BASQUE COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 175, 21 April 1937, Page 20

BASQUE COUNTRY

Tranquillity That is a Little Alarming Outwardly, the Basque country appears the best-organised loyalist region in Spain. The rationing works well, the militias are well-drilled, wellequipped, and enthusiastic, public order is normal in the streets, and there is none of the revolutionary atmosphere so noticeable only a few miles away, in Asturias, said a correspondent writing in the “Manchester Guardian” recently. Yet just this tranquillity is a little alarming. “Solidaridad Vasca,” despite its undoubted achievements, holds to ideas which have been, left far behind in the rest of the country. Senor Aguirre’s dream is to set up a model democracy in his country, something on the lines of Denmark, within the framework of a Spanish Confederation modelled upon the Constitution of Soviet Russia. In the construction of this new democracy the Nationalists hope for ■the benevolent assistance of England. Some prominent Nationalists have even assured me that the Basques would like to turn their backs on Spain and base their activities upon the closest possible relations with the British Empire, of which they are historically fervent admirers. It is a fact that vast British interests are involved in Basque industry and banking. that relations have always been and continue to be cordial, and that England is the natural commercial partner of the Basque country since British coal is far more suitable for Basque heavy industry than the Asturian slag. Socialist Position. There is some doubt whether the proletarian parties will always acquiesce in this programme. The An-archo-syndicalists do not represent a really serious force, being chiefly the fishermen refugees from Renteria and Pasages. but, they tend to be voeal. The Socialists of the older generation adhere to Indalecio Prieto, who is deputy for Bilbao and highly approves the Nationalists’ moderation. The younger Socialists are closely allied, as elsewhere, with the Communists. The present Provisional Government of Euzkadi, which replaced the original Defence “Junta” on October 7, is composed of four Basque Nationalists, three Socialists, and one each Communist, Nationalist Action, Republican Union. and Republican Left, but the Nationalists have the key posts of tbe Presidency and War Ministry, the Home Office, Justice and Education, and Finances. All decisions of the Cabinet, however, hav'- been adopted unanimously, save for certain discussions of commutations of death sentences. The Government is thus formed by the Basque Nationalist Party and the Popular Front. The Anarchist National Labour Federation is not included, on the pretext that it is not a political party but a labour organisation such as the General Workers’ Union and “Solidaridad Vasca,” equally unrepresented. The immediate political situation is not acute, for there is no doubt i . the Government’s desire to prosecute the war with energy.

Elementary Self-Defence.

Since the shooting of the Basque priests and the bombing of Bilbao elementary self-defence, if nothing else, must dictate such a policy. The rebel generals have a particular hatred for the Basques, and, paradoxically, deny their Christianity. A refugee from yi-

toria reports that when she signed her name in Basque, “Miren” instead of “Maria,” she was threatened with imprisonment and told to sign “a decent Christian name.” The rebel papers from San Sebastian persist in speaking of the “heathen Basque Reds.” when precisely the disadvantages of the present Basque regime lie in the fact that it is not “Red” and is extremely Christian.