["PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY: ORIGINAL MATERIAL RESTRICTED", "# Who Will Succeed Franco?", "## An Interview With Indalecio Prieto", "MEXICO CITY.—Franco's seat will soon be vacant. The general to whom Hitler and Mussolini entrusted the conquest of Spain in 1936 cannot survive his masters. This is the conviction of the Spanish refugees and of the masses of people in Spain who make up the great underground movement and with whom we have well-established methods of communication. The Committee of Liberation, now in Mexico, representing the majority of Spanish voters, the majority of the Cortes, the majority of the underground, the majority of the refugees, has asked of the French government permission to move its headquarters to France.", "In the meantime, it is arranging to assemble in Mexico the deputies of the Cortes who are on this side of the Atlantic and thus to establish here a sort of government-in-exile. In France, on the other hand, the Communist minority, discredited but provided with ample funds and effective means of publicity, set up at the conference of Toulouse a committee to support the so-called Supreme Junta, a Communist invention which is weak. Thus the Communist Party—and its distant supporters—pretend that they are all set to furnish the future government of Spain.", "With regard to this elaborate political plot Indalecio Prieto, formerly Defense Minister of the Republic and a well-known Socialist, recently said to me:", "> \"We do not want a Lublin Committee for Spain. There is no need of a Spanish Tito. What we want is democracy with clearly defined aims and methods which remain in control of the people. And the Committee of Liberation represents the immense majority of the Spanish population. Not one Socialist or Republican of any note took part in the intrigues at Toulouse. And who had charge of things there we know very well.\"", "The same sort of categorical language was employed by Prieto recently before an audience of more than 2,000 Socialists and Republicans and received their support in the form of vigorous applause. For years no one has spoken so sharply in Latin America about the open struggle between democratic Socialism and totalitarian Communism. Prieto's position and his entire course of reasoning received the support, not only of the audience which heard him, but of the Mexican press.", "\"In order to gain power,\" he said, \"the Supreme Junta, the phantom organization of the Communist Party, appeals to the generals, to the clergy, to the parties of the right which carried on the war against the Republic, to the Carlist monarchists, those very monarchists who massacred 25,000 workers and who declare themselves true to the tradition of absolutism. For lack of other support, the Communist Party intends to collaborate with all sorts of reactionaries. But the Polish Socialist patriots are called fascists by the Communist Party. Very well. We Spanish Socialists will pledge our faith to the Polish Socialists who participated in the Government-in-Exile and would not consent to the betrayal of their country to a foreign domination.", "HAVE we the right to speak for the people of Spain? In 1936 we had 99 Socialist deputies. 39 of them were shot by Franco. Julian Besteiro died in prison. Largo Caballero is in a Nazi jail. Several others are either dead or in exile. Of the survivors, not one has weakened. Not one has turned traitor. The conference of the Spanish Socialist Party, meeting in Algiers, sends us word of its approval. The Socialist Party and the General Union of Workers (UGT), organized underground in Spain, unite in giving us support and send the news that they are with us and that over there the former splits in the movement have come to an end. From Africa the syndicalist trade union movement (CNT) sends us a message of sympathy. These great groups of Spanish workers and republicans call to us and expect us to take up our tasks in France. Working underground and threatened by phalangist persecution, the republican parties have repelled all invitations to collaborate with the totalitarian Communist Party.", "\"For nearly a year we have been planning to move, first to Algeria, then to Paris. The French Government and our Socialist comrades over there have replied sympathetically. The objections to the transfer of our headquarters have not arisen in France. We hope that all of them will soon disappear.", "\"Alvaro de Albornoz has met in Montevideo and elsewhere the warmest support. Diego Martinez Barrio and I, despite a barrage of Communist calumny, were accorded a cordial reception in Cuba. Everywhere in Latin America the vital and dynamic representatives of Republican Spain are with us.", "\"The agents of the Communist Party are making attempts to hinder the reunition of members of the Cortez. Here, as at Toulouse, they apply the methods of imperialist coercion. In their declarations they carefully avoid the use of the word republic. They ally themselves with the enemies of liberty. They violate the Spanish Constitution, which forbids political activity on the part of army officers. Spain was—and wishes to be—a republic under civilian control. Military men are to serve it. It is not their place to govern.", "\"We do not wish to be forced again to engage in the tragic struggle of the Republic against Communist domination. Whether Socialists or Republicans, we refuse, in our struggle for power, any collaboration with the Communist Party. We have had abundant experience of its disloyalty, its hypocrisy, its subordination to a foreign power, its never-ending venality. Let me add that attempts at infiltration are doomed to failure. We are fully informed of them in advance. Franco, ruined by corruption, oppression, and the misery which he has caused, will fall. There will not be anything like order or justice in the world without genuine independence of peoples.\"...", "IT has been years since I have participated in such an enthusiastic meeting. It included the majority of the Spanish refugees now in Mexico. All of the political points were made crystal clear. The attempt of", "the Communist Spanish portant c...", "From what I observed, the question had been reviewed by the Executive Committee of the General Council of the Com...", "## Allies", "In a few days four people and her husband. Suddenly, the man and his dog, the dog and his son, the son and his daughter, the daughter and her husband, the husband and his son, the son and his daughter

RIGHT HALF OF "WHO WILL

SUCCEED..."

#reed Franco?

### lecio Prieto

By Victor Serge

"The agents of the Communist Party are making attempts to hinder the reunion of members of the Cortez. Here, as at Toulouse, they apply the methods of imperialist coercion. In their declarations they carefully avoid the use of the word republic. They ally themselves with the enemies of liberty. They violate the Spanish Constitution, which forbids political activity on the part of army officers. Spain was—and wishes to be—a republic under civilian control. Military men are to serve it. It is not their place to govern.

"We do not wish to be forced again to engage in the tragic struggle of the Republic against Communist domination. Whether Socialists or Republicans, we refuse, in our struggle for power, any collaboration with the Communist Party. We have had abundant experience of its disloyalty, its hypocrisy, its subordination to a foreign power, its never-ending venality. Let me add that attempts at infiltration are doomed to failure. We are fully informed of them in advance. Franco, ruined by corruption, oppression, and the misery which he has caused, will fall. There will not be anything like order or justice in the world without genuine independence of peoples."...

the Communists in France to get their hands on the Spanish republican movement resulted, in this important center of Spanish republicanism, in this violent and decisive reaction.

From various sources I learn that all of the traditional trade union and political organizations have been revived in Spain. Reports of an underground convention have been received. A recent arrival serves as witness to underground activities of the guerrillas in Galicia—having been on a train which was held up by rebel guerrillas. In some quarters there is still talk of a transitory revival of the monarchy, but the general opinion is that such a revival has slight chance of success.

## THE VULTURE'S NEST

### Allies

In a compartment of an international train there sat four people: a Nazi officer, an Italian officer, a mother and her daughter. The train entered a dark tunnel. Suddenly there was the sound of kissing and a resounding slap. Then silence. Everyone pretended to have heard nothing.

The mother thought, "How well I have brought up my daughter." The daughter thought, "I would never have suspected that mother would make such a hit." The German thought, "Obviously that passionate Italian is making love to the pretty girl; but why did she slap me instead of him?" The Italian thought, "That was fun. I hope we go through another tunnel. I shall kiss my hand again and then slap my dear ally, the Nazi."

THE NEW LEADER