THE SITUATION IN SPAIN

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21858, 11 August 1936, Page 8

THE SITUATION IN SPAIN

TO THE EDITOE Or THE PEESS. Sir—Let no one be deceived by Mr di Somfna’s remarks or that “Spain is essentially a Latin country, peopled by a Latin race, who are closely akin to the Italians.” Spain is nothing of, the sort. It is time this popular fallacy was scotched. The classification of countries according to the philological basis of the language which they speak rests on a false foundation, namely, that their common root is indre important than the differences produced by centuries .of evolution upon that root. Consider the vast differences In rhythm and character among French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and the legend of “Latin race” is destroyed, in so far as the phrase means a similarity in disposition or temper among the nations of Romance speech Spain is one of the European countries least affected or influenced by Latin culture. History confirms this. Spanish civilisation began lii Galicia, Asturias, Leon, and Castille, that is to say, in the least Romanised regions of the _ peninsula, whilst Mediodia and Levahte, where Roman influence was greatest, remained under Moorish domination. The Spaniards will not gladly endure any interference by Mussolini.— yours, etc.. H. H. FOUNTAIN. August 10, 1936. TO EDITOK OP THE PBESS. Sir,—lt is not altogether surprising that Spain is at the present moment in the grip of civil war: it is a natural consequence of her recent unhappy history. Communism is ih ;- charge there, and where communism is, there is also strife. Since the victory of the extreme Left at the elections some month ago—cleverly engineered from Moscow —Spain has, been ruled by a socialist syndicalist communist alliance (called the Popular Front), which has clearly been dictated by the extreme Reds. The destruction'of convents and churches, the murder of Sriests, bishops, and helpless nuns is ie first plank in the communist platform—as we see from the present unhappy state of Russia, where it is considered a crime to believe in God or to teach the rudiments of the Christian religion. The communists are well aware that the only bulwark Of Christianity, the only real defence of the Christian religion, comes from* the Roman Catholic Church. Protester llhtisih is weak, timid, hesitating, not 4 quite sure of itself, so the communists * believe that if they can only destroy * the. Reman Catholic Church in Snain % they stand a good chance of turning r the rest of Europe into a Soviet republie. •<* Unlike other political parties, come munism bases its political and eco--4 uranic programme on a philosophical £ theory. That philosophical theory is < the materialistic conception of history f —and therefore of Man, vho alone # ywokoc history. It is such a denial of t the conviction of all Christians, Jews, *. Mvartetng, and others, that communists, * tp be consistent, must attack these * religious beliefs. The communist f philosophy is frankly and honestly S anti-God. There is no God. Man ’s * only an animal. Moreover, as capitalI ism, or the concentration of wealth t and economic powgr in the hands of a t few (rightly condemned by the Popes * in thei’* Encyclical letters) has grown J up within these religious groups, cornel munists, like Marx and Lenm, have * somewhat hastily concluded that religion and capitalism are, If not logi- % cally, at least psychologically con- * nected. The Roman Catholic Church * condemns the evils of modern capital--2 ism as much as she condemns the evils t of communism. She teaches that spirf itual values are always first to be conI sidered, and that the reason Why labour J is nobler than capital is that men arc 4 worth more than chattels—that man | is spiritual and capital is material. 4-Communism denies the spiritual value L. of men, and therefore denies the true * reason why men are Of more value , r than material wealth, v What counts in modern capitalism is mainly wealth, the material values of the world. The same may be said "of communism. Therefore both modern capitalism and communism are hopelessly wrong. They are inhuman, '■/and they degrade men. The social leashing of the Roman Catholic Church is founded on the spiritual character and value of .men and the .Church alone teaches a truly human doctrine. ' If men are to survive the break- j

" down of modem capitalism, and if . ' they are to escape the indescribable evil called communism, they must real--,v-ise. their own spiritual vorth, and strive with knowledge of the Christian /'truth ta reconstruct society so that the S- WOrld may xmce again be at for human :- beto«?s to live in.—Yours, etc., ■ - A CATHOLIC PRIEST. SI- "August 10, 1936.