Montana labor news., 1936-08-20
Spanish " xers
= ari Fasdsts
B Grated Press
Parish

MALI VI ~ do&11AAA iAlaoA
ueradins the champion of law
and order nas plunged the land OF
Spain into bloodshed and chaos
But Faseism is getting paid back in
its own medicine.
When the smoke of battle finally
clears away, there will emerge q
free workers republic, in which
the exploiters will be put to work
for the common welfare. Backed
by Hitler and Mussolini, the cleri-
co-Fascist military clique had plan
ned to break down the Peoples
Front to institute a dictatorship OF
the right and force Spain out of the
League of Nations into an alliance
with the Brown Shirt State and the
Black Shirt State, thus ~encircling
France.
The plot has failed.
Although the Fascists had the ma
jority of the army on their side,
they we're beaten back by the arm
ed workers who fought with the de-
speration of lions. | spent IA hours
on the Sierra Guardarrama, in the
company of Largo Cabellero, the
Socialist chief, when the battle for
Madrid was at its height.
l saw a battalion of working class
girls throw away their skirts and
launch a bayonet charge against the
perfectly-equipped Fascist-led troo-
ps. | saw the aftermath of the
fighting on the Code Leon, another
mountain pass leading into Madrid
and scores of women's bodies fast
ened to the ground with bayonets
stuck through their abdomens. But
| also saw the Fascists being hurl-
ed back. Almost barehanded the
workers militia tackled the legionS
of Molla. On the day when that
general promised to take Madrid and
cruelty 100000 workers, | saw the
clouds of dust of his retreating army
as it was pounded by the artillery
which the workers had captured
and turned around.
Only when the Montana barracks
where the Madrid garrison had re-
volted and fortified itself, was taker
by storm, and the chief strongholds
of the Fascists had been mopped up
did the workers flock to the hills
without rest, without sleeping fol-
days and nights on end. Thous-
ands of women had to stay behind
to keep their eye On the hidden
Fascists in the capital They armed
themselves with revolvers and pat
rolled the streets.
In the Catalonian capital, Barcel-
ona, l saw the attack on the Colon
Hotel, where thousands of Fascists
had assembled to terrorize the city
until Gen. Godet could land with his
troops, join with the city garrison
and dominate Barcelona. Godei
was taken prisoner. The garrison
was annihilated. All the churches
where the Fascists had stocked arms
and built barricades in the doorways
were set on fire.
Today in Barcelona a Workers
Revolutionary Committee is ruling
1t has confiscated all the converts
and discharged all religious teach
ers from the schools. The famous
monastery of Mont Serrat on the hill
overlooking the city has been turn
ed into a sanitarium for tubercular
patients. The banks are run by
workers committees. All the pub
lie services have been nationalized
and from every public building
hangs a red flag. The old ruling
class is reaping the inevitable re-
ward of ages of inhuman oppression
and cruelty. The first act of the
revolutionary committe in Barcelo-
ma was to turn the vast and gor-
geous villas of the city into vacation
homes for children of slum jewellers.
Twenty-seven committees sitting
in the ritziest hotels of the city are
working night and day on further
reform, while the masses are pre-
pairing to consolidate their gains
and hold what they have won at
last after centuries of the most alb
ject slavery. Peasants r dividing
the land and arming themselves to
hold it. The bourgeoisie, by its tea
cherous attack on the legally and
democratically instituted govern
ment of the Peoples Front, has
committed suicide.
Before giving up Gen. Franco
will create a grave international in
cident, probably by an attack on
Tangier, the international zone in
Morocco. This is part of the plan.
For that is why the geratest part OF
the German navy is concentrated in
Spanish waters. Germany will try
to step in and make believe she is
restoring order, but in reality to seize
Spanish Morocco as a colony. But
that will not only be a problem for
the Spanish republic to solve; that
will be a matter of grave concern
for France and Britain also.
Four newspaper correspondents
have been expelled for spreading
false news about the crucifixion of
priests and the violation of nuns.
The same ghoulish atrocity propa-
canada that once worked we'll in
the case Of the Russian revolution
has been trotted out again by the
Fascist press and its reactionary
sympathizers.
But in spite of that, the Spanish
masses T laying the foundation of
their own freedom. Forward to
the New Life is the watchword
here.
ATnM Mt " /L1TDN -.