SPAIN'S CAUSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 7

SPAIN'S CAUSE.

ENVOYS EXPLAIN. Appeal for Support to British Labour Party. PANDEMONIUM AT MEETING. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 12 noon.) LONDON, October 7. There was uproar at the beginning of the Labour Conference at Edinburgh Avhen the chairman, Mrs. Adamson, announced the curtailment of discussion on the motion to permit Communists to affiliate in order to allow the Spanish delegates to address the conference. Pandemonium broke out but the closure was applied. Senor A sua, the Spanish envoy, addressing the conference, said: "We are fighting against tanks and guns with sticks and knives. Help us to buy arms somewhere. We can pay." Senorita de Valencia, speaking in English, said she was of Scottish descent and a Catholic. There would be absolute liberty for the Catholic Church when the Government forces won. Stories and pictures of atrocities were not true, but she did not deny violence on both sides, which was inevitable in civil war. Conference delegates rose and sang the "Red Flag," cheered and thereafter discussed party affairs. Mr. Rhys Davies, M.P. (W. Houghton, Lanes.), opposing affiliation of Communists, said: "For every Communist gained we would lose scores of working class Socialists. I hope that once and for all we tell the Russians, Germans and Italians that we are capable of deciding what political institutions we want." Affiliation was rejected by 1,728,000 to 592,000 votes.