communard.

“Pravda,” No. 11, January 15, 1913. Signed: V. I.

Printed according to the text of the newspaper “Pravda.”