Evening star., 1936-09-07
Developments i'm Spain.

Coincident with rebel capture of
Irun after the bloodieSt and most pro-
longed battle of the Spanish civil war,
the Madrid government has undergone
sweeping change, which may have i'm
portant effect upon the fratricidal
struggle. If contiguous San Sebastians
fall follows victory at Irun, the in
surgent forces will have achieved
strategic successes of magnitude in the
BiScay coast region, because it will then
be possible to utilize for decisive attack
on Madrid in the area north of the
capital large bodies of Gen. Molas
men who for month have been occu-
pied in the Irun sector.
In the south and northeast Frances
armies still have plenty of work ahead
of them before they can join forces
with the troops menacing Madrid frcm
the victorious fields around Irun.
Loyalist soldiers continue in favorable
positions on the Aragon front, includ-
ing the claimed capture of Huesca along
the route to SaragosSa. Possession of
the latter city would enable the gov
ernment to maintain communications
between Barcelona and Madrid, per-
mitting dispatch of vital reinforce
ments from Catalan. Bilbao, the north
ern industrial and commercial metrop-
oils, remains loyal to Madrid and is
~ do Iyy hal Re
while in the south the insurgent garri-
son in the AlcaZar at Toledo is holding
out against desperate odds. All in all,
military fortunes continue to fuctuate
from hour to hour, now favoring the
rebels, and now the government, leav-
ing the final outcome still hanging
uncertainty in the balance. The only
assurance is that far-fung and ruth
less fighting on both sides seems in
indefinite prospect, as the kaleidoscope
conflict RACES with unabated fury.
1t is amid these mercurial battle
conditions, accompanied by savage oe-
struction of life and property in town
and country, that new leadership has
taken the helm at Madrid The out
look is for more intensified and united
effort to cope with the rebellion. The
cabinet reorganization, which makes
concessions to all political elements,
savors of acknowledgment that the
loyalist military position is becoming
worse and that to stay the rebel
onslaught more forceful methods are
required. At the head of the reconsti-
tuted regime is Francisco Largo Cabal-
lero as premier and war minister. He
is one of Spains most effective organ
izers and administrators, with a power
full personal following among dominant
trade union groups. A pronounced left
wing Socialist, Senor Caballero may be
expected sooner or later, If the govern
ment surmounts its vicissitudes, to
attempt to convert Spain into Social
ist state. Twelve of the reorganized
ministries are now headed by Socialists
and two by Communists. One, air and
navy, will be in the hands of Indalecio
Prieto, influential right wing Socialist
leader.
The Caballero cabinet is pledged to
suppress the revolt with all possible
vigor and unity the masses. It ad-
mittedly pins its principal hopes upon
securing the maximum support of the
working classes, from which lcyalist
fighting forces are mainly recruited.
The new regime faces colossal tasks
but its chief is a personality of re-
sourcefulness and pugnacity, and, unless
the rebels receive overwhelming support
from interventionists sympathetic with
their cause, he may prove to be the
iron man capable of salvaging some
vestige of democracy from the ferocious
Fascist effort to obnterate it from the
Spanish earth.