The Week Over The World

Southland Times, Issue 23308, 18 September 1937, Page 7

The Week Over The World

Fascism Faced With An Alternative

• By

SCRUTATOR

Britain and France, by enforcing the nine-Power agreement against piracy in the Mediterranean, have done what most of the world has for a long time been hoping they would do: they have refused to allow Italy and Germany to obstruct further their efforts for nonintervention in Spain, and they have brought to the fascist Powers the realization that there is yet a limit to lawlessness. Such an achievement is alone sufficient to make the past few days some of the most important since the rise of post-war nationalism in Europe; and the developments immediately before and after- the signing of the antipiracy agreement suggest that more momentous and critical days are ahead. The strong British and French stand must have given encouragement to all the smaller nations and peoples of the world. But the world has yet to hear the reply of Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to this calling of their supposed bluff; and the words and deeds of both dictators have done nothing to support the hope that their reaction will be acquiescence in the patrol scheme. * Italy’s position is particularly dangerous in its implications. The Mediterranean is to the Italians Mare Nostrum (our sea); Italy, using the Soviet accusation of piracy as her excuse, refused to collaborate at the Nyon Conference, and predicted failure by the conferring Powers; nine Powers, led by Britain and France, agreed on steps to be taken and enforced, and invited Italy to co-operate; and Italy, still insisting on “our sea,” again refused to help in keeping that sea safe for merchantmen of all nations. Signor Mussolini has demanded an equal share of the patrol, after declining to assist in bringing the scheme into being. In this he is strongly backed by Herr Hitler. And behind it all is the threat, openly apprehended in France if not in Britain, that Italy, with at least the moral support of Germany, will “retaliate” against the piracy patrol by giving the Spanish rebels enough help to enable them to secure a decisive victory. Signor Mussolini’s own newspaper says that Italy regards extended participation in the patrol as a matter of prestige; the part assigned to her by the Nyon agreement is declared to be “incompatible with her prestige and interests.” Here is the crux of the whole situation. Italy’s prestige and interests march hand in hand among the fascist volunteers in General Franco's ranks, and until Spain is conquered by the Italo-German-rebel forces Italian prestige and interests will, in Rome’s view, be at stake. So Signor Mussolini says that Italy cannot look on while Britain and France increase their naval and air strength in the Mediterranean for the purpose of stamping out a menace which, whatever its identity, has worked well on the side of the Spanish rebels. Much depends on Italy’s actions in the immediate future. If she tardily accepts the patient invitation to collaborate in the Mediterranean, the statesmen at Whitehall and Paris can safely say that they have successfully called the fascist bluff; but if she persists in her refusals and threats, anxious times must follow in the Middle Sea. HITLER’S ADMISSION Germany’s attitude to the war in Spain reveals a carefully-planned strategy. Each big rebel offensive has been given German support; the conquest of the Basque Republic, rich in minerals, and the shelling of Almeria, carried out during an insurgent advance along the coast, are the. clearest examples of the Nazi technique. Herr Hitler’s latest move on the Spanish chessboard—his violent attack on the loyalist Government—was made this week, when the rebels are faced with a winter campaign which might prove disastrous, and it gives the impression that Germany’s interest in the outcome of the civil war is still as keen as Italy’s, and that Nazism is as determined as Fascism that General Franco will win. The ominous part of Herr Hitler’s tirade was his undisguised criticism of the British and French attitude, coupled with his obvious sympathy with Italy’s aspirations. In effect, Herr Hitler’s words put down, in a way more definite than any official utterance previously, a boundary line between the real antagonists in the Spanish struggle: Germany and Italy on the one side, and Britain and France on the other. True, Herr Hitler attacked Russia in his speech, but Nazi outbursts against the Soviet have long been without special significance. Challenging criticism of Britain and France is less noisy but more portentous. Britain and France might pretend to be disturbed lest Spain be occupied by Italy and Germany, said Herr Hitler, but Germany was horrified at the •prospect of a Russian conquest of Spain. Why should Germany be “horrified,” any more than Britain, by the prospect of Soviet dominance in Spain? Because, as Herr Hitler admits, Germany, as a result of trade agreements made with General Franco, depends to a great extent on Spanish raw materials. It is useless for the Nazis to declaim to the world that their Spanish policy is governed by zeal to rid Europe of Bolshevism, because the destruction of Trotsky’s Old Guard in Russia has made it obvious that M. Stalin has abandoned, or perhaps delayed, the idea of Bolshevik world revolution. Certainly there are Communists among the Spanish Popular Front (loyalists), just as there are Communists in democratic France, and in the British House of Commons. But to say, as Germany and Italy persist in saying, that Spain must be cleansed of Bolshevism is simply a transparent disguise of their actual aims: Germany, a source of raw materials and a military ally in a strategical position; Italy, mastery of the Western Mediterranean. Germany has obtained a source of raw materials, and Herr Hitler’s speech is a confession of her methods. “Because we give General Franco war materials the British and French protest,” declared the Fuhrer, convicting himself as a violator of the agreement on nonintervention. The rebels must win, however, before Germany can be sure of her source of iron ore and copper; and Germany, like Italy, will surely, do more than bluff to hasten General Franco’s necessary victory. PREPARATION—FOR WHAT? In Berlin and Tokyo this week citizens have been diving into “bombproof” shelters and “gas-proof’ cellars, and have crouched in the darkness for hours while imaginary enemy aircraft attempted to destroy their cities. This unpleasant variation in the everyday lives of the German and Japanese man-in-the-street is a phenomenon of modem civilization that has already occurred in other capitals-;-in Paris, and on a modified scale in London. But the reports of Russia’s development of her Far Eastern air power give special meaning to this practically simultaneous air raid drill by her two greatest enemies. The Soviet has returned to the front line of intema-

tional diplomacy, after weeks of inactivity caused by internal disorder, by her signature of a pact of non-aggres-sion with China and her denunciation of Italy as the Power responsible for the piracy in the Mediterranean. In East and West M. Stalin is making himself heard; and Germany and Japan, signatories of the Anti-Communist Pact, show signs of nervousness. The thoroughness of the air raid precautions in Berlin justify the reported antagonism of the citizens and their query whether their leaders expect immediate war. Similarly, the Japanese measures have led the people to believe that the long-expected clash with Russia cannot be far off. There is only one possible conclusion. Russia could not possibly gain by attacking both Germany and Japan, but Germany and Japan together could reasonably hope to triumph over the Soviet; and if the militarist leaders in Berlin and

Tokyo expect war against Russia in the near future they must know that they themselves will be the aggressors, not die Red Army. The Franco-Soviet Pact, however, brings Western Europe into the arena, and world war would result from an attack on Russia. Thus the stage is set, as it was in 1914, and the Powers must soon make their choice of play. If Germany and Italy defy the Mediterranean patrol and attempt in retaliation to push the Spanish rebels to victory, the division between them and Britain, France and Russia will become so wide that a return to friendly relations will be impossible; if they decide to collaborate, months of tension will be ended. There is but faint hope that they will.