Franco Must Thank Churchill, by Marie Louise Berneri (1944)
Article from ‘War Commentary: For Anarchism’, November 11, 1944, London, UK
General Franco’s impudence grows as his position in Spain seems to get weaker. He now claims that Spain is an “organic democracy” and that he has always adopted a friendly attitude towards the Allies. It is unlikely that he would have had the effrontery to make such fantastic statements had not Churchill whitewashed him in a speech he made this summer when he pointed to the good turns Franco had done to the democratic cause.
Franco’s assuredness can only be explained by the fact that he has powerful backers. As Hitler’s power in Europe is withering away it is becoming increasingly obvious that the main supporters of the Franco régime are the British and American governments.
This country had been supposedly fighting for democracy for the last five years and yet at the same time it has supported a Fascist dictatorship in Spain. Even the most ardent defenders of British democracy find it impossible now to disguise the facts and we have the case of Alvarez del Vayo, ex-foreign minister to the Spanish Republican Government meekly appealing to Britain, not to declare war on Franco, not to send arms to the Spanish guerrillas, but merely to stop supporting Franco.
In an article in Reynolds News 29/10/44 he declares:
“I would be satisfied if the Allies would simply refuse to give Franco that support he is unable to evoke from the Spanish people.”
Alvarez del Vayo gives ample proof to the effect that Franco’s prestige among the governing class is solely due to his ability to secure the friendship of the Allies. Says del Vayo:
“To deprive Franco of political support by the Allies is to ensure his downfall. That impression, which I have long had, was strengthened by a talk I had with a Latin-American friend recently back from Madrid. He was there on the day Churchill made his eulogy of Franco in the House of Commons, and he confirmed that that speech exerted almost miraculous powers of rejuvenation on the decaying Spanish régime. Falangists who were discouraged and depressed became confident and arrogant. The same phenomenon occurred in the Madrid press . . .”
STATE OF UNREST
The fall of France has given new hopes to Spanish anti-fascists. Franco has always relied on foreign support to maintain himself in power, now that he is unable to receive reinforcements from Germany, Spanish anti-fascist forces stand a better chance to overthrow him and sporadic revolts have already taken place.
It is difficult to disentangle reliable reports from the numerous reports concerning the risings and a certain caution is necessary as Franco may wish to exaggerate the extent of the fighting so as to have an excuse to carry on extensive repressions and picture himself as the defender of law and order in the eyes of Churchill and General de Gaulle.
Philip Jordan in the News Chronicle 30/10/44 says that it seems that there is no large scale fighting in Spain but a number of limited and relatively small engagements between Spanish guerrillas and Franco’s forces. He claims that no Spaniards have crossed the frontier to join in the revolt. On the other hand the Times reports that revolutionaries, most of them former members of an anarchist group, hold certain areas in the frontier region.
When looking at Spain one should not judge the importance of the unrest by the extent of the guerrilla warfare. Guerrillas are not the best form of fighting in Spain as they are in France and Northern Italy. Resistance expresses itself mostly in the factories and the fields by strikes and sabotage. Franco keeps complaining that acts of sabotage are increasing, particularly in Catalonia, Saragoza and Coruña, strong anarchist centres. He also blames saboteurs for the disorganisation of the railway system.
Outside Spain the opposition to Franco has another aspect. A great number of Spanish anti-fascists who had taken refuge in France in 1939 have fought with the French maquis in Southern France and now that the French problem is partially solved they are naturally anxious to concentrate their efforts on the liberation of Spain. One of their first steps has been the occupation of Spanish consulates in the South of France and the broadcasting from Radio Toulouse.
FRANCE’S EQUIVOCAL ATTITUDE
The Spanish guerrillas have played an important role in the liberation of France but the French government does not seem too ready to express its gratitude in any tangible form. The Daily Mirror 27/10/44 describes their role in the following terms:
“For some strange reason Britain was led to believe that all the Maquis in Southern France were Frenchmen. This is nonsense. A large proportion of their best and toughest fighters consisted of many thousands of Spaniards who had escaped from Spain during and after, the civil war.”
It is obvious that those Spanish anti-fascists did not fight for democracy as understood by Mr. Churchill or for a return to the status quo. They knew democratic governments for their worth. They had been let down by the democracies during the civil war, they had been put into concentration camps under the worst possible conditions by the Daladier Government when they took refuge in France. It is therefore likely that the Spanish fighters of the maquis fought not a patriotic war but a class war against all kinds of oppression and exploitation.
This may explain why the de Gaulle government seems merely to tolerate their existence and by some sneaking manœuvres even tries to reduce their power while it establishes friendly relations with Franco.
One of its first moves has been to intern Spaniards living in Paris. On the 4th Oct., the News Chronicle reported that:
“After the liberation foreigners living in Paris were summoned to the Prefecture of Police. Among them were many Spanish Republican exiles. Those who had no regular employment were taken the Kellerman Barracks in Paris where they were told they would be drafted to labour battalions”.
This is a repetition of the same shameful treatment meted out to the Spanish exiles in 1939. The National Council of Resistance has protosted but it is not known if conditions have been altered. Following the fighting which has taken place in Northern Spain the de Gaulle government has given further evidence of its desire to keep on good terms with General Franco. The Observer 29/10/44 has reported that:
“Senor Lequerica, the Spanish Foreign Minister, has seen the French representative at Madrid and they apparently agreed that the trouble is not likely to develop. On the Spanish side France disposes of adequate troops; on the French side there have been issued orders to the F.F.I. to withdraw 12 kilometres from the frontier. These measures, it is expected, will have a calming effect.”
On the 11th October Franco had had the impudence to offer General de Gaulle’s Provincial Government “all the facilities to eliminate the armed bands of Spanish members of the Maquis operating in Southern France”. De Gaulle must have declined or ignored the offer but it looks as if he intended to put his house in order all the same by eliminating the Maquis which he used to shower with praise from the microphone of the B.B.C.. A final proof of the good relations which exist between the two governments is that Franco has got back his consulates in Southern France and recognised the de Gaulle government.
POLITICIANS PREPARE SPAIN’S “LIBERATION”
Efforts are made by Left-wing parties, mostly under Communist inspiration, to build up a body which will be able to take over the government of Spain should the Spanish people overthrow Franco. At the beginning of November a convention has been held in Toulouse to coordinate the efforts of the Spanish exiles in France under the leadership of the Junta Suprema (Spain’s Council of National Resistance) in Madrid and through the channel of the National Union in France.
Both these bodies can only be treated with the extreme suspicion; though they claim to represent the Spanish people no well known revolutionary militant belongs to it. It suddenly sprung up two years ago just after the Communists were excluded from the Junta Nacional de Liberacion, composed of Socialists and Republicans, which was formed in Mexico. It is composed of members of some of the most reactionary parties in Spain.
According to the Daily Worker 26/10/44:
“The Junta is modelled on the French National Resistance Council and includes representatives of the Right-wing C.E.D.A., the Catholic Popular Party, Republicans, Socialists, Communists, trade-unions and the Carlists“.
For an anti-fascist alliance it is certainly an unorthodox one! The C.E.D.A. was the first fascist party to be granted in Spain and paved the way to Franco’s rising. Its leader Gil Robles, who is said to belong to the Junta, was one of the most hated men in Spain and was mainly responsible for the massacre of the Asturian miners in 1934. If he did not support Franco it is merely because the latter considered him a dangerous rival and certainly not through ideological differences. The Catholic Popular Party was part of C.E.D.A. and therefore equally reactionary. To see Carlists next to trade unionists and Communists is remarkable! The Carlists, better known as Requètés, fought alongside the Phalangists against the Republicans during the civil war; they are royalists and religious fanatics.
The Congress of National Union of Spaniards seems equally varied in its political tastes. In its last session Father Vilar, a Catholic priest, announced that the union would appeal to the Vatican for Papal intervention to stop the shooting of patriots in Spain. The Union has not apparently realized that the Vatican is one of Franco’s most ardent supporters and that during the Spanish war the Pope used to bless planes which bombed Spanish towns. All this smells from miles off of Communist tactics.
It is with satisfaction that we see that Spanish Anarchists keep clear of these shady politicians. Their fight is alongside the masses; not to obtain posts in the Government but to obtain a society free from all leaders and politicians. The future of Spain belongs to the Workers’ Syndicates not to the Juntas and National Unions.