MAYER BIDS OUSTER OF NORTH AFRICA FASCISM

With Fascist sympathizers installed by the Vichy government for the most part controlling the colonies of Morocco, Algiers, and Tunisia, the situation created by the joint American-British thrusts into Africa last November has been extremely difficult, Andre Mayer, former professor at the College de France, said yesterday.

Higher ranking politicos in the colonial setup, having democratic, pro-British leanings, were ousted and thrown into jail the moment the twin-pronged offensive got under way, the professor revealed. A similar expulsion occurred even before the campaign, when democratic leaders in the French colonial army and navy were taken from office as soon as the Vichy regime had been installed on the Continent.

Darian Acceptance Heavy Blow

When the Americans entered the colonies, and accepted Darlan, they dealt a heavy blow to the Free French movement inside France, Mayer said. The situation was more especially complicated by the fact that Algiers, Morocco, and Tunisia are on very different planes, both politically and socially, Mayer explained. Algiers is a full department, with representatives in Paris, while Morocco and Tunisia are but protectorates.

The fascist, or quasi-fascist control still existing in many of the colonies must be dealt with mainly by pressure, from the American and British governments, and by public opinion in those two countries, according to Mayer. Already popular outbursts have forced the release of some of the political prisoners from jails where they have been since the start of the invasion. A similar result could be obtained against the Vichyist leaders still in power, if enough pressure were applied, Mayer believes.

Public Opinion Effective

Frenchmen siding with the British and U.S. forces in Martinique, thrown into jail by the German-inspired French leaders, have been released by pressure from the two governments and pro-fascist leaders have been replaced by men more sympathetic to the United Nations cause, according to Mayer.

The difficult political situation was originally created by the necessity for the Vichy government to pay its political debts, after the fall of France. The fascist cause in France had very considerable support before the actual invasion, and resulting demise of France occurred, Mayer said, and when the Vichyites came into power there was an insistent clamoring to be "paid off." The positions in North Africa were awarded in large number to such men, where conditions were in a state of flux and there was large opportunity for corruption, Professor Mayer stated.

Professor Mayer has been in this country for two years. He was a member of the French delegation to the Washington Conference on Naval Limitations held in Washington in 1921-22.