Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-29
What Will Spain Do?

the heroic tragedy of Toulon be more
Immediately felt than in Spain. It
is self-evident that the Vichy re-
gime headed by Marshal Petain has
been exploded as effectively as the
French home fleet itself In so far
as it is physically possible, all
France, with the exception of a
traitorous handful is back in the
war-against the Axis.
This cannot leave Spain unmoved,
because the links between Vichy and
Madrid were intimate and close
Ideologically, the two regimes had
much in common. 1t should be re-
membered that, when France col
lapSed in the summer of 1910, Mar
shall Petain was Frances Ambassador
to Madrid. He had been sent there
chiefly because General Franco, the
Spanish Caudillo, was Petain's for
mer pupil and profound admirer.
Both men have the same philosophy
OF life, compounded Of stern sense
of military duty. religious devotion,
an intense, though narrowly Con-
ceived, patriotism. and a distrust of
liberal ideas and institutions The
pattern of the New France" sketched
by Petain followed closely that elab-
Grated by Franco after his triumph
over the Republicans in the civil war
that had ended only the year before.
And Frances new order" in Spain
was, in turn, modelled largely after
that established for more than a
decade in neighboring Portugal by
Oliveira Salazar, the scholarly die
tator who replaced an anarchic,
revolution ridden and bankrupt re-
public by regime frankly authori-
tartan and anti democratic. yet
efficient, orderly and financially
solvent.
Salazar's Portugal is the most sue
cessful of the dictatorial regime S
which have arisen in Europe since
the First World War AS in Fascist
Italy, parliamentary government is
replaced by what is known as the
Corporate State. wherein political
parties give way to economic groups
which function under disciplined di-
rection from above. However, the
new Portugal is not a mere copy Of
Fascist Italy. Much more than in
Italy, the theological tone is clerical.
religion and the family being
strongly emphasized.
Obviously. such regimes differ no.
tably from German National Social
ism with its anti-religious and
anti-Christian aspects, which are
akin to communism Fear and
hatred of communism are intense
in present-day Portugal and Spain,
as among the leaders Of Vichy
France. That is one of the reasons
why the Franco and Petain govern
ments have inclined toward the
Axis, the other reason being the be-
lief, held until recently, that the
Axis was going to dominate Europe
and that the best possible bargain
with it must therefore be made. But
in Spain, especially, there has been
scant theological sympathy with
Hitler and his Nazis, and the church
consistently has condemned the
Fuehrer's anti-religious policies, The
Falange or Spanish Phalanx, when
headed by Serrano Suner, was Fas-
cist rather than Nazi, and that
closest link to the Axis was recently
severed when Franco deposed Suner
and remodeled the Phalanx along
additionally Spanish patriotic lines.
The weight of evidence tends to
show that Francois Spain was never
mere tool of the Axis, still less of
Hitler Franco seems basically to
have been guided by ardent patriot
ism, wherein exclusively Spanish
self-interest guided every move Now
that Axis fortunes are ebbing, he
can have no theological scruples in
reversing his former pro-Axis policy
for one of strict neutrality, or even
for pro-klly policy should an Allied
victory seem certain. SPANS par
tial mobilization looks like a clear
indication of the new trend in pol
icy. The fate of vichy will certainly
not revive Francois pro Axis leanings.