Proletarec. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-19??, 1944-06-14
A Less theological War

Winston Churchill should know, and he stated before the House Of
appeasement days when he was crihcising his amiabe predecessor. Now
he has nothing but kind words for Franco, the man who sent a blue
brigade to fight the Russians, ships war material to Germany, and has
been o Hiters side from the start.
1t all fits in. 1t fits in far too we'll. The Prime Minister'S address
justifes all the fears which Sumner Wenes outlined a week earlier. One
virtue which no one can deny Winston Churchill is a disarming frank
ness His whole outline of policies and attitudes was openly and honestly
imperiaist. He was not thinking about freedom or justice Q r democracy
What he had or his mind was the safety of empire and prosperity Of
British industrialsts
happens to the Balkan states, to Poland, to the little nations of the Baltic
Thev are far wav and trade with them will never % important But he
does car about Spain, about the whole Mediterranean area. He wants
peace there preferably with a continuation of whatever powers are
now on top.
worse because Allied victories stalled Frances plans. And then he goes
on to picture increasingly good relations with Spain and extremely
fruitful trade between Spain and this country" Here is a government
which would have hurt us if it had dared, which will hurt us later on if
the opportunity offers It is in much the same position as that of Hitherto
SO Mr.. Churchill has kind words for it-much like those which Mr.
Chamberlain used to spill in Hiters direction.
The Spanish Loyalist represent the great majority of the people of
Spain. The Spanish Committee of Liberation, headed b Indiicio Pneto
termed Mr.. Churchills speech IAN insult and injustice to the Spanish
people," This Characterization was carefully explained: ut attempts to
deprive u countrymen of their rights to reaquire freedom and demo
cracy !. Its terms are tantamount to irresponsible interference in the
internal affairs of Spain"
President Roosevelt clearly disassociated our government from
Churchi1s blanket approval of the Spanish fascsts He indicated thai.
in his opinion the Franco government has been 1ess than satisfactory
IS a neutral power. This squares nicely with our treatment of the die
tatorial regime in the Argentine.
phase of open discussion, this matter of our attitude toward relationships
becomes more pressing. The British Prime Minister clearly stated that
you leave him alone. This would be most dangerous foundation stone
for the constitution and policy of the new league. 1t implies that as long
as such a dictator does not actually start an attack you favor him, you
do your best to strengthen him and hold him on whatever shaky seat
of power he happens to hold.
oec a me New Leaoer la already stated It's convection with regard
to it in connection with Russia. We do not need to start a war with every
dictatorship. We may have to live for years with some of them. But
here IN a democracy 1t IS not necessary to give them theological support,
to pretend that they re something different from what they arr Free
and honest discussion of them will tend to undermine them, to give the
people an aooeo chanc TO change mem And tn fewer dlctators the
world holds the greater chance for peace and safety-The New Leader,