ORDERS FROM MOSCOW

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 11

ORDERS FROM MOSCOW

RECRUITING FOR SPAIN

ACTIVITY IN ENGLAND

LONDON, January 1.

The "Daily Mail" alleges that British Communists, acting on direct orders from Moscow, have begun an organised drive in industrial centres, especially on the Clyde and in South Wales, and are specially attempting to secure for service in Spain men who have undergone military training. They are offered a 20s daily separation allowance and 20s a week for married men, with 10s for each child. Attempts to secure artillerymen were made in Liverpool, where 50 were secured, including ex-members of the Irish Republican Army. From 40 to 50 were obtained in South Wales.

It is understood that Crown law officers are considering the position w.ith a view to the possibility of action, although the campaign has been conducted to avoid a flagrant breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act. The Independent Labour Party's organ, which is also recruiting, announces that a contingent shortly will leave for Spain.

A London cablegram published on Thursday stated that Mr. Peter Kerrigan, the Scottish district organiser for the Communist Party, had arrived in Spain with 150 volunteers from Scotland. A hundred more were to leave Glasgow on January 1, and it was expected that the total would be 500 by the end of January. All the volunteers were associated with Labour organisations.

the issue of the licence for the shipment of aeroplanes this week was due to a flaw in the neutrality law and not to a change of policy. It was disclosed that the Vimalert Company was linked with previous deals with the Amtorg Trading Company, but the Russian Embassy denied that either Russia or the Amtorg Company has any connection with the present deal. A Washington message on December 28 slated that, because Congress failed to include civil war provisions in the Neutrality Act, the State Department had no alternative but to issue a licence for the shipment of aeroplanes and engine parts, valued at 2,777,000 dollars, to Bilbao, Spain, the principal port of entry held by the loyalists, by a Jersey City company headed by a naturalised citizen who is the first American to defy the wishes of the State Department. SOqiALIsT~PROTEST WASHINGTON, December 31. Mr. Thomas, head of the Socialist Party, which is recruiting Americans for the loyalist ranks, protested to President Roosevelt against the proposed neutrality amendment, insisting that the loyalist Government in Spain was duly elected by the people and entitled to the support of the United States and the right to buy munitions.