"The talks. between. Laval and Mussolini, which took place in Rome in the following month sealed the fate. of Abyssinia, and Mussolini was heard to exclaim 'Laval is the only statesman who understands Fascism.'
"He went to London, he went t" Geneva, he went to Stresa and showered on France a 'Rain of Papers,' pacts, accords and agreements which did nothing to strengthen Frenee's position.
"His next important journey was to Moscow where he negotiated the Frenco-Soviet Mutual Assistance Pact, This was a move in domestic polities to take the wind out of the sails of the Left parties in France whose influence was growing and. he took care to assure Hitler that it could et any time be replaced just. When Mussolini, who was in no} position to carry it out anyway, failed to fulfill this promise made on his behalf, Laval was not at all put out. Now he says trust the Nazis; they will give us a square deal.
"His countrymen, fortunately. show no desire to trust either the Nazis or Pierre Laval and if eventually Nazi pressure imposes on Marshal Petain so unwelcome a collaborator. France and the world will know that he owes his position in the French cabinet to the ruthless interference of his German masters in French internal politics, and treat him as the German puppet which he is. However, Laval is not back yet.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.