Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-12-21
SPOTLIGHT Il!
ON THE
World Crisis
BY DONALD GLEASON
TRUTH ABOUT SPAIN
DIssENsIoN IN ITALY
HITLER srAy, FALLING
BY DONALD GLEASON


Of Spanish workers and peasants
against the fascist Lerroux gov
eminent is leaking through the
censorship and lies of the con-
trolled press.
For fourteen days the masses
defended Austurias, the most i'm
portant mining and industrial dis
trict In north Spain, against an
attack by battleships and 10000
hired mercenaries.
These mercenaries were made
up of the Foreign Legion (many
OF them former White Russian
officers) and native colonials from
Morocco.
| Mutiny in Army
| The Lerroux government was
forced to use these mercenaries
because of mutinies and wide
lspread unrest in the ranks of
the regular Spanish army. Even
the conservative bourgeoisie are
Outraged by stories of brutality
on the part Of these hirelings.
| The picture of a catholic gov
lernment using Moslem mercenar-
les to shoot down Spanish citizens
in Catholic churches is so revolt
ing that it may be necessary for
the capitalists to escape the obi
um by putting in another gov
eminent for front.
The chief contenders for the
new government are the mon
archists and the fascist party of
millionaire land owner Gil Rob-
les. Both groups are demanding
even more bloody measures
against the workers.
Suspend Five Papers
They are not content with the
death of thousands and the i'm
prisonment of $4,000 in military
prison camps. In Barcelona a mil
itary dictatorship has suspended
five papers.
| One was fined 1000 pesos for
printing a picture of two rebels
who escaped to France. When this
paper protested it was fined 1000
more. Another paper was fined
500 pesos for criticizing German
Nazi activities in the Saar.
The president and the rector
of the University of Barcelona
have been arrested and placed on
prison ships.
The mass instruction could
have been successful as proved
by the events in Asturias. There
the united front was led by the
Communists and included the So
cialists, the peasants, the rank
and file of the Anarcho-Syndical-
lists, and the majority of the lower
bourgeoisie.
They seized the factories, or
ganized a red army, set up Sow
cts, and seized the large estates.
Had the same thing happened
in Barcelona, the other great in
dustrial district in Spain, the
workers could have won. But
the Syndicalist leaders in BARGE
Iona betrayed the revolution by
announcing over the government
controlled radio that the general
strike was called off before it had
obtained its objective.
Peasants Not Modified
/ A second reason for the failure
lay in the refusal of the Socialist
leaders to organize the resistance
until the last moment, and in
their rejection of the Communist
appeal to the peasantry. That
the rank and file of the Syndical-
lists and the peasantry would
have responded is proven by As
turias.
IS
News from Italy to the New
York Times shows that Mussolini
has miserably failed to solve any
of the capitalist difficulties. The
depression has reached such a
crisis that gold has been fleeing
Italy.
| In the year ending November,
1894, one billion gold Ira was lost,
and in the last ten days the
flood of escaping gold swelled to
10000, 600 Ira.
In order to avert a crash Musso-
lini has taken the desperate step
of ordering all the foreign credits
of banks and citizens to be depos-
tied with the governments Ma
tional Exchange Institute.
This agency has a monopoly on
foreign exchange and can use all
the foreign credits of Italians to
protect the dangerously low gold
reserve. Such a move only post
pones the crisis and destroys
Italy's already weakened interna-
tional trade.
Clashes on Border
Another evidence OF Mussolini's
desperation is seen in the border
| clashes between the Abyssinians
and Italian troops. The attack
followed a conference between
the French and Italians, which
granted Mussolini a free hand in
the exploitation of Abyssinian
territory.