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Rocker, Rudolf

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University of Central Florida STARS PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements 1-1-1936 The truth about Spain Rudolf Rocker Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Book is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact STARS@ucf.edu. Recommended Citation Rocker, Rudolf, "The truth about Spain" (1936). PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements. 800. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/800 I , .  ;:. 1 ,' 3 .  A .- ... > I.; I.. 1 . <:.  ;-L. - . . ~?- _ >  . -. ., .< ,.-- .  - .  .'.. . , .  , - 2 UDOLPH ROCKER .:+& P R I C P  5 CENT! < - * A  ' THE 87 RUDOEPEI EOCE1B 0 0 0  Tfthereis any went &atcsnb* b t  a z-rdhmq.of ianer strength on &%piart of o-lafwrandthe&~ blrias elements of tfpe warld, it is the g"d -Ie against F h  11ow be- h* la S p h  After the rmr+ hg,MtM ef the bbm movement in em the &act of the heroie battle of Ehe C.N.T. aad the F Thc v m t e  struggle i the mmmm Soehbt trade d o n s  aWie aF moafswnts h t  do nat want ellabkg it in bani& of F h  f m  the gates t&e plpn of the p10tthg dim- W br'&th dl the important points by a mtqy of a?rprise WE& would ren- der 'l~s~&-S.e dhe fdI of Madrid. The m o s f f ~ t ~ i a t h i s p l o t a r a s ~ e  i a t o h  crwhfhg of a- tIZe fortress af the a~va3dq hbor moment of SpainI u # r & t Q ~ & ~ e c a p i t a l f r o m ~ t I l e  *. dtr&. chtalmh i9 the CBn* of .Spa$& h w  and Q e  lIlOSt hifly ~~ pnmhee h respect to culture 'She p m e a  C.N.T. hw gmm &ow traditicpns zrad is the O W I ~ W ~ *  h h m- .B1 the aslad&& of marby ctluazm . # *  ., - I ?  ' ! ! >  =@ate thLs snpposition. Wr: prc e, tivatEd cxelasiv* by a deeirt tt~ d & d  l%e C.M.T. never went hto any alli- the b m d c  republie established an politid m, ln fim of g r i l 1 2 $  ISl. d ha Flbr, danger it was alwayg ready to @t dong- side of other orgmhtioas, - it is This deJarati011 may puzzle cerec now. However, it adheres to its s p d c  munists of other countries. But Her- amittide and does not &&. trp aW of its m d e z  knows that the Span& wmkers indqmdence. But it does am@, and peasants are not enthused about the thh rdtth Wctllar s u m  a the dictatatship idea, and that the conmueht kt few years, to atm eeatw to the mavemmt forms only a small miao&yP w o r k  to m d e  @itp in addition, into thrae factions, tlsiws. The smxess of &at He Knows also that the Communist Party especidily striking h where the is not stmg enough to be much of tm workers of hhe hidkt 0~-d obstacle to the aims of the p& trd kde&b, as the - C.N.T. miners af AsVurb. The C.N,T. %em un&mk many m C , d  QnS pato- Whether or not the heroic struggle of gaher the ~ o k e f s  of &e U.GT. t h e  Spanish wmkrst P a m t s ~  a d  At the k t  cmgre53 of .the C.N.T., held ~~~s to save their mtrU from sangom in ~ a y ,  'the blaody yoke of FaPdsm will be =hid dalqpta warmly mjprted the idea of merely a defense of the P m a t  repub- forming an flraflce dth the O.G.T., for lic is another q u a  The rm* the. purpose of c~mmrm defense and o f l s ~ t b y a ~ g ~ f ~ ~ ~ ~  me m t  d m  -r&olq of rm the life of the Spaaish repabEc bps O r g a b h  in ~mss;Ee @ Cpa&d a situation. Undef sYch Fascism dl render their relations M a  h e  mtaraf k d ~ m t  of friendlier. , social events has to take &rter mp and to adopt other forms of d The GN.T. is a tremendous factor in mss. The admirable aeat.ive ? W& the.@tual and seeial fife of Spain. It which is now d e d  on by fhe C=.N.T. d d  not be sappressed in spite of the and the FAJ. ia CataIoda for t&c re- dm&d prsmitiom heaped upon i t  for construction af the whole @& epkem3 a mmhr of years. In the shaping of the is only the outcome of the p w t  b oolaain$. rPocial order of Spain# the C.N.T. tiw. There is no b b t  that .the defeat ratill 8urcly play a great and iarpnssk of Fascism dl lead to a new e& b m k  its qmce extending far hy0md Spanish &tory. We may be  pa th.l :I w(~fgmhtimpropcr. €he wofkersr aad p3mnb of S p m *  ** - t63 * * *  3- md "CNY' in Madrid-these h s  of h beghhg of the present a mmber of autonomous a d  wiriy otb&s> have joined &e C.N.T. atld are takinp. part in the great struggle a~aingt  F+ and for social libemtion. b , : t ,'-T m m q v w  ' L yyy-ye-'**: r: .*; 7 6 ;s -. . .s . .  , .: - - 8 .+-, . . ?  . , i t  *j factor hpwding th ersltuiat rnflllenoe €be list of pmhiMM kroks, p a b W  by digiou9 the i u q u i h  in 1790, we h d  the names eccmomic of mom 2690 writerss amangst &em the clawid works of Hmce, Wd, Cim, Hutarch, Dante, Petrarcb, Bw- caccio and many others. At €hat very j&my, the Chwch always bas h e  Spain had an m y  of 134,000 h th bdliat foe of sodat priests, 46,OMD m d s ,  and 32WI nu= . grid the 6 center of every readan. The of the Church was estimated at 32,500,000,000 reals which D u ~ t h e  mdlear wars aginat tbe gavc the clergy r yearly income of 5m; w el lasted nearly I1Q0 years, tbe 000,000 reals. Besides that the Church Church became a tramendous f-r and pDasessed in buildings, horses, attie, the prinupal tool of Spanish absolutism. etc., pro worth mother 8,000,W P For centuries Spain had k e n  the reah agcther with the many ather advanced m t q  in Europe, the leading wtuces of u~pbitati~zl the yearly income spirit ia science, art, indumy, and a&- of the Spaaish Church repmmttd Y Curtare. But when the Moors were driv- 1,600,000,Oa, redsa* But the people $= en out of the country, and the nation lived in appdhg misery and me Span- was sabdued under the t p m y  of the iards out of 72 w a  a beggar. Church aad the Quistian Monarchy this gnat uvilieatton was dmtmyd with & .nd ri&b ad u ~ .  ht id- of h- into h e  The -- Me of the Spmkh towlls BLId we* which mwed the MelIi- abolishad, a* ohawands apon thw- of. the clotmtrg. From then on the %aa& h i  been stain k their wsbtmge -k the iQ1ud the t - q a b &  this new dteadhl power. The M - ~ Y  and fuas never 1. = fand  a d m ,  ib -&fd in- mm In 1812 tht CoastiTuthi of Gdh - . - dm\ea h y e d ,  its life was prochimed which aabbhbed the in- &fled. By the end of the rdgm of the guisitim 4  the power of a e r  depot, Philip '][I,* h;ad Church. After the defeat of the Napd- nearly half of her ~~~ k c  armies in ! 3ph  F m d a  VII. came w to Madrid- H e  r e q p h d  the It was the anmh and the mprsah- cadtation of fbe p J and pmmLsd theg of royal despotism wha mvmted by soteam mtb to as a ccmstikr tbat tmWe tribanal, the inqukitirm, t$e tional monaPeh and to &fend the new main btnunat for the mppressim of laws of the camtry. For a few mon* the Spanish peoph. d c c o ~  to a very Spain enjoyed the blessimp of palitid earefwl statam published by the A M  liberty after thne hundred years of De MmtgaiIland, from 1481 to 1781 dmhl m m n .  nearly 330,000 p e m  had been h t  dacatod by the State. . l i r r b S @ a I . o d r h e i r p q e r t y ~ -  France dkl '%he most perfect SCam- 'Y d n e l t h r 4 ~ m w ? - *  Dttrtog all these years of slavery b d  - : C  dqpa&kmthe~ur&wa%&emain  * ~ ~ d i a ~ l i h I O d . . p ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  . ;.<?! . 7- . the .political l3mngMd actton and the m a  * * * viEt0 of hmslon progress. Wmlrus d Ha- m~-F-trr ot * wort-* us1 we art tb 5 T w g t w l o ~  the- Inmtid ha06 of the rebels, thousands of WO& W O ~ W  . m ~ o a a  i- oor wt em'havebeeaslaitt f o r t h e i r r e s m  thcenmuesofemytb~~thatrshtlmon, to grng of armed thug nho mmmittd ~ r O ~ t ~ ~ B ~ ~ & s p s w ~ ~  -*t ~~ -wf - *. w, * rgmppt* help. ing;cmawarofext&ti~rtagabtthe we,,,htatwdofbp* Spanish people with the help of fore@ yw will not famakc a" All the ilmqqm hatre reported h the forces of G e n d  Frmcal ~wMI@ maBadridfromthe~#hvcslaught- d t h e  cn-las*there- b y t o p r e v r n a ~ i a t h d r m .  h a d f ~ s t o b a t h e w o r i t e r s o f d  camtriq pubbbed the Defense Cwn- &tee of thc C.N.T. and the FAI., they agpead e q e . U y  ta all d a ~  tiw jaurrraIists andqmtem: ' I t isnotmvvho~~rtbefasdordsr , '  h t  the militart* d BabEiatk me- b laeMae wark af the CAT. 4 FAX, L cxmth* with the w w k m  of * i- e t s H  the Posdst mpnabg = Bat Fudrm hu nd This is not the language of a edis- orderly mob" as thfy were so f~equmtfp d e d  by the - pnss brut of men wba are= of the great l-fqmmmty which history has p h d  a a t h t m , a a d w h o ~ t e ~ k o t a f c g t h e  cmsqueam of their actions. The won- derful work &ey are doig now in order to reorpkze the whole d Efe of w~lla, to prtvent criminal eleslcgts a n d ~ v e w w 4 r i a r & e m o r e ~  a s i € b ~ s o ~ ~ a a t u r r r l % o l i -  MtyI mntd aid, and sadal j& withuut mume tQ the daqgmw d e s k  cF£ di- TeeluGh, e r g h e ,  d t e c b ,  men of sdmoe, t€xwhm, artists, &, are CSP. t h u a d y  &zing their iwsb3baoe b the workers of the C.N.T. and FAL h d  h d p i i  tihem in thdr ctaskof sociaI rqperatim. - * . These goups w e  * in -Tact with thF Nazi k i d q d k r s  in Berlin thmugh the agency -of the German Consul in Barcelona who, In vi~)Latian of the Spanish law%, had d e d  on s e a t  foreign pmpagmd;a for years. No wonder that many Gerr mans left Barcelona in a paaic after Bese discoveries. Riihtty "El DDi3u0," a da:~Iy republi~a~l paper close to the QtdonSan government, remarked : ?Many aliens who are mow tcaving tht country s h d d  kve ha ugellad long ago. They came from Eormtrieg where Fascigm k in power, earrgine on esP;on- age aad serving as mgaw OX wntorct b r h K e e n t h d r ~ a n t s a n d c n r ~  a d s  w k ~  hawe sold thcmrclw to Lmgn inbcmtA'" The New York Times (Aug. 28,1936) publ ied  m interview with Iodalecio Prieto, minister of the present Spaaish &ovemme?nt, in which he stated: Ten days before the Kamerun incident (&fie reported sear& of a German p e d  by a Spanish warship) a Geman v c d  landed ita cargo of airplane and tsrntr r t s  at Car& The parts were taken to Edlle in two frelgbt M n r  cornpard of mty-nine a s ;  pit iwmimpanied by fifty armed Gemam. Thee ( ; e m s  assom- bid  thc plPrtes a d  tanks at Tabhde Airdrome m SeVilla a d  Waded thm! to the rebels, tken joined F ~ ~ G Q ' S  Fardga Legiaa I can prove all tbis just as 1 can prove tbb Kametun landed its caqp of g a d h e  far the T&CIB at a Portuguese pptt .&cr we lrad preymkd it fromTDm --4 Whcn*whthtS p gav-L ~ e m t  did not lodge miup ts with the r 1 Like Mussoliini, Hitler, and tlzeir fol- lowm ia other wrttltries, the heads of the Spauisb Fascists termed theis crime against the Spanish people "a war againat the danger of bolshevistn." They h a w  that the people of Spin are againrM a;ny kind of dictatomhip, but they how a h  that this scammow is an e x d e n t  nzegns of frightening the ~~ E v a  sot called liberals in foreign countries have - been taken in b this bluff* Ltt them have a look at CiLmnp md 1% rllca "Bolshevism" has has defeated by the new "liberators of bumdy!* \ Not d y  Sachbrn and the labor cnuwmeflt have been d e d  by Fasb9m : e v q  one who dared to have an indb pendent apinim, or wen t~ remain @a$- tral, has h e n  d e d  by Fadm " W i n g  over the body of fr'em3mI" t i e s , t h m w n i n t o - b  ;S, tsrhurud morally and physicallyI many have bml driven 20 slow 7 3 e t e r r i f l c ~ b a o w g o ~ o n k  S p e t i p i a a s ~ o f t h e t h a  P g o p p d e  qu& is me of vqdshg aa enemy w b h d  ~~ the very bask of -- th qld fnedom. tksnauy, Italy* Aus- lris b W y  w & p  WOE to the wor2C 'H tim heroic muggle of the Span= i s b @ e @ p h w b e a e d i n O h e b m  of W SgLEYt defenders of freedom and sociavs 'katl* 1 

The truth about Spain

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The truth about Spain

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