Letter: An alliance of French patriots

Sir: An interesting feature of the political alignments thrown up by the French referendum campaign has been the revival of the old Gaullist/Communist alliance. With the exception of the unappetising Mr Le Pen, the two main campaigners in the 'Non' camp were Philippe Seguin, a Gaullist, and Georges Marchais, a Communist.

I sincerely hope this will prove more than a temporary revival. It was, after all, a coalition government of national unity, dominated by Gaullists and Communists, that governed France during the first years after the Second World War. It was this government which devised and set in motion the five- year plans that enabled the French economy to survive the ravages of the Fourth Republic and laid the foundations for the unprecedented prosperity enjoyed by the French in the late Sixties and Seventies.

Both Gaullist and Communist politicians are united by a strong bond of patriotism - not in any jingoistic sense but as a means of trying to achieve the best possible deal for all the French people. Not only France, but the majority of EC member states need such an ideal in order to extricate themselves from their present recessionary plight.

Yours sincerely,

WALTER CAIRNS

Manchester

22 September