On 18 May Guy Mollet—for once out of harmony with his party—decided to back de Gaulle, provided he were to receive his authority from the Assembly, and not from the Algiers “rebels”. The next morning a completely abortive general strike called by the Left showed just how ill-organised it would be if it came to mustering any counter-coup.

XREF: This connects to the broader narrative of the 1958 Algerian crisis and the fall of the Fourth Republic, showing how the Socialist leader's backing secured parliamentary legitimacy for de Gaulle.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 891