Spain’s Communist Prisoners

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 120, 14 February 1935, Page 11

Spain’s Communist Prisoners

Sir, —“Cogito,” in your issue of February 8, quotes “The Nfcw Statesman and Nation” in an attempted refutation of the charges against the Spanish rebels and the Leftist Press of Britain, quoted by me from the “English Review.”. .He coulcl hardly have made a worse choice, because t.he “New Statesman and Nation” is notoriously a propagandist organ of the Left, and has consistently whitewashed the savage, and often bestial, outrages committed by Socialist revolutionaries and governments in various countries.

The cold-blooded massacre and butchery by the Spanish rebels is of' a piece with the burning and bombing of orphanages and churches in Spain during and since 1931. It is the natural fruit of the planned fomentation of class and antireligious hatred which is used by Communists as the driving force in developing and using a revolutionary situation. The recent rebellion in Spain (by Leftist elements against a Constitution drawn up by a largely Socialist Cortes), has resulted in the death, at times after torture and mutilation, of innocent persons, and in the maiming of others, as, for instance, the blinded children of Civil Guards. It has resulted in a. widespread damage to property and dislocation of business, with inevitable extra taxation of the people.

I have yet to read one word of sympathy in any Left journal for any of the unfortunate people who suffer as a resuit of the rebellion, except only those rebel leaders who caused all the trouble, and who cry for life and liberty while so many of their dupes fill early graves on the rebel battle grounds.

As is usually the case in rebellions by Leftist elements, the mortality. among the leaders in the Spanish rebellion was extremely low. If the Spanish Government accepts the advice of our “League Against War and Fascism,” and . other groups with Communist sympathies, it will mean that leading rebellions will be one of the safest occupations in Spain. As in the past, the man in the ranks continues to bear the brunt. “Cogito” explains that his nom-de-plume means “I think.” I suggest that he think again. —I am, etc., CREDO. Wellington. April 12.