Evening star., 1937-11-08
Fascists on the March
Three Nations-Japan, Germany, Italy-Sowing
Seeds of Empire With Foes Ununited.

very close to the British throne itself.
Frances original coup WAS assisted,
at the very outset, by prominent
Englishmen. moved BY the Fascist
ideolosy.
r Trade Assaults Impressive.
The Fascist international also as
sauls the democratic world by trade
policies, under which they force coun.
tries with . glut Of raw materials
and limited market, to finance and
equip them. Germany, In particular,
is making what amounts to q capital
levy upon her own clients and Gus
toners. That is what the system of
Ask, or blocked marks, amounts to.
On Friday the government of Colom-
bia announced that under the new
exchange control regulations, unre-
stricted purchases of foreign goods
would be permitted only from Ger
many! This, Of course, makes Mr..
Hull's trade agreement policy perfectly
impossible. On Thursday, the Brazil
liam Ambassador to the United States,
Mr.. Aranha, made an extraordinary
speech at the National Foreign Trade
Convention In Cleveland. He said
that Brazil is opposed to the Ask
mark system Of doing business and
would stop that type Of commerce
with Germany entirely, If the United
States would do the same, and that
Brazil is trying to "lower the ac-
quisitive power OF Germany in
Brazil"
But that acquisitive power is enor-
nous. and Is aided by the bribery
OF officials, and by the agitation Of
the huge colony OF Germans who live
in Brazil.
II Franco wins In Spain the Fascist
influence on South America, which
derives its culture and theology from
Spain, will be prodigious. The Ger
man trade policy and the Italo- Span
ish idea-war will work hand in hand.
And the United States, We predict, will
find it Is not - isolated from the rest
OF the world as 1t thinks 1t Is.
Nothing Being Done.
Meanwhile, nothing approaching
even q united front is being opposed
to this united Fascist aggrandisement.
At the Brussels Conference, England,
France and the United States are dis
cussing possible settlement of the
Japanese Chinese war without the
presence Of, or any regard for, the
greatest Of all Asiatic powers: Russia
the only country which could perhaps
be counted ON really to take steps in
China; the only country which has an
army estimated at 100000 in the Far
East. equipped With munitions facto-
ries, barracks, air force, and materially
independent Of Moscow. Dispatches
from China state that the inferior
Japanese troops are In Shanghai, and
that their best troops and munitions
are mobilised facing Russia.
1t Is tragic that the world is so in
the dark rs to what the condition Of
Russia really Is. We do know, unless
the recent purge is to be completely
discounted, that Fascist propaganda
and penetration went q long way in
Russia itself. We do not know wheth-
er to believe Mr.. Duranty, who says
that the purge has strengthened
Stain, or whether to believe other re-
porters who announce . considerable
dhintegration, nor do We know whether
such disintegration rs exists has af-
fected the army.
Germans Circling Russia.
Russia out Of the picture certainly
vastly strengthens the Fascist bloc.
That Is what the Fascist nations have
been trying to achieve. The France
Soviet pact is the only protection for
the small nations of Eastern Europe
against possible German aggression.
France is long. long way from Czecho-
slovakia or Poland, or any Of the na-
tions of the Little Entente. For peo-
pie who are genuinely anxious for
peace all over the world, it is ridiculous
to say that you can isolate 10000, 900
peoplei What the Germans, with the
aid Of their allies are doing, Is what
they accused others in the pre-1sl4
era Of doing to them-they are COM
pletely encircling Russia.
In world like this one can only