SPAIN AT THE CROSSROADS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 297, 14 December 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

SPAIN AT THE CROSSROADS

THERE is often a lot of truth in fables, and an old Spanish faT>le I came across has unhappily proved its truth as?ain. The men of Spain, it said, had found particular favour with the Blessed V irgin, who promised to intercede with the Almighty that they mizht have whatever desirrr], Fhrv aslcd for the finest climate in the worM. Th:s was immThatf]y granted. T"<v sakofl for the iV'=t f" ' *" « fries* '}<-■ v fur a-1.-d :<•' • '• A v.'-- • .■ the , ~*t - v ;,,kr-d t- •• ' !ova|. women, 'he bra-, e-t rrie;i -) 1 •h f, "A n f urn \cn t gr;iri r )ne vhinjr n or" they de.-'ed 'ho r '' 1 "rr m»r,' ; but. ''ia Almighty was by i 'W imr'at>nt, and turned hi* l>ai-k at * ■ ■ ir last ro'i'i**'. Th'»<! who know - ain r<"f.yri;-a tiiA truth in thin t -tur*. A land of •">>!r and life, a r'h lan'l !'nat ear. produce in abund-»r-e; on the other hand a lan'l of j-overty and hunger. British Policy For two centuries Britis-h policy t Spain had not, deviated. We iv o alway# l>een interested in keeping • -r frfrom foreign domination of any for K[«fiin's geographh-al situation • i us to keep an a I •* rt eye on whati r ha ppens there. Spain faces two highway* of vital ■ •!; port a n'e to u*: from linr Atlantic and Moroccan [»ort* she mn harry the ro«ds 'hat. lead to N'orth and South America, ■< "d to the f'a[«': from the Mediterranean «-.'i'»r« and islands she pan dominate the r .ute to Fgvpt and the Ka«t; and go we t-nd t.hat time and time again Kngland lias played a not disinterested part in affairs. Whenever S[«ni»ih independence win menaced, the Spanish people have offered desperate resistance and Britain always baeked them to the full, conscious of the threat to her own interests if & foreigner managed to tinatch control of this *t rategioally vital peninsula. PalmeTst.on summed up England's interest in a free Spain: "It is essential," he said, "that Spain should be politically independent as well a« physically and morally strong; and that other nation* should know that the foreign policy of Spain i* guided by Sfunir-h feelings and directed with a

Spain Is at the crossroads. Will she remain out of the present struggle, or will the pressure of the Axis Powers be too strong for her? It is as important a question for Britain as it is tor Spain. The writer has an Intimate knowledge of Spain and of the political background to the present situation. In this and a following article he tells why he thinks Spain will submit to Axis pressure in spite of the recent agreement with Britain.

By C. S. If. Yockney, M.A.

v:ew to Spanish interest'. and not subservient to the policy of any other Power.'* Vet I r >nif before there. wh = anr outbreak of civil war in Spain. !*a!y ar.d '/ermany had shown an unhealthy int.<;re*t in the penin-uia. Spain watLal to them a* a preliminary to their lons-term [<i!n-y r,f euprenia<- v in the i terra n r -an and <loru i nation of the world. As early a* I'rl*s it was rer>orted that thSpanish monarchy liad been intrigiiin;; with Italy with a view to a Alliance against the Anglo-Saxon. We nee<l Imt recall the visit* of Oil Robles, rif the Aecion I'ofiniar —the clerics! Kascifit. party —to Orrnany and to the Nuremberg congress; the activity of de Rivera iri Italy; tlie intrigues of Don Antonio fjfiiee»>ecliia, leader of the J'artido Renovai ion af early as March. 10.T1. wiiAn he visited Italv to win support for the restoration of the monarchy. l>on 'loiccoei-bia }oaste<] r.f hi« part later on in a speech at San Soi»astian. The ".Manchester Guardian" T)ecernV>er 14, lt*37: declarations show that, more than two years before ths outbreak of civil war, the Monarchists, who are playing a leading part among the rel>els, attempted to get the support of Ka«ei«t Italy for the coup d'etat or civil war planned by them." As early as March, 1930, the French Ambassador in Berlin had reported that (General .Sanjurjo, who, but for a fatal awident, would have been leader of the rebellion, had arrived in Berlin and had be«n given an official welcome. And did not the high commissioner in Rabat report that the Italian airmen who crashed in Algeria had received final instruction# on July 15, three days before the war actually started?

Tie question is proved beyond all doubt that, long before the triumph of the Popjlar F"r->nt in the elections of February, 1936. Italy and Germany had :k!aji plotting for th:-> rebellion, and that their irr<Tvention had begun long before a fringie Fiat or Junker plane had reached Spain. The civil war was deliberately provoked tiy tiiem as an e-ren-t:al *tep towards the domination of Spa;n and of Kurope. My Friend of the Luftwaffe ' in.-ident, I r'-.-ali, in Uar cl' iia ".i:.y iii 1934. I ;iad iust come through I'uig--erda to lia:c I..na. Catalonia, was m the throws of its a:i t --u."ri.i-t troii-—a fK.-r<-i,i i ; < il r|ii"-tion in Spain - and as a I"reign'-r I signed a .i; ■: I*. i - jiii'ity of iorins at the hotel in the I aza Catalina, d'" iaring that I was of I■!ri fi - h nationality find had no poii-Val a fbiiatione-, and wa-, tiiere merely for pl»*a.-ure. At dinner T w- -hou ri to a table, already occupied i.- a rto>-ky. redhaired young fellow, wearing in his

1 ap<* 1 the "wing-s" of the Herman Luftwaffe. The waiter ~y»<.ko to me in Kii.ltlish. Immediately mv neighbour sprang to his feet, clicked his heels in unmistakably Aryan fashion, bowed stiffly, and shot out the hand of greeting. "I arn a Saxon," he said without a trace of intonation in his voice. '"Von are .Anglo-Saxon. We miint he friend-. - '

1 For a fortnight Bretschneider and I f explored Barcelona together. He was f on his way to take charge of a chemieal 1 factory at Tarragoiia. He introduced - me to many of his acquaintances in the ! Ger;nan colony there—and it was a 1 numerous colony—many occupying good - positions in Spanish industry and c^m- - merce, others just learning the lanE guage with a view to positions eitiier in Spain or in Spanish America. "The ii"" Germany." they sni<l. "must take, an in--reaping interest in this part of . Jiurnpe." [ It is important to remember these i fact? because of the vicious clouds of propaganda that obs"ured cvprv issue ! at the outbreak of the Ci\:l War. It is a fa!!a<y to a~-11r:.tiiat it was a : o-y war to purge Spain of Com- ' munism. Civil War Sidelights 1 he l',f- üblii-an (iovernment had been , elected by popular vote in February, and comprised ail parties who believed > in social progress and democracy. They w"n 277 .seats. as against J32 on the and had a. majority over Rijht and tent re of nearly half a million votes. In the Popular Front there were only 16 Communist Deputies. 'I he outbreak was at first isolated to jrarri-oii towns, but in the main industrial towns was crushed in a few days. Franco, however, by retaining control of < adix. was enabled to bring across his Moorish troops and advance against the disorgani-f-d people as far as Madrid. Madrid, in spile of the gloomiest fore-oa-t-'. in-.'d out, thanks to the heroic defen- of tin- people and the timely Ji'dp of the International Hrigade. The year I!'.'; 7 was a year of \ ictories for the < Government— Cordova, Jarama, Guadelajara, Brunette Behhite. Given arms, the Government showed it was capable of crushing the rebels. But a disastrous change in British policy had been taking place. For the first time in 2<>o years our policv was reversed. In spite of popular feeling in Kngland. in spite of the agitation in France, in spite of truckloads of supplier piling up at the French frontier, the policy of "non-intervention'' was announced. Blum, the French Premier, was determined on caution in his foreign policy, and wjk completely subservient to Whitehall. Alter a visit, from Sir George Clark, the British Am--1 bassador to Paris, he readily fell in line with this policy, which has proved, so disastrous to us. "Non-Intervention" "Non-intervention." according to the definition of the old rascal Talleyrand, "is a metaphysical and political term that means almost the same thing as intervention." In this case, it proved in practice to be intervention against the Spanish Republican Government. Italy and Gerimny poured in arms; the Republican ports were virtually blockaded—so complete was the blockade that even caustic Boda was banned, with the result that it was impossible to obtain even soap in Republican Spain. In 3 038 the Government, without equipment, without tood, without medical supplies, was driven back on the coast. It was men against machines. The- had nothing but a human will to oppose the terrific onslaughts of Franco and his German and Italian friends. The fall of Barcelona was the end. Franco was now ruler of a ravaged and sullen Spain; democratic government was at an end. Churchill said in a recent speech that "the policy of the Chamberlain and Baldwin Governments had been of valuable assistance to Hitler and Mussolini in their war against Spanish democracy." (To be concluded.)