Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MAR. 8, 1939. NEW MOVES IN SPAIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19882, 8 March 1939, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MAR. 8, 1939. NEW MOVES IN SPAIN

The latest developments in that part of Spain still under the control of the Republicans may prove a decisive factor in bringing the civil war to an end. The new position will be viewed, of course, with gratification or concern according to political predilections, but the dispassionate observer will feel that, since it enhances the prospects of peace, it is to be welcomed. For far too long political differences have been allowed to plunge Spain into an orgy of bloodshed and the time has arrived when the people should be permitted and encouraged to unite in working out their economic rehabilitation. It is possible, of course, that this position would have been reached even had the Negrin Government been allowed to remain in office, but the indications were far from encouraging and, although the Nationalist forces were in control of the greater part of the country and their Government had been recognised by most other nations, preparations were on foot for another attack on Madrid. In the interests of the great masses of the people this recrudescence of warfare should not have been permitted, and since Senor Negrin and his followers seemed to be powerless to avert it it was desirable that they should make way for a more moderate administration.

So far as can be gathered, it would seem that there has been another revolt in Spain, but that this time it has come from within the ranks of the Republican Government. This point draws attention to a tendency that seems to be inescapable with all Leftist administrations. The advent to power of co-called workers’ parties, instead of bringing a sense of responsibility, tends to create jealousies which inevitably lead to a'split in the ranks. This, it will be remembered, was the case even in Great Britain where the leaders of the Labour Party were men of high ability and unquestioned integrity. It has been still more strikingly demonstrated .in France in the past three years. There, although the Front Populaire had an overwhelming majority at the elections, the Government was wrecked by internal dissensions and its supporters to-day are chagrined to find that the Government which succeeded theirs is making rapid progress with the rehabilitation of the country. The experience of Spain has been similar. Even the conduct of a civil war was not sufficient to weld the parties of the Left. From time to time there have been changes in the Government, each one moving a little further towards the Right and, incidentally, harrowing the gap that divided the 'Republicans from the Nationalists.

The position to-day is that the former President, the Prime Minister, and the majority of the Government have fled the country and left their supporters to their fate. The Government has been headed by a National Defence Council—it may be significant that it does not term itself the Government —headed by General Casado. The council has issued a manifesto which might well have been the product of the rebels themselves. The people, it says, lacked guidance and organisation and suffered absurd inactivity under the Negrin Government, whose “proved incapacity” was violently attacked. In the face of this censure from its erstwhile supporters it is not surprising that it should have been alleged that the Republican Government was incapable of successfully administering the country. The strength of the new leaders has yet to be proved, but if it is correct that they have the support of the army, navy, and air force it is to be assumed, at the least, that some change was desired, that there was no confidence in the old administration, and, perhaps, that there was a general recognition of the futility of maintaining the war against the strongly-entrenched Nationalists.

The suggestion now is that General Casado will negotiate an orderly surrender. To some this may seem a sign of weakness, but this view is not supported either by his manifesto or by his appeal to the Nationalists. He seeks peace based on conciliation, independence, and liberty and desires the nation to be free of foreign influence and unfettered by the imperial ambition of others. What is there in this that is not consistent with the aims of the Nationalists? It would seem that it has taken two and a half years of bitter war to make Spaniards on both sides realise that, in reality, they have been fighting for the same things and same ideals. The revolt was started in opposition to communism and Communist intervention in Spanish national life. To-day, the former colleagues of the Communists have started reprisals against them. The excuse for the prolongation of the war was the intervention on the side of the rebels of Italy and Germany, and it would not be surprising to find General Franco, in turn, renouncing his former allies. The plain fact is that the Spaniards are a proud and independent race who desire to work out their own destiny. A good prospect of peace on this basis now appears to have been secured. It is unthinkable that the generous offer of the new Defence Council should be rejected and there is good ground for hoping and believing that on the ruins of the civil war the people of Spain will unite to rebuild their country.