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The New Republic
November 13. 1944

"France: key to Europe"

The punishment of collaborationists is by no means incidental to the nationalisation program. Some of the most notorious collaborationists are capitalists and industrialists. While they are technically tried for treason and intelligence with the enemy, in reality their punishment is a form of social-revolutionary justice. Many of them, like the bankers Hippolyte Worms and Gabriel Le Roy Ladurie, or the automobile magnate, François Lehideux, all now under arrest, belonged to the Mouvement synarchique d'Empire, founded in 1922 by one Jean Coutrot. Its purpose was the overthrow of French democracy, the complete rule of monopoly capitalism at home and cooperation with like-minded groups of capitalists and industrialists throughout the world in a kind of international super-cartel[1]. When Worms and Le Roy Ladurie were arrested, the newspaper "Parisien Libre", of September 9, 1944, correctly interpreted their arrest as a blow to international trusts. The liquidation of these men is therefore not only an act of justice against traitors, but actually amounts to a change in France's class structure.

[1] The Mouvement Synarchique d'Empire should not be confused with the Mexican Union Nacional Sinarquista, a fascist mass movement, with which it had no connection. There is an excellent study of the MSE by Lilian T. Mowrer, entitled "Concerning France" and published by the Union for Democratic Action, 9, East Forty-sixth Street, New York 17, NY.