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From Socialist Appeal, Vol. II No. 35, 27 August 1938, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
To the proposal of the Non-Intervention Committee that Franco send his “volunteers” back to Italy and Germany, the leader of the Spanish fascists replied that he wants belligerent rights before any withdrawal and that an equal instead of a proportional number of men be withdrawn from both sides. This is tantamount to a flat rejection of the Committee’s proposal and everybody, with the possible exception of the Committee itself, accepts it as such.
This leaves matters exactly as they were for the last two years. The fascist powers will continue to send men and armaments for Franco’s forces while the great “democracies” will undoubtedly retain their virtual embargo against the Loyalist Government.
The chief explanation for Franco’s rejection lies in the serious military reverses he has suffered within the last month. Had he been able to continue his march on Valencia and had he felt confident that the end of Loyalist resistance was really in sight, he could have very well afforded a more affable reply to the proposal of the Non-Intervention Committee. But the hopes which his successful spring offensive aroused for a speedy capitulation of the Loyalist forces did not materialize. On the contrary the Loyalists launched two success-full counter-attacks with the result that, at the present moment, the fascist offensive has been stopped and an immediate victory appears out of the question.
Under the circumstances, Franco, necessarily under instructions from Mussolini and Hitler, is frank enough and bold enough to announce indirectly, but nonetheless clearly, that he needs more help from Italy and Germany, and that he does not intend to be hampered by any agreements from getting that aid. And via Franco’s rejection, Hitler and Mussolini have once again announced to the world their intention of guaranteeing a victory for their puppet.
Unpleasant as Franco’s (or rather Mussolini’s) intransigence may be to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the prediction can be safely made that the latest slap in the face of the Tory Government will not change its policy of reconciliation with Mussolini. It is true that last April it was expressly stated by the British Government that it “regarded the settlement of the Spanish question as a prerequisite of the entry into force of the agreement [between the British and Italian Governments], but what that meant was that the British Government was perfectly willing to wait for a Franco victory before the agreement would be declared officially in force. It would be absurd to suppose that the British politicians did not know of Mussolini’s determination to achieve victory Franco. They, like Mussolini, hoped for an early fascist victory.
The conclusion that the British Government will not be seriously exercised over Franco’s note is strengthened by the fact that it is right now preoccupied with the task of putting the screws on Czechoslovakia. It is not at all improbable that the note from Burgos was sent just at this time to create a diversion in favor of Hitler. A jab from behind by Franco is as good a hint as any that the British Government better do all it can, through its emissary Lord Runciman, to assure Hitler’s domination of Czechoslovakia.
What will the Daladier Government of France do? It may grumble, but tied as it is to British diplomacy, it is not in a position to follow an independent course, even though the imperialist interests of France demand that Spain be ruled by a government which will not interfere with its route to the French colonies.
But what the French or British Governments do is not half so important as what the French workers do to assure that the Spanish-French border is open so that war supplies can reach the Loyalist forces. The recent military successes show clearly that the Spanish workers are far from having given up the battle. The fact that Negrin has to make positive denials of his purported negotiations for a truce with Franco shows that the Popular Front leaders would not dare to come out openly in favor of reaching’ an agreement with the fascists. Such a peace is possible only over the dead bodies of the Spanish workers.
Should the French workers begin a real struggle against the non-intervention farce (which guarantees intervention on the part of the fascists only), the Spanish workers would be tremendously heartened. So much so that they might even begin to speak once more in sharp terms to the Loyalist Government which, because of its desire to save Spanish capitalism, has been looking to the French and British capitalist governments for aid against the fascist governments.
Undoubtedly both the Communist and Socialist parties of France will raise a howl about the necessity of relaxing control over the Spanish border. But so long as the Daladier Government knows that neither party will do anything more than howl, it will continue its policy of preventing real assistance from reaching the Loyalist Government.
The victory of the Spanish workers depends upon the ability of both the Spanish and French workers to free themselves from the paralyzing hold of the treacherous reformists of all types and to fight fascism with the methods of social revolution.
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