Read Online France Restored: Cold War Diplomacy and the Quest for Leadership in Europe, 1944-1954 by William I. Hitchcock - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: William I. Hitchcock
Tags: History, Western, France, 20th Century, Europe, Political Science, Modern, test, Security (National & International)
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modernization commissions would be brought together to draw up plans for different sectors of the economy that then would be integrated into a coordinated whole by a planning commissariat. Planning was to become a public undertaking devised from the bottom up, with coordination and direction provided from above. "All of the vital forces of the nation," Monnet hoped, would have a stake in the success of the program if they were included from the start in its development. This plan was accepted by de Gaulle, and on January 3, 1946, the Commissariat Général du Plan (CGP), with Monnet as its director, was officially created and charged with the development of a coherent plan for the reconstruction and modernization of the French economy. 52
Monnet still had a number of battles to win before the campaign for his modernization plan was over. No sooner had the CGP been created than Monnet found himself fighting to protect the fledgling agency from the eager grasp of the various ministries under whose aegis economic affairs had heretofore been placed. One of the most important principles inherent in Monnet's planning structure was that the agency be free to operate outside normal bureaucratic channels, responsible to the executive alone. But with de Gaulle's resignation on January 20, 1946, Monnet lost his most important sponsor. Following discussions within the CEI regarding the competence of the Ministry of National Economy to direct the planning agency, Monnet shot off a series of desperate letters to the new president, Félix Gouin, railing against the
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bureaucratic habits of prewar French governments and against the "sterile polemics" that had characterized ministerial relations since the liberation. Ministerial control of the CGP, he wrote, would mean that "instead of creating a plan, we'll be discussing procedure." He stated that no French administration, working within existing structures, could initiate the swift and coherent action that France needed: "[the] plan means transformation and perhaps even revolution of certain sectors of French production. Now, the administration can by nature and duty only administer the existing state of things." The plan must not become simply "a cog in the machinery" of this preexisting structure. Monnet's forceful argumentation, and his threat to resign, prevailed, and Gouin engineered a compromise in the cabinet. The Ministry of National Economy, under the Socialist André Philip, would direct a short-term plan for the coming four months, but Monnet would be allowed to control the promulgation of a four-year plan running through 1950. Monnet was charged with completing this plan by the end of June. The first hurdle had been cleared, and the Monnet Plan could now be drawn up in detail. 53
A final draft of the report would not be completed until November 1946, however, largely because of the preoccupation of the government with immediate credits and coal supplies, without which the French economy could not function, much less modernize. The coal problem in particular bothered Monnet, as it represented the chief obstacle to a swift resumption of economic activity. Coal production in France had regained its prewar level of about 50 million tons a year by the middle of 1946, but imports, on which France had always heavily relied, lagged woefully. Monnet calculated that France's rate of imports was running at 10 million tons a year for 1946, well below the 22 million tons of 1938. This difference could only be made up by imports from the United States and Germany. German imports in particular had to be raised from their monthly totals of 300,000 to 400,000 tons to at least 1.3 million. Only this quantity would assure that the "margin of security indispensible for the workings of industry and transport is reconstituted." 54
Monnet based his expectations for more German coal on U.S. policy. In August 1945, President Truman had called for an increase in German coal exports to 10
Monnet still had a number of battles to win before the campaign for his modernization plan was over. No sooner had the CGP been created than Monnet found himself fighting to protect the fledgling agency from the eager grasp of the various ministries under whose aegis economic affairs had heretofore been placed. One of the most important principles inherent in Monnet's planning structure was that the agency be free to operate outside normal bureaucratic channels, responsible to the executive alone. But with de Gaulle's resignation on January 20, 1946, Monnet lost his most important sponsor. Following discussions within the CEI regarding the competence of the Ministry of National Economy to direct the planning agency, Monnet shot off a series of desperate letters to the new president, Félix Gouin, railing against the
Page 34
bureaucratic habits of prewar French governments and against the "sterile polemics" that had characterized ministerial relations since the liberation. Ministerial control of the CGP, he wrote, would mean that "instead of creating a plan, we'll be discussing procedure." He stated that no French administration, working within existing structures, could initiate the swift and coherent action that France needed: "[the] plan means transformation and perhaps even revolution of certain sectors of French production. Now, the administration can by nature and duty only administer the existing state of things." The plan must not become simply "a cog in the machinery" of this preexisting structure. Monnet's forceful argumentation, and his threat to resign, prevailed, and Gouin engineered a compromise in the cabinet. The Ministry of National Economy, under the Socialist André Philip, would direct a short-term plan for the coming four months, but Monnet would be allowed to control the promulgation of a four-year plan running through 1950. Monnet was charged with completing this plan by the end of June. The first hurdle had been cleared, and the Monnet Plan could now be drawn up in detail. 53
A final draft of the report would not be completed until November 1946, however, largely because of the preoccupation of the government with immediate credits and coal supplies, without which the French economy could not function, much less modernize. The coal problem in particular bothered Monnet, as it represented the chief obstacle to a swift resumption of economic activity. Coal production in France had regained its prewar level of about 50 million tons a year by the middle of 1946, but imports, on which France had always heavily relied, lagged woefully. Monnet calculated that France's rate of imports was running at 10 million tons a year for 1946, well below the 22 million tons of 1938. This difference could only be made up by imports from the United States and Germany. German imports in particular had to be raised from their monthly totals of 300,000 to 400,000 tons to at least 1.3 million. Only this quantity would assure that the "margin of security indispensible for the workings of industry and transport is reconstituted." 54
Monnet based his expectations for more German coal on U.S. policy. In August 1945, President Truman had called for an increase in German coal exports to 10
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