THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR IN RETROSPECT

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 3

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR IN RETROSPECT

IRevtewed by K.J.] - The Spanish Civil War. By Hugh Thomas. Eyre and SpoUiswoode. 720 pp. The 1930's might well be known as “the passionate decade." In many parts of the world passions ran much higher even, than in the wartorn 1940 s. The focus of much of the feeling was unquestionably Spain, for as far away as depression-conscious New Zealand. Spain represented a reality. The struggle for social justice and freedom against the efficient machinations of fascism fired the imagination of the world and New Zealanders are to be counted among the dead of many nations who. from beneath Spanish . soil, bear silent testimony to great ideals. But how does this struggle appear now. in the cold afterl light of 25 years? Mr Hugh ! Thomas, a young British hisI torian. has sought to answer ! this in his book. “The Spanish j Civil War.” The result is a near-masterpiece, an object Igsson in how modern history should be written. If. in the early stages of the book, Mr Thomas evokes a hortative style—“ Observe, for example, the Prime Minister . . . .” uncertainty rapidly gives way to confidence and complete mastery of detail. The steady decline of Spain is carefully traced and the resultant irrationality stands out starkly as crowds cheer the paradoxical slogans. “We are us.” and “Down with intelligence, long live death.” Little escapes Mr Thomas's . eagle-eye. He offhandedly -notes that the room in which the Prime Minister worked during a certain crisis had recently been regilded. His treatment of personalities is painstaking and exact—Major Nathan with his gold-topped swagger cane; the real name of foreign Communists operating in Spain: the activities and subsequent fate of members of the International Brigades are all deemed worthy of his attention. He notes with approval the shrewd compensation system adopted for confiscated estates by which values are based on tax returns, thus penalising tax evaders. Ho points out that a street which reputedly had its gutters flowing with blood, in fact had no gutters. But more important for those who still harbour lingering emotions about the ] Spanish Civil War, he care- . fully documents the almost

indescribable atrocities committed by both sides, though in doing so. he revises the total number of casualties throughout the war downwards from 1 million to 600.000. Even so, the nature of the atrocities is such as to make the reader ponder the nature of our civilisation. The greatest tragedy, however, was the almost inevitable betrayal of all the high ideals which characterised the onset of internecine strife, for the man and the system that emerged were largely bereft of ideals, replete only with desire for power and the ability to rally others. The Spanish Civil War represented the triumph of organisation over ideals, for as the Germans experimented with tank formations and bombing tactics, the proletarian forces split and fought amongst themselves.

The author is not content merely with well-known episodes. He analyses, in the light of German and American documents, which have only become available since the last war, such aspects as German aims and organisation. clearly pointing the differences between the German Foreign Ministry and the Nazi Party. In particular, Mr Thomas explores the differences be- . tween the Spanish Communist Party and Moscow. Stalin, quite obviously, was prepared to sacrifice the interests of

the former in an effort to win an alliance with Britain and France. If Communist methods of domination emerge clearly here, so, too. do the limitations of Communist policy, the hesitations, the deference paid to “real politik.” In this Machiavellian imbroglio there is little honour. Even British efforts for non-intervention are shown for what they were, a steady retreat into hypocrisy. The fatuousness of good intentions in great power politics was never more clearly manifest. Only Leon Blum—disillusioned and dependent—has any real claim on our sympathy. Here in embryo are all the elements which were to dominate the 40's and 50’s. Though today many of the personalities involved have passed from the international scene, the colourless General Franco still rules that tragic country in which, for three years, wild, and often impractical idealists vainly fought against rigid authoritarianism. “The Spanish Civil War” by Hugh Thomas is not only a first rate historical account about events in Spain, it is an almost indispensable background for an understanding of our own day. In addition to its other virtues the book has a good index, useful appendices and is well illustrated with maps and photographs.