Evening star., 1942-09-05
Shuke-Up in Spain

ShoNSoP III SP0IIl
The drastic governmental reor-
ganization suddenly effected by Gen.
eralissimo Francisco Franco can be
evaluated only against the Spanish
political background, which is ex-
tremely complex. Abroad, events in
Spain are viewed chiefly with refer
ence to their relation to the war. But
this is only one side of the picture.
Spanish foreign policy is intimately
connected with the domestic situa-
tion. Indeed, events inside Spain
largely condition It's policy toward
other nations.
The basic fact to be remembered
Is that, though Spain's terrible civil
war ended more than three years
ago, the country remains econom-
ically shattered and politically un-
stable. The beaten Republican and
Communist elements are still un-
reconciled and have to be held down
by force. Furthermore, the victors
have not genuinely coalesced into an
organic unity. They are held to-
gether chiefly by the negative issues
OF keeping on top and keeping the
irreconcilable opposition down. The
civil war was won by a coalition of at
least three factions with widely diff
ferent ideals and aspirations. The
most dynamic group was that Of the
Carlists or "Traditionalists," with
their red berets and burning fanati-
cism to purge Spain of all modern
innovations and restore a reaction
ary clerical absolutism. The second
group was the "Falange" or Spanish
Phalanx, largely recruited from
upper and middle class youth, with a
program OF a corporate state" mod
eled on that of Fascist Italy. The
great landowners and the higher
clergy were divided between those
two factions. The third element was
the army or rather the military and
naval officers corps, collectively
known as the "Cuerpos armados." In
Spain, the army has always been deep
in politics and has played an impor-
tant political role. Generaiissimo
Franco is pre- -eminently an army
man and tends to look at things from
It's viewpoint, which is essentially
conservative, ardently patriotic and
distrustful of foreign ideas of any
kind as "un-Spanish." The army has
been inclined to look askance at the
Falange and its imported program,
which Serrano Suner, Francois de-
posed brother-in-law, represents.
Furthermore, the army has been
jealous of the Falanges attempt to
monopolize political power and pub
lie office. Lastly, the Falange has
been weakened internally by Francois
decree two years ago whereby Carl
lists and clerical-minded workingmen
were arbitrarily incorporated into the
organization.
From the domestic aspect. Francois
shake-up means that the army and
other truly conservative elements
have gained, while the Falange has
lost ground. This does not neces-
sarily mean that Spanish foreign
policy will swing toward the United
Nations. But it does probably signify
that Spain will be less inclined to
favor the Axis or swing into the war
on the Axis side. There obviously has
been lot of diplomatic maneuvering
behind the scenes at Madrid, in which
American and British diplomacy
seems to have got the best of it, at
least for the present. Both Wash
1ngton and London have recently
made benevolent gestures toward the
Franco government, and they are in
a position to help impoverished Spain
economically, which the Axis is not.
That is about as far as sound eval-
uation can go at the present mo-
ment. The future evolution of Span
ish foreign policy presumably will be
dictated by the general course of the
war. This can be predicted so long
as Generalissimo Franco holds the
reigns. For "the Caudillo" Is typi-
cally Spanish in his austere aloof-
ness. Temperamentally, as we'll as
intellectually. he is an "isolationist."
viewing all things from a narrowly
realistic point of view and concerned
only with what he deems his coun-