Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-08-28
BY WALTER DURANTY.

BY WALTER DURANTY.
BY Radio to The Star.
BARCELONA, August 2s.-How the
Catalonian workers army is fighting
the rebels was described to me
by the Military Committee OF the
United Socialists, which is the third
group forming, with the Catalan Ma
tionansts and the Anarcho-Syndical-
lists. the Central War Committee OF
the anti-Fascist militia-the supreme
military authority in Catalonia.
The principal member of the Mill
tary Committee Is Senior AlmendroS,
who has Just returned from the
Huesca front, north of Saragossa,
where he holds a rank equivalent to
that of a general.
There is no regular front" he said,
'slike in the World War. owing to the
mountainous nature of the country
and the comparatively small forces
engaged. The Catalonian troops
fighting in Aragon consist of four
columns, of which We, the Socialists,
have one column 1000 strong, and one
that is 5000 strong cooperating with
the Anarcho-Syndicalis column and
the Catalan Nationalist. All opera
lions are directed by a central staft
according to plan, as in any other
war, but the columns have different
forms of attack.
Fight in Small Groups.
iete y,l a
tionalists prefer to advance in small
groups and in some cases do not have
regular battalions or even companies,
whereas the Socialists follow the or
thodox military system, with the i'm
portant difference, that We have a
political section attached to all units
from a platoon upward in the proper
ton of one to ten. Two other militia
groups also have political sections, but
with a looser system of organization
in accordance with their ideals of in
dividualism.
THE political sections have three
main duties-to explain to the soldiers
the purpose of each action, encourage
morale and as far as possible, attend
to their material needs; to organize the
workers and peasants in any locality
that we occupy, and to suppress dis
orders and looting. They also handle
propaganda behind the enemy lines,
and this has been so successful that
deSerterS from Saragossa and HueSca
say the death penalty is imposed on
any one found in possession of one of
the f1y-sheets dropped by our air
planes
What do you tell them?" asked.
THAT we are fighting the Fascist
rebels for democratic revolution. not
social revolution-get that clear. ]
know our group includes communists,
to whom social revolution is an article
Of their faith, but Spain, especially
Catalonia, is not ready for such a
sweeping change, and assure you that
on that point there is absolute unity"
Two Purposes Inspire Workers.
In this connection an important de-
cision was reached the other day when
all the workers groups in the town of
Lerida, between Barcelona and Sara
gossa, adopted their first complete
joint platform instead of the somewhat
loose program of cooperation as out
lined to me by Senior Almendros. At
present the Catalonian workers are in
spired by two purposes-to beat the
Fascists and to make a democratic
revolution. Mixed committees have al
work out joint platform.
Another member of the committee,
Senior Gomez, returned few days ago
from Ma jorca, where the militia, after
landing at Puerto Cristo in the north,
now holds the northeast part of the is
land as far as San Severe and is ap-
preaching the town of Malacor. Here.
too there is guerrilla warfare over
broken country where stone walls af-
ford cover to both sides. The first
prisoners taken and the inhabitants Of
the occupied portions Of the island dis
played the utmost amazement on hear
ing the militiamen speak Spanish and
Catalan.
do they speak that, too, In Russia?"
they asked nervously. The rebels and
local priests had apparently convinced
every one that the island had been in
vaded by a Red army from Moscow
which would collectivize the farms
the Majorcans almost all own land
and nationalize the women. Now this
propaganda is producing a reaction
and there are many dessrtions from
the rebel army, whose rank and file
are Catalan conscripts. Senior Gomez
admitted it would be a hard struggle,
but he was confident that Catalan COM
mand of the sea would make the re-
duction of Palma simply matter of
time.
tCepyright. 1895. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc.)