Fighting for Democracy in Spain
CLARENCE A. HATHAWAY
(Speech Delivered at Modison Square Garden, New York City,
August 18, 1936)
(EXCERPTS)
COMRADES AND FRIENDS: The Spanish people are today in the front line trenches fighting against fascism. The workers, the peasants and large sections of the Spanish middle class are bearing the brunt of the battle against fascist reaction that is sharpening in every country and on a world scale. The Spanish people today are in the leadership in the fight for democracy and in the fight for peace.
On July 15 the fascists of Spain began a military insurrection, and for the last 34 days the Spanish government, backed by the Socialists and Communists and by the overwhelming majority of the Spanish people, has been fighting heroicly against these barbaric reactionary forces. The heroism of the Spanish people has been epochal. With inadequate preparations, with insufficient military supplies, with a virtual blockade maintained against the government by the surrounding reactionary nations, the Spanish people have been fighting with such weapons as they could secure against military forces that not only took over a large portion of the military supplies of the nation, but who have been supplied since then by fascist Germany and Italy.
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A defeat for the people in Spain would be a serious setback to the anti-fascist movement in every country. It would certainly make a thousand times more difficult the struggle that is being waged by the People's Front in France. Certainly our own reactionaries--the Hearsts, the Liberty Leaguers, the Landons and the K.noxes--would be strengthened here by a fascist victory there. Likewise reaction would be strengthened in England and in every other capitalist nation throughout the world.
But a victory for the people's movement in Spain, a victory for the present government, would undoubtedly mark a serious, a most decisive setback for fascism everywhere. It would strengthen our revolutionary struggle against our own reactionaries; it would strengthen the struggle of the German workers, the Italian workers and the workers in every country who are enslaved, persecuted and terrorized by fascist dictatorships.
FASCIST INTERVENTION
The fascists in Spain have been able to carry on their murderous insurrection for 34 days and create critical problems for the workers' and peasants' movement, for the people's movement. They have been able to do this not primarily because of their own inner strength. On the contrary, the forces of fascism in Spain are not strong when compared with the strength of the government and of the People's Front movement. They represent the army officers, they represent the high dignitaries of the church, they represent the landlords, they represent, of course, the big bourgeoisie. The reason, and the primary reason, why the fascists, the arch-reactionaries of Spain, have been able to carry on the civil war for this period of time is becau prior to the revolt, in the preparations for the revolt, and since the revolt, they have had the continuous, active backing of the two chief fascist nations-Italy and Germany.
Already there is much evidence brought to light, evidence that has appeared daily in the capitalist newspapers, which has proven that the revolt was hatched with the collaboration of Hitler. One of the outstanding Spanish fascist generals stayed in Berlin, conferring with Hitler. He was undoubtedly :financed by Hitler, and from there went to Portugal to carry through the final preparations for the revolt. It has, furthermore, been made clear from the reports of the press that the rebels, those revolting against the democratically elected government of Spain, were supplied by the Nazis and Italian fascists with arms, with bombing planes, with machine guns, with everything they needed to carry through this counter-revolutionary struggle that they are waging against the Azana government at the present time. The fact that Mussolini has likewise sent bombing planes, and with them Italian fascist aviators is today well-known. The fact that a couple of planes crashed in French Morocco clearly showed that the fascists of Spain were relying upon receiving this aerial help from the fascist governments of Italy and Germany.
I think from this there are very definite conclusions that can be drawn. Hitler and Mussolini are driving toward the realization of their fascist policies-a drive that, we Communists have pointed out repeatedly, can only end in the outbreak of a new world war that will be far more costly in its consequences than was the last world war. We have repeatedly branded these fascist nations as the aggressors in this world situation, threatening the peace of the entire world in the most irresponsible and criminal manner, undertaking to provoke such a war to serve their fascist objectives.
The events in Spain and the disclosures that have already been brought to light demonstrate most clearly that these fascist incendiaries do not hesitate to interfere in the internal affairs of another nation, they do not adopt a policy of "hands off", letting the people of Spain determine for themselves their form of government, their policies, etc. They allied themselves with the most barbaric, vilest kind of reactionary forces, with the semi-feudal remnants of Spain, with the old landlords, who have for centuries brutally oppressed the Spanish peasants. They allied themselves there with the reactionaries of the church who have for years extorted huge sums from the people. And through these forces Hitler and Mussolini undertake to overthrow a government that was duly established by the people, that was returned to office in the elections of February 16 with an overwhelming election victory; a government which has the support of workers and peasants and the middle class people of Spain as well.
DISORDER PROVOKED BY FASCISTS
Under such circumstances, with a government elected by democratic procedure, representing the people's expressed will, these fascists within Spain and the fascists surrounding Spain, in complete disregard of the election, in complete disregard of the will of the Spanish people, in complete disregard of peace and order, in which atmosphere the government was systematically undertaking to solve the problems of the Spanish people-the fascists, with the aid of Hitler and Mussolini, step in, throw the country into turmoil, begin a counterrevolutionary struggle, take the lives of tens of thousands of Spanish people of all classes, begin a ruthless war for power in order to maintain a rotting eystem which has long since demonstrated its inability to serve the interests of the Spanish people, or of Spain as a nation.
Under such circumstances it must become clear to every antifascist, to every supporter of democracy, to every person who believes in orderly development, that the fascists in Spain must be defeated, that the Hitlers and Mussolinis must be told decisively by an aroused world opinion, not to intervene in Spain. The people of this country and every other country must be prepared to give unstintingly their support to the Spanish people in their struggle against fascist reaction, in their struggle to maintain a democratic regime in their country. We owe it to the Spanish people, because of the heroism that they are showing every day in their struggle to maintain their government-a government that is more responsive to their wishes than anything that has preceded it-and secondly to ourselves, in the interests of our fight for world peace, in the interest of our fight against growing fascism at home and against fascism on a world scale-to give all our support, to back up their fight as we have never supported any fight waged before.
Comrades, to give our support effectively to the masses in Spain in their struggle against reaction, it is necessary to trace briefly the developments of the struggle in Spain and the inner issues that preceded the present struggle. To begin with, one should state that the whole history of Spain is replete with many struggles of the masses of the people against the feudalism that has dominated Spain for a longer period than any other country of Europe. In fact, today Spain still suffers from semi-feudal conditions, with all of the remnants of feudalism bearing down on the mass of workers and peas ants when feudalism has been wiped out in the other countries of Western Europe. The workers there have been waging throughout many years a struggle to overthrow this feudal regime, to open the way for progressive development in Spain.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOURGEOIS DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
In the present period the struggle against reaction has been developing since 1 931, a revolutionary struggle directed against the carry-over of feudalism, a reaction that has throttled the whole development of Spain, which has prevented the opening up of Spain to progressive expansion. The tasks of the revolution in Spain which has been going on since 1931 were the tasks of a bourgeois democratic revolution. They were the task of establishing a republic, the task of ending once and for all the feudal relationships in the countryside with the terrific burden they placed on the peasants, the task of dividing the land, opening the way to the development of agriculture on a progressive basis. It meant the abolition of all of those feudal remnants which prevented the development of Spanish industry. It meant opening the way to the struggle for a real democracy in Spain, giving the workers the right to organize. In this struggle the workers were preparing themselves for the period when as a class they could go forward to a new stage in the struggle for progress, the struggle for socialism as against capitalism.
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FORGING THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
The struggle of the Asturian miners, the persecution and terror that followed, prepared the ground in the working class movement for the building of the People's Front. And here, comrades, I want to state that the People's Front in Spain, the bringing together of the Socialists, the Communists, the large masses of Anarcho-Syndicalists and the honest Republicans is dut primarily to the initiative of the Communist Party of Spain in proposing the formation of a united front of the people against the fascists.
It was the Communist Party of Spain, following the line of the Communist International, drawing from the experiences of the workers' struggles in every country, from the victory of fascism in Germany, from the experience that they had gained in France, which boldly came forward, urging a united front of the Spanish working class movement and around that a broad People's Front as a means of beating back the forces of reaction.
When the Secretary of the Spanish Communist Party, Jose Diaz, took the initiative in propagating and in fighting for this line, a ready response was found in the ranks of the Spanish proletariat. There began the creation of that solid People's Front in Spain which has demonstrated its ability to carry on an election battle against reaction. Today it is demonstrating its ability and readiness to go into the trenches, into the streets in an armed battle against fascism, in order that democracy and peace might be maintained.
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Now there have been those who say that this government, which succeeded in granting many concessions to the workers since it took office, that today is carrying on, is giving leadership in the armed struggle against the forces of fascism and for the defense of the republic-there are some who say that this government should not be supported. There are some "Leftists" who think that the whole policy of the People's Front is wrong. There are some of our comrades in the Socialist Party who think that the People's Front in France is wrong, who think that the People's Front in Spain is wrong. In fact, only a couple of days before the outbreak of the present struggle in Spain to defeat the forces of counter-revolution, there were writers in the Socialist Call who at that late date and in that acute situation still considered that this broad unity of the Spanish people, workers, peasants, middle class groups, was an unsound policy, was a policy that should be ended by breaking up the People's Front movement.
But, comrades, let me state with all the power that I can command that only the People's Front could unite the Socialists, the Communists, the Anarcho-Syndicalists, the Left Republicans, the peasant groups, could today successfully beat back the forces of reaction in Spain.
If the People's Front movement had not been created, if the unity of these groups had not been established and the election victory of February 16 won, if a struggle had not been carried on against the consolidation of the fascist positions since February, then I assure you that the workers, the peasants and the anti-fascists of Spain would never have been able to wage the struggle that they are today waging against the forces of reaction. In fact, one can state that with all the limitations of the present government in Spain, a government that is not committed to a revolutionary program, a government that is committed only to the carrying through of the program of a democratic bourgeois revolution, with all of those limitations that government has carried through many substantial changes that were of fundamental importance to the workers' movement. And they were a prerequisite for the success of the struggle . of the masses of the Spanish people against fascism.
THE COMMUNISTS LEAD FOR UNITY
To begin with, in this period the trade union movement, the Socialist and Communist movement, that had a semi-legal existence, have been fully legalized. They have been given an opportunity to carry on all the functions of trade union and working class movements under democratic conditions. The effect has been a tremendous strengthening of the trade union movement. It has resulted in a tremendous strengthening of the Communist movement, of the Socialist movement, of the youth movement, of the peasant movement. In fact, the period of the People's Front in Spain and the period since the victory on February 16 has been a period of a tremendous rallying· of the forces of progress against the forces of reaction.
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DEMOCRACY VERSUS FASCISM
This brings me to another question. As to the issues in the struggle in Spain: there have been those who said that the issue in the present struggle in Spain is the issue of fascism versus Bolshevism, or fascism versus Communism. This is the cry of every reactionary throughout the world. It is the cry of the Hearsts and the Liberty Leaguers. They are striving to build up sentiment for the fascists of Spain and they raise the bugaboo of Stalin establishing his domination in Spain. They charge that a bunch of atheists are destroying the churches, that the priests are being wiped out by the thousands. They are showing in tjiis situation the same skill in manufacturing atrocity stories and all sorts of non-existent dangers that they demonstrated when they wanted to whip up sentiment for America's entry into the World War in 1917.
But all the issues that they raise are fake issues. In Spain it is certainly not the government, it is certainly not the Socialists or Communists who are placing public order in jeopardy. It is not the anti-fascists who are creating disturbances in the country. So far as order is concerned, the government won its election victory by a popular democratic .poll. And on the basis of that election victory and on the basis of the program specifically supported by the people, the government was proceeding to put into life that which the people asked for. It was the fascists who undertook to bring on chaos, to throw cities into disorder, to bring on civil war, to destroy and destroy. It was not the government, it was not the Socialists, it was not the Communists; it was precisely these people who invariably prate about law and order who were the first ones to break it whenever it interfered with their own economic and political interests.
The issue in Spain today is the issue of democracy versus fascism. The issue in Spain is the issue of peace versus war.
TROTSKYITE PROVOCATION
Unfortunately there are those in the working class movement who play directly into the hands of the Hearsts and the reactionaries by themselves raising such issues as that. There are those among the Socialists, influenced by the counter-revolutionary Trotskyites, who are allying themselves with fascism, with reaction, by urging the destruction of the People's Front.
The Trotskyites, who from the outset have battled against the People's Front in France and in Spain, and who have carried their poisonous position into the Socialist Party, are attempting to make the Socialist workers believe that the issue at the moment in Spain is the issue of capitalism versus socialism.
With such a position as that you play into the hands of all of the reactionary enemies of the Spanish people. Moreover, if it were to be accepted by the Spanish workers, it would mean narrowing down the whole people's revolutionary movement. It would mean driving away every .person who is ready honestly and militantly, heroically, to carry on the fight against fascism, but who is not yet convinced that the job before the Spanish people is the proletarian revolution, that the way out for Spain is already the institution of a proletarian dictatorship and the m,dertaking of the· construction of socialism. Today the job before the Spanish workers is the job of defeating, and decisively defeating, reaction and feudalism.
SUPPORT THE PEOPLE'S FRONT AND THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT
And in order to defeat reaction and fascism it is the job of the most conscious sections of the working class movement, the Socialists and the Communists, to pursue such a policy as will enable them to unite around themselves every honest Republican in Spain who is against a fascist dictatorship. In fact, unless such broad democratic alliance for completing the aims of a bourgeois democratic revolution is continued, the people of Spain could not be victorious, the fascists would win. And with the victory of fascism in Spain we know from the experiences of Germany, of Austria and Italy that the job then of going forward with the building of our socialist movement and with the revolutionary struggle for our socialist objective would become a thousand times more difficult.
So we see with revolutionary realism based on the teachings of Marx and Lenin that we cannot impatiently and over-ambitiously try to jump over the concrete problems existing in Spain today. We see that the job in Spain today is to defeat fascism; it is to maintain democracy in order that the working class movement can further consolidate its position, can further strengthen its alliance with the peasantry, can further prepare the way for that time when the working class as a class, backed by firm allies among the peasantry and the middle class, can go forward to proletarian dictatorship and to a socialist society.
That is the objective and the course that is being followed in Spain today. It is a course that will lead through a fight for the maintenance of democracy against fascism, for the republic, to the unleashing of all of those forces that can one day, and soon, bring a socialist victory to the toiling masses of Spain. But that victory can only be won provided the tactics of the working class movement are the tactics that are today being followed unitedly by the Communists and Left Socialists, provided the government now wins the immediate victory that is needed in the battle against reaction.
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ALL SUPPORT TO THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE'S FRONT
Finally, there must be the greatest material support for the Spanish workers. The campaign launched by the I.L.G.W.U., the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the International Furriers Union, has blazed the way. They have been given support by the Communist Party, they have been supported by the Daily Worker in the appeals that we are now making for funds for Spain. This material support must be given and given unstintingly if we are going to play our full part in aiding our Spanish comrades in their struggle.
But along with this material support given by unions and workers' clubs, it is necessary for those same unions and the whole working class movement to join in building up mass protest movements here. These must serve notice to the fascists through a storm of resolutions that the temper of the American people is not such that they will tolerate continual challenges to world peace and to the democratic forces in Spain, France and other nations. We say now that it is the job of the whole working class movement to build up a great, powerful protest against fascism, and at the same time a movement that can break the blockade that has been set up against the Spanish government. It is necessary to open the door so that a regularly constituted government, democratically elected by the people, can get all the things it needs to defend the people and to carry out its program.
I urge all of the comrades here, the comrades of the Communist Party, of the Socialist Party, of the unions, every person here who abhors what the fascists are doing in Spain to acquaint yourselves as thoroughly as you can with the issues confronting the masses of the people in Spain. Make out of yourselves active propagandists, .fighting in your own way the battle of the Spanish g-overnment. the battle of the Spanish people.
The Communist September 1936
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