Page:Scott Nearing - Stopping a War (1926).pdf/5

 

French workers faced a new war in April, 1925. To be sure, it was not a first class war, but merely a military struggle with a handful of Moroccan tribesmen. Still, it was war, and the international celebrations on May Day broke in upon the French preparations for the Riff campaign.

When Northern Africa was divided among the European empires, the homeland of the Riff tribesmen fell within the Spanish "Zone." The Spaniards are indifferent colonizers. The Riffians, who are sturdily independent, after some severe fighting administered a severe defeat to the Spanish troops.

Having won his struggle against his Spanish "neighbors" Abd-el-Krim was free, during the opening months of 1925, to turn his attention to the aggressive activities of the French forces under General Lyautey.  

French big business, like big business in other capitalist empires, directs French foreign policy. The Riff is an interesting illustration of the workings of this general rule of modern statecraft. There too, the French bankers, the French Ministry, and the French General Staff have worked hand in hand.

The essential economic relations existing between French big business and the Riff were ably stated in the French Chamber of Deputies by Jacques Doriot, who has played so large a part in the stand of the French workers against the Riff War. He brought these facts to the attention of the French Deputies in his speech of February 4, 1925,—two months before the opening of the Riff War.

The Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas is one of the most powerful commercial banking institutions in France. With its Standard Oil backing, it is able to exercise an immense influence over the industrial and political life of France. This bank controls over half of the 483 million francs of French capital invested in Morocco.

The Banque de Paris controls the bulk of this capital directly. A small amount is handled through subsidiary companies.

