Lessons of Th Spanish Civil War

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In our last article we scussed on the central pestion of leadership in the gar against Franco. We bowed how the failure of the patrists in the POUM to take. • a fight to win over the aks of the anarchist workers Who were becoming more d more disillusioned with eir leaders of the CNT) led be POUM to betray the passes.

Yet Spanish workers were *trayed also by the treachery of forking class leadership internat•ally. All the problems of the forld proletariat found sharp ex-ession in the struggles in Spain. As soon as the civil war broke * in 1936 the question of *ernational support for the #publican government against scism immediately arose. France ! the time had a Popular Front prernment led by Blum, while in litain a number of Labour sinisters were participating with le Tories in the National overnment.

These soçIal democrats, owever, served the class interests f the capitalists and not the orkers. The last thing they danted was the seizure of power in pain by the working class and * peasants. If they were to give massive military support to the publican government there was • guarantee that the workers and kasants would not use those guns • destroy not only Franco but apitalism as well.

TALK The consequence of these fears gas that while the workers' leaders • the capitalist countries talked Timpathetically about the struggle mainst Franco's army, they roposed not military aid to the peat powers, Russia and the ascist countries.

By this time, the Russian tommunist Party, Stalin, nd degenerated so much that the derests of the world's working bus, linked as they were to the arclopment of revolution on a torld scale, did not even enter iko the thinking of the Stalinist reaucracy. What most concerned talin now was the existence of a otentially very hostile Nazi regime abng one of the borders of the oviet Union.

In order to counter the threat med by Nazi Germany, which was ments of Britain and France. He hoped that with Russia to the east and France and Britain to the west, Hitler would think twice about invading the Soviet Union.

For Stalin, the Spanish civil war presented an opportunity to demonstrate his good faith to Britain and France. He therefore readily agreed to the 'nonintervention pact and for the first part of the civil war, Russia refused to send any military aid to the Republican armies.

INTERVENTION

The fascist governments of Italy and Germany on the other hand, never had any intention of abiding by a policy of nonintervention. Mussolini; in particular, sent not only military aid, but large numbers of Italian troops as well. Feeling very much the junior partner to Hitler, he intended to use the civil war to demonstrate the 'heroism' and "might' of the Italian fascist armies.

The Nazis themselves also provided Franco with military equipment, and sent pilots to Spain to fly the aircraft they were supplying. The notorious 'Condor' legion was also sent against the Spanish working class.

Apart from materially assisting a cause with which the fascists were most decidedly sympathetic, their intervention in the Spanish civil war also enabled them to test out the military equipment with which they had been busily re-arming themselves. It also further provided the fascists with the opportunity of giving their soldiers war experience in preparation for the imperialist world war that everyone except the Stalinist bureaucracy in Moscow) realised was getting closer by the day.

The cause of the Spanish workers and peasants was taken up and supported by millions of workers throughout the world. This support took on a whole variety forms from support for the 'non-intervention' pact in the misguided belief that, if properly enrorcea, the Republican armies would be victorious, to the collecting of money for medical aid and volunteering to join the International Brigades.

BRIGADES Thousands of class-conscious workers, trades unionists and intellectuals also, from all over Europe and America, travelled to Spain to join _ the International Brigades Pyrenees into Spain. At first the French government turned a blind eye to these volunteers but because they were technically in breach of the non-intervention pact the French government began to take active steps to prevent volunteers for the International Brigades from crossing the Pyrenees.

Nevertheless, the thousands of volunteers who arrived in Spain fought in many of the main battles of the civil war and very many of them lost their lives in the fight against Franco.

Russia's non-intervention in the civil war was putting an enormous strain on Stalin's credibility as the leader of the world's first workers' state and on the influence of the Communist Parties in the capitalist states which he used to back up the manoeuvres of the Kremlin with imperialism. Moreover, ' there were certain advantages to be gained from supplying a limited amount of arms, to the Republican armies. The Spanish Communist Party was then able to determine where the arms which Russia supplied were to be allocated.

MASSACRE

This meant for example that the militias and later the regiments which did not support Stalinism could be deprived of arms and therefore, ill-equipped, would be open to massacre by the fascists who were of course equipped with the most sophisticated weaponry available, supplied by the Spanish bourgeoisie and the fascist governments in Berlin and Rome.

It was the coolness of the British and French governments to Stalin's proposal for a 'triple' alliance that finally persuaded Stalin that he had nothing to lose but more than a little to gain by sending strictly limited quantities of arms to the Republican armies.

This totally treacherous policy of the Stalinists made it all the more essential for the Spanish working class to take the power in those areas of Spain free from fascism, by overthrowing the bourgeois-Stalinist coalition, which fulfilled an increasingly counterrevolutionary role.

One final opportunity to defeat the counter-revolution presented itself, in Barcelona at the beginning of May 1937. Here the workers' militias, dominated by POUM and CNT, still patrolled the streets. Increased attempts to disarm them led to clashes between the CNT and the combined StalinistSocialist party, the PSUC, who supported the bourgeois government.

On May 3rd state forces arrived throughout Catalonia, except that as the government forces and Stalinists grew more successful, they began to murder CNT and POUM members at will.

Meanwhile the CNT sent delegation after delegation to the government to discuss the situation. By this time in Catalonia 500 workers were dead and 1500 wounded. In the days that followed hundreds more died as the POUM and anarchist troops were 'cleansed' by sending them into the line of fire without air or artillery cover.

Having provided the necessary service to the bourgoisie, the services of the POUM and CNT could now be dispensed with. They were unceremoniously thrown out of the government and the POUM was declared illegal.

Not long after, the Stalinists created a situation in which a formal end of workers control and the disbanding of factory committees was called for, which they know Caballero would find intolerable. He too then left the government he had been instrumental in forming which was now comprised solely ol the iberal bourgeoisie: _-1_t.. 61:1--_17 and the Stalinists.

date Centralo pose tom les prisonniera antifascistes. Libération immédiate de toua lee Camarades du P.O.U.M. Nous n'admettone pas le principe d'un procès contre les camarades du C.E. du P.O. U. M. sans la garantie de la présence d'une délégation ouvrière internationale.

Nous protestons contre les exécutiona sommaires et lés assassinata de Camarades du The bourgeoisie took greater and greater control of the government while the Stalinists physically liquidated the opposition on the left. The leaders of the outlawed POUM were arrested by the Stalinists and murdered.

Andreas Nin, the veteran ex-Trotskyist and leader of the POUM, was himself abducted by the Stalinists. They denied any knowledge of his whereabouts but this did not prevent widespread protests against their action throughout the workers movement.

However, the counter-revolution was now too far advanced, and the leaders of the workers parties too far compromised for any effective opposition to the actions of the Communist Party to be mounted Andreas Nin, along with many lesser known and unknown opponents of Stalinism was brutally tortured and finally murdered by the Stalinists.

The successful advance of counter-revolution within the ranks of the republican forces, coupled with the treacherous policy of the Soviet Union meant that the fate of the Spanish revolution was by now sealed. With the disbandments of the backbone of the fight the workers militia and factory committees - the more the fascist given moment, has different interests and is therefore, in the long run, hostile to the working class.

STATE

Thirdly, it is impossible to carry out a struggle against fascism by trying to use the bourgeois state. The bourgeoisie fear the masses more than they fear fascism. Only by setting up rival working class organs of detence, production and supply united into a national council, only by establishing dual power and then going beyond that to the conquest of power and the establishment of the workers state can the struggle against fascism be successfully carried out.

The destruction of the capitalist state, workers control of the factories and the distribution of the land to the peasants also serves as the essential basis for politically undermining the support of the fascists who only gain in strength because the bourgeoisie are paralysed.

Fourthly, the need for every worker to understand the completely counter-revolutionary nature of Stalinism as demonstrated in the Spanish civil war and the building of a section of a revived Fourth International in every country is now the most important task facing the working class internationally. In Portugal, where the Armed Forces Movement rests precariously as do all Bonapartist regimes, on both the working class and the bourgeoisie, the lessons of the Spanish Civil War must be learnt by every class conscious worker There can be no substitute in such a situation for a revolutionary party based on these fundamental planks of Marxist theory. Centrist movements like the POUM which used the vocabulary of Marxism to cover over their capitulation to the Stalinists and reformists play a treacherous role of confusing the working class - regardless of the enormous sacrifice and dedication of their members.

The Spanish Civil War was a defeat for the working class that could have been a great victory. As Trotsky said as early as 1931, the decisive question was leadership:

"For a successful solution of all these tasks, three conditions are required: a party; once more a party; again a party!"

Now in 1975, as the Spanish proletariat after 36 years of fascism harina sonin ta stir and thrastan

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With the Birmingham pubs bomb trial concluded and life sentences passed on the six convicted of murder, some questions remain. For this trial, though maybe one of the biggest show trials in Brit ish history, has aroused no protest in the British working class.

Six men were convicted of murder and three more of conspiracy to cause the explosions. All nine were accused of being members of McDade's team. (McDade was an IRA member blown up in Coventry while planting a bomb).

Of the six convicted of murder five were arrested at Heysham on the night of the pub bombs as they were travelling to Belfast for MoDade's funeral. The defending lawyers emphasised that men who had Just planted a bomb would be unlikely to fry • and leave the country immediately by a major port.

It is significant that the chief prosecution witness, Thomas Watt, who worked with three of the defendants, admitted to harbouring Littlejohn from the night of the pub explosions until his arrest.

Watt said he was sympathetic to the National Front and regularly informed the police about IRA LITTLEJOHN members. Further the press reporter that the Birmingham police knew Littlejohn was staying with Thomas Watt although they did not arrest him until the following month.

Littlejohn is the self-confessed British agent who carried out a bank raid in Dublin for which the IRA was blamed.

Thomas Watt's testimony includes such statements as that John Walkers, said to be one of the commanders of the IRA team, asker him where he could buy cheap alarm clocks, drew a sketch of a bomb and warned Watt not to go out on the night of the explosions.

Further prosecution evidence was based on forensic tests which were positive on three of the nine and the confessions of some of the defendants. The defendants claim that these were extracted by the police after crude torture and mock executions.

This ties in with the testimony of the prison doctor who certified that the wounds were received between twelve hours and two days before the prisoners arrived at Winson Green prison - in other words while they were in the hands of the police. However, in the closing days of the trial the judge rounded on the prison doctor and accused him of perjury or gross incompetence.

Prison Wardens The judge argued that the wounds were obtained solely in the prison and thus cleared the police. As the trial closed the Birmingham Evening Mail printed a remarkable interview with the prison warden in which he "cont fessed" that the wardens had beaten up the prisoners.

He reminded us, however, that should charges be brought against them, then Winson Green prison would have to close since wardens cannot continue their duties while on trial. It looks remarkably like the prison wardens being the cover or the scapegoat for the police.

It seems clear that eight of the nine convicted were members or sympathisers of the IRA. One was The WSL members present not. He, James Kelly, convicted of conspiracy was an avowed Orangeman and claims to have been "infiltrating" the IRA.

The prosecution summing up seemed to emphasise the malevolent nature of the defendants, describing one as "a cocky, aggressive little liar"

Sophisticated Bombs The defending lawyers each seemed to be concerned at their own clients acquittal at the expense of the rest. Lastly we must note that no mention was made in the press of the site of the bomb factory, although the bombs used were highly sophisticated, and designed (unlike other IRA bombs aimed at non-military targets) to maim humans more than to destroy property.

What are we to conclude? The instigators of these particular bombs could be connected to Littlejohn, the Loyalists or the Provisionals. However this is speculative: the majority of the British working class believe it to be the work of the IRA and have reacted to it as such. Many sympathisers of the national struggle in Ireland were beaten up in the aftermath, some lost their 10bs.

On the streets of Bimingham it became risky to reveal an Irish accent and many Longbridg kers demonstrated under the "Kill the IRA" • In Bri shop steward was sacked for defending the job of i his members known to be a sympathiser. In the cha outrage the Government wi to pass the pernicious terrorist legislation"

Whoever was politically I sible for the bombing the they provided a considerable tage to the forces of reaction achieved not a single gain f Irish working class.

Scepticism While we defend therefo absolute right of the Prov IRA to defend the mi Catholic population in the of Ireland against provocatic harassment by the British and Loyalist thugs, and to st for the national independe Ireland, we do not in any support the Birmingham bor or similar policies which car aid counter- revolutionary for A serious question mark over this trial, however, dema that the workers movement out the fullest information treat the verdict, along wit sentences, with scepticism.

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*publican armies but a 'non- Nervention pact between the