Evening star., 1938-04-03
Social Clashes Underlie
World Rivalry for Power
Conflicting Forces of Democracy, Fascsm and
Communism, With Principles That Guide
Them, Analysed by Writer

I country. Both NaZi Germany and Fascist
Italy organize huge parades and build
great armies and air forces. partly as a
means of retaining the loyalty of the peo-
pie to the regime, and partly as means of
forcing national expansion.
| Conflict in France
In France today one sees conflict be-
tween these various ideas of dictatorship
and democracy. On the extreme Right there
is small group that would like to restore
the monarchy and another group which
would like to see Fascist dictator Both
these groups are weak and unimportant.
The larger conservative groups accept the
republic, but are bitterly opposed to Com
munism. Since June. 1896, however, the
government of France has been in the hands
of coalition of Left parties. called the Pop
ular Front. This is combination of the
comparatively conservative Radical So
clallsts, led by Deladier; the more mod
crate Socialists, led by Leon Blum and the
Communists proper, led by Thorez.
| The Popular Front believes in maintain
Ing democracy and also in improving the
| conditions of the worker. French conserv-
| atlves fear that the Popular Front secretly
works to undermine capitalism. They are
| apprehensive over the Communist backing
OF the Popular Front. particularly as France
\ has an alliance with Moscow Conse-
! quently, French business men have not
| been making the investments necessary for
| recovery. Whether Fascism goes forward
in Europe depends to a large extent upon
the ability of France to solve its extremely
difficult financial problem within the
framework of democracy.
| Spain Faces New Chapter.
| Now that Franco seems to be bringing
the civil war in Spain to an end, new
| chapter in the history of this unfortunate
| country and of international relations will
any more peaceful than the one opening
with the outbreak of the revolt in the sum-
| mer Of 1885 remains to be seen.
| For the present, civil war has not been
a contest between two closely unified
groups. 1t has been a struggle between two
factions, each of which has been divided
within itself and each of which has re-
ernment has had the sympathies of manv
liberals, Socialists and Communists in every
part OF the world; while the rebels have
been supported by the Fascists and con-
sentative groups, including most Catholics.
When the revolt occurred in July. 1886
Spain was governed by Popular Front
government. Although the Popular Front
parties supporting the government did not
win an absolute majority of all votes cast
the previous February, they did obtain a
majority of the seats in the Parliament.
Consequently Sonora Azana, following the
elections, organized a government consist
ing OF the moderate members of the Popu-
lar Front. While the Socialists and Com
munlsts declined to take cabinet positions,
they gave this government their support.
Azana Cabinet Had Trouble.
Down until the outbreak of the revolt,
the Azana cabinet experienced grave diff
Guilty IN maintaining order While this
was due to conservative opposition, it was
also due to certain dissensions within the
government forces.
The most conservative party in the
Popular Front is the Republican Left,
which Is something like the Democratic
party in the United States; then there is a
group In the province of Catalonia, called
the Esquerra. which wishes home rule, to
which Franco is opposed: and there are
the Basque Nationalists, who came to sup
port the government, for, although they
Cofhn1inc fhny, o1c
The second element supporting the Popu-
lar Front government has been the So
cialist party and trade unions, the latter
being organized into the General Workers
Union. The most extreme Socialist leader
was Francisco Largo Caballero. For a
time he was prime minister during the war,
but later fell from grace. more mod
crate Socialist leader who remains min
lister of national defense, is Indalecio
Prieto.
The Communist party, which also sup
ports the government had less than $4,000
members when the war broke out but un-
doubtedly it has since grown in strength.
The most serious rival to the Socialists
have been the Spanish anarchists and
syndicalists, organized in the National
Confederation of Labor, body which also
supports the Popular Front. Now the
anarchists virtually worship individual vio-
.lence, in contrast to the Socialists who be-
lieve in strong state. Finally there is
another group called the Workers Party
of Marzist Unification, which includes the
.TrotZky Communists. These social and
theological differences within the Loyalist
government have been complicated by
regional differences, represented particu-
larly by Catalonia and the Basque coun-
try.
The revolt against the Spanish govern
ment was led by group of generals in the
Spanish Army. They endeavored to JUS
tify their revolt on the ground that Spain
was going Communist. But government
supporters insist that these generals were
promised aid from Mussolini before they
actually launched the revolution. While
ostensibly Mussolini and Hitler wish to
exclude Soviet influence from Spain, their
intervention seemed prompted by desire
to weaken France and Britain.
Conservatives Behind Franco.
At any rate, conservative capitalists and
landowners, together with most Catholics
Except in the Basque provinces), rallied
behind Franco. Nevertheless, Frances
forces were apparently as deeplv divided