Evening star., 1943-11-28
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Current Books
By Mary-C Carfer Roberts.
Spain
By Salvador de Mdddridgd
(CreatiUe AQe PresS.)
By Mrv.Carfer Roberts,

By Salvador de Maddridga.
(Credtiue Age Press.)
This is a book on the Spanish
Civil War which undertakes to re-
port history rather than to make
a political case. The rareness of
its type makes the attempt difncult
So much has been written about
that war In biased spirit that the
detached writer at every step has to
clear his ground Of previously dis
seminated misapprehensions. And,
since the great part of the biased
writing came from the Leftists, 1t
naturally follows that most of the
clearing has to be done in q Left
direction. This, at times, gives Mr..
de Madariaga's history the appear
ance OF inclining to the Right. But,
II inclination there Is, 1t comes from
a sincere desire to write from truth
and not from political passion.
The fact is that many of those
who wrote ostensibly in defense of
the republic were really writing in
defense Of Comm nism. They
said that Spain was first attacked
by the Fascists of Italy and Ger
many and then defended in a spirit
Of pure disinterest by Russia. They
declared that the Spanish people
were contented with the republic
and insisted that the rebellion had
no popular quality. And If there
was a point on which these Leftist
writer's were particularly emphatic,
it was their denial of Communist
elements in the republic or of Rus
sian ambitions to set up a Com
munist Spanish state. The further
to the Left the writer, the more
furious his insistence that the Left
was not represented in the govern
ment he so ardently defended. The
effect was predictable. Any one who
read that procession of denials in
evitably came to the conclusion
that where there was SO thick a
smoke screen there must also be
some fire.
Mr.. de Madariaga says there was
fire. His case rests on evidence that
the republic, more by ineptness than
design, first disaffected the army,
frightened the wealthy and alien
ated the church, and that, subse-
quently, falling under the extreme
Left influences, it did nothing to
check the violence which broke out
as a result of partisan incitement
from both sides. He puts the blame
for the rebellion on two men equally
One is Gen. Franco and the other
the then Premier, Largo Caballero.
whose ambition it was to be a Span
ish Lenin." Both stabbed the re-
public" he says; the one on the
left. the other one on the right"
He takes issue with the Leftist
writer's by asserting that the war, at
first, was wholly national. Foreign
intervention followed, it did not
cause the break. And, says Mr.. de
Madarlaga, it was political on both
sides. The Russians were no more
idealistic than the Italians and Ger
mans. Their concern for the Span
ish people was slight; they wanted
to set up Communist regime, just
as the others wanted to bring in Fas-
cism, and they consistently made
their help dependent on obedience to
Moscow's orders. When obedience
was slow in coming, they sabotaged
the armies they were supposed to be
supporting.
Mr.. de Madariaga has tried to
show that the war was part of
pattern which has always been evi-
dent in Spanish affairs--the contra
dictory movements of dictatorship
and separatism. To this end, he
has included in his volume re-
vised edition of his earlier book,
SPAIN" and history of his coun-
try from the time of Ferdinand and
Isabella. 1t gives reason to the
late mass fratricide. if only by re-
minding us that Spain. at no time.
has done very much better.