The Washington times., 1938-02-25
Stain Policy Blamed
For Air Slaughter
In Barcelona

Inc cnleI responsibility 1Or Cnt
bombing of Barcelona and Valen
cia, an event widely commented
upon in the American press. rests
as any candid examination of the
evidence will show, upon the con
science of Joseph Stain, the auto
crat of autocratS and Tsar Of al
the Russians.
He it was who encouraged tine
extremist elements in the Madrid
ADMINISTRATIONS sector to an
energetic, if futile, revolt. Long
before General Franco had EN-
barked upon his counter-revolu
ton, Soviet agents, Soviet money
and Soviet arms had been trans
ported to the Iberian Peninsula
in generous quantities.
SIR FRANCIS ACCUSED
For that reason Sir Francis Lind.
ley, G. CM. G., C. B., one Of the
best informed ambassadors that
has served Great Britain in our
generation was able to testify in
an article, The Tragedy Of
Spain" Published in "The National
Review" February, 1880 that the
origin of Soviet Intervention must
be traced to its hateful theology
of exploiting every revolutionary
situation"
The words of the British diplo-
mat is impressive:
THE plain fact is clear to all
who wish to see. The Spanish
civil war would have been a
purely internal affair had it not
been for Moscow. No other
power would have had either
reason or wish to intervene.
Once the Bolsheviks set the ex-
ample, others were certain to
intervene. And it is a delusion
to believe that, with no foreign
intervention, the government
would have won. With Span
iards left to themselves, every
thing points. to a swift victory
outside Catalonia for General
Franco"
SIGNIFICANT PHRASE
This opinion has been con-
firmed by recent military opera
tions around Teruel. The "vic-
torious retreat" of the interna-
tional brigades from that town
has disclosed the hollowneSs Of
the loud boasts of triumph and
premature claims of the advent
of decisive turning-point" of
the war in favor of the Leftist
cause. Not all the rhetoric of
Ernest Hemingway, Herbert L.
Matthews, John Dos PassoS,
Martha Gellhorn, Bruce Bliven,
F'reda Kirchwey George SeldeS
and Leland Stowe could trans
form an ephemeral tactical sue
cess into a triumphant cam
paign.
In spite Of his open sympathy
for the Barcelona regime, Mr..
Herbert L. Matthews, in a dis
patch in the Sunday February
g. New York Times, did fur
niSh a useful clue to the real
responsibility for the bombing
Of Valencia and Barcelona. In
a paragraph headed, Coast Left
Unguarded," Mr.. Matthews let
slip most interesting if clearly
indefenSible attitude on the part
of Indalecio Prieto toward his
civilian population:
ut was not until the loyalists
got their air fields cleared and
could concentrate most of their
planes around Teruel that they
started to hold their own with
the rebels. But that meant
leaving the eastern coast partly
unguarded, and Italian-made
planes from Majorca had things
pretty much as they desired"
In other words, in vain pur-
suit of the phantom victory"
at Teruel, the heartless minis
ter of public defense exposed
the 180 military objectives with
in the limits of Barcelona to the
tender mercies of the enemy.
Indalecio Prieo must have
known that in stripping Bar
celona and Valencia of his most
efficient Russian planes, manned
by expert Russian pilots, he
was endangering the lives Of
thousands of innocent men,
women and children. Their
blood is upon his soul.
The widely heralded offer Of
the Barcelona government to in
augurate an air truce was only
another instance Of hypocrisy
and fraud cruelty tr1cked out
with all the respectability the
publicity bureau Of Red Spain
could muster. AS the Diaria