740.0011 European War 1939/12478: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 26—7:15 a.m.]
748. While public opinion in France is slow in formulating any considered opinion of the full significance of the Russo-German war,93 it is fully appreciated here as a development of the utmost importance and it constitutes one of the two topics of conversation wherever Frenchmen meet (the other, of course, is food). In general, there is elation that two detested powers are at last fighting each other and a vague feeling that during the battle, at least, France may have some respite from German pressure and German threats. There are elements, however, among the bourgeois and big industrialists whose leanings toward collaboration will be strengthened by this “tangible evidence” of Germany’s intention to save them and their possessions from communism and confiscation.
Rochat says that this viewpoint should not be underestimated in view of the strong feeling that communism and the power of the Communists in France were largely responsible for her unpreparedness and wartime collapse. Many people will argue he said that there are two great menaces to the world today: Communism and Nazism, and that if the former can be eliminated, there is that much gained. The source mentioned in our telegram 686, June 13, noon,94 and who is of course in a position to know, likewise finds from censorship of letters and surveillance of activities in his area that there is substantial support for this view.
On the other hand while Rochat did not so state, among the still powerful—in spite of Vichy’s efforts’ at suppression—Communist elements and the other still numerous supporters of the former popular front, sympathies will be with Moscow and opposition to collaboration (except to the extent that it means jobs) will be strengthened.