The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo and The Sun MONDAY, JULY 20, 1936. A REPUBLIC TOTTERING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 170, 20 July 1936, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo and The Sun

MONDAY, JULY 20, 1936. A REPUBLIC TOTTERING.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For llie wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And tlic good that we can do.

Part of the Army in Spanish Morocco, it is admitted by the Government, has "risen against the Republic," and other reports make it clear that the insurrection is not confined to Morocco. It must be remembered that the votes which produced the Republican Government were in large numbers not Republican at all, but Socialist, Syndicalist, Anarchist and Communist, and one of the Government's principal difficulties has been to satisfy these diverse extreme elements among its supporters. Under Senor Azana, who is a liberal intellectual, and widely regarded as the "principal driving force of the Republic," there was some hope that the Government would establish itself, but Azana last May was chosen President, and no leader comparable to him has since been found. In consequence the political agitation throughout the country has increased and there has been much evidence that the Communists are setting the pace. It would be qatural if, the Conservative (forces have concluded that only by armed revolt now have they a. chance of preventing the destruction of Spain's traditional institutions later.

The amount of support given the insurrection by the Conservative political forces and their supporters is not clear, but ..the Army, whether or not it is united in hostility to the Government, apparently was not united in a determination to rebel openly. Significant also is the report that those towns where the garrison joined the insurrection have been bombed by the Air Force. The power of this new weapon (provided it remains in the hands of the Government) may well prove decisive, and, if so, the political power of the Army in Spain will rapidly decline. The lesson will not be lost on other countries.

An insurrection which fails often plays into the hands of the extremists on the other side, and this is only too likely to happen in Spain. To defeat the insurrection the Government is making use of the strongly Marxist trades unions, and it will be asked to pay their price for their support. "Remembering 1931," said the Madrid correspondent of "The Times," "it has to be recognised that it would only be necessai'y, now as then, for the police to refuse to -go against the people,' and the Army to remain momentarily quiescent, for 'a nation that went to bed under one regime to wake up under another,' once more. A monarchy 15 centuries old vanished in a night. Would a republic five..years old offer greater resistance?" The outcome of the present struggle, it appears from the latest reports, is not yet certain, but in the chaotic conditions now ruling there is an obvious opportunity for' a determined and well-disciplined force to seizo the ..Government. That .foivee, unless the Republican Ministry- proves strong enough to weather the storm, is likely to come from the Left.