SPANISH TURMOIL

Evening Star, Issue 21621, 17 January 1934, Page 1

SPANISH TURMOIL

CAUSES ANALYSED THE TREND TO THE RIGHT An analysis of the events which led up to the present situation in Spain was made <by the ‘ Manchester Guardian’s ’ resident correspondent recently. With the dissolution of the Constituent Cortes, which first met on July'4, 1931, the first chapter of the story of the Spanish Republic has come to an end, wrote the correspondent. Spain now enjoys- an advanced Liberal Constitution, which in theory, at any rate, is a notable achievement. Attempts have been made to solve age-old problems like the Catalan question and the cultivation of the land by legislation that has at least laid the foundation of reform.' Education has been taken out of the monopolising hands of the religious orders, and the church has been separated from the State. The army has been reorganised and the number of officers strictly , limited. In' the face of this record no one can accuse the Constituent Cortes of lethargy. The second chapter will open with the General Elections for a new Cortes, ho longer of a constituent character. What issue will be decided that day, which according to ‘La Libertad,’ may prove as fateful , for the republic as April 12, 1931, was for the monarchy? The issue, however, is not yet concerned with the possibilities of a Bourbon restoration. Even avowed monarchists realise that the economic state of the country would not be improved by a restoration, while the person of Don Alfonso himself seems to command little feeling of loyalty among the adherents of the Bourbon dynasty. The question is primarily N whether Spain is to follow In the path of nineteenth-century bourgeois republics or whether the more advanced Socialist elements, under the leadership of Senor Azana and Senor Prieto are to gain the upper hand. UNION OP THE RIGHT. At present the Socialist Party is the only party organised on modern lines. It is well disciplined, and its is clear and concise. In addition, the Socialists have been infuriated by the dissolution of the Cortes; nor do they admit that, as Senor Larroux said in his opening speech, the Cortes Coristituyentes had become divorced from public opinion in the country. On the other hand, there is a mass of disjointed bourgeois opinion and economic atrophy of the last year, which is endeavouring to unite the, different groups of the Right wing under a single antiMarxist banner. Senor Gil Robles, the yohng leader of the' Popular Action group, has announced this union as an accomplished fact. There are,'for instance, traditionalists who follow Goicoechea, Conservatives headed by Miguel Maura, Fascists . witbpift any, l;p,articular leader, and other small groups, •jv, is oIA-Aus tljhNif the “ derechas,” the Right King, wish to obtain a large victory at the polls a united front against Socialism is a speedy and vital necessity. Nor have any of their leaders the political talent of Senor Azana/ Without his guiding hand it is doubtful whether measures ■ like the Catalan Statute or the Agrarian Law would ever have been passed. It must also be remembered that he never lost his majority in the Cortes, even at the time of the dismissal of his Cabinet. To Azana the republic is, as it were, a sacred cause, but at the same time his policy of gradual modification of monarchist Spain is eminently practicable. \Yet the danger to the republic as Azana conceives it is real, nor could the dissolution of the Cortes, as he admits, have come at a worse moment for republicans of his type .(and republicans of a more conservative character he apparently regards as camouflaged monarchists). GERMAN EXAMPLE. Lately the editor of ‘ El Heraldo,’ a Socialist evening paper, sent an open letter to the Press, in which he says that he is resigning from his editorial post because he finds democracy as out of date as a crinoline! “ Face to face with the Russian experiment, the Italian and German efforts have relegated the French Revolution to a back seat. Only we, provincial and parochial, have accepted democracy as a novelty. Government for the people by the people is a fallacy. The to-day is between Moscow and Berlin.” He concludes by saying that in his opinion the republic has been the worst misfortune ever suffered by his country, and declines to have further connection with it. Coming from the editor of a Socialist paper, this outburst is certainly significant. .. There is no doubt that events in Germany have had a great influence in Spain. The Constitution is modelled on that of Weimar, and the Right-wing Press is able to point to the collapse of democracy in Germany. _ Already the early pigns of an anti-Jewish campaign can‘be observed. The Hitlerite movement provided the Ring wing political writers in Spain'with a whole armoury of new weapons for attacking the Azana regime. ACTIVELY HOSTILE.

The strongest and the subtlest opposition to the republic springs from the church. Rome is now actively hostile to a regime which has shown itself markedly anti-clerical. Persecution and separation have strengthened rather than weakened the position of Catholicism in Spain. Churches to-day are better attended than they were in the last days of the monarchy, and this religious renaissance is making itself felt even in the theatre. A remarkable play, ‘ El Divino Impaciente,’ by the monarchist poet JPeman, is now; being performed at the' Teatro Beatriz. It is the story of the life of J3t. Francis Vavier. and depicts the spiritual mys.tical character of Spanish sixteenthcentury imperialism. Night after night an enthusiastic audience has filled the theatre. The “ derechas ” thus have strong allies, and not the least of them will be the women’s vote. Spanish wonien are said to be Under the influence of the priest, and are therefore likely to vote against the Socialists. That a victory of the Right would be permanently in the interests of stability is, however, far from clear.