THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
agreements beLween parties so
wus, a,p&rt as the CoIl8ervative
Pa.rty .and the Commllllist Party.
pe.-plte good work,. (In the first
year it created 7.000 new SIlhools)
there W&II still not that degree of
&gJe8II1entwhich w01ll1d have ena-
bled the Republic to stabilize con-
ditions. Above all the Agrarian
. Refonn of 1932 was too slow and
too hesitant to satisfy the land
hunger of the starving peasantry.
The result WaR that as a reault of
the Noverciber 1933 electiOl18 aided
bycoolqui8mo, or. boss rule, the
Rigbt regained Mome of Its lost
ground. The Radical Party of Ler-
touxbegan to seek allies·upDA the
Right "'Lther than the Left, finally
Inviti~ three catholics of the
reactIOnary C. E. D. A. Party into
the government.
This was the signal for .revolu-
tionary effort, the Socialist Par-
ty at once began to prepare for
action and on October 6, the re-
volution broke out. The Astur-lan
miners after a glorious struggle
that has thr!1led the wo.rkers of
An american machine gun crew
the world, were defeated and mer-
cilesly subjected to the most blo-
ody repression of modern times.
But the truth is that the objec-
tive conditions for success did not
exist. There was DJ nation wide
agreement between the U. G. T.
and the C. N. T. The Catalan
"'. N. T. leaders indeed, denoun-
!d the General Strike which pre-
'lded the rising. The countryside
did not respond and because of
the narrow bases of the appeals,
lIliddle class parties like the Es-
tat Catala and the Esquerra in Ca-
talonia witheld support, as did the
RepubJicao Parties In the rest of
SpaiD. The result was that the
right ~ government was able
to bear down murderously with
all Its weight tJiPOll the isolated
heroes of Aaturias.
After this the gains of the Re-
public were steadily ~yed by
successive Right governments, the
leading figure of which was Gil
Robles, the cathOlic C. E. D. A.
Miniater of War, ''machIne-gun-
ner by proxy", DOW skulking In
Portugal. In the face of this trem-
endous danger tbe policy of the
Popular Front, was laid down.
Many parties Loyally rallied to it
and finally, In 1935 a program
was drawn up and signed by all.
It is worth DIOticlng that this
treaty was signed by the P. O. U.
M. That ,party, upon whose nar-
row shoulders inlil!t fall the bla-
me for the crimina.) rising in Bar-
celona was shortly denouncing the
Popular Front Government Which
came into being after the elec-
tions of February 1936. It must
be understood clearly that these
elections were only WOn because
a definitive policy had been drawn
up. That policy was broad enough
to secure the loyalty of parties
such as Republican Left which it-
self was placed 10 office. It con-
tains such points as consolidation
of the church reforms, cleansing
of the army, speeding up of the
Land Reform, and an amnesty for
the 30.000 political prisoners ly-
ing in Spanish jails. For such a
policy the C. N. T. followers vot-
ed, despite their theoretical ob-
jections to the ballot box.
It was against this government
that Franco rebelled, to be met by
defeat in all densely populated
parts of Spain.
At this point It becomes abso-
lutely vital to make one remark.
The masses supporting the Popu c
Jar Front Government were im-
n,ensely aided in their victory
over the rebellious army by the
fact that they llad a government
to help them. It was not the peo-
ple alone which captured Monta·
na Barracks in Madrid but the
people aided by the loyal Assault
Guards. And the pe()ple themsel-
ves were armed by the Popular
Front GoVernment. MOreover, had
that government been built on too
narrow a foundation great sectnl~
of the public might not have ral·
lied to Its side. And had the gov-
ernment represented ODly the
more moderate of the parties, It
would not have had the courage to
arm the people.
To sum up, the immediate sua·
A TELEGRAM FRO M TID.
InTERnRTlOnal BftlfiRDE fiRmS nEUI COORDINATING (J()MMlTTEIIl
fiOUERIIME/lT OF THE SOCIALIST AND COM-
MUNIST PARTIES
TELEGRAMS
"The ClHlrdinatinl" Committee
Doctor NEGRIN. recOInends to all its sections, tmd
Cabinet P.resldent. militants, to observe an absolute
Valencia. serenity during the solving of the
"Meeting International Briga- Governmental crisis, by conform-
des Commissaires In name al1 Vo- ing to the desclslons which they
lunteers greets and pledges ent- receive directly fl'<lIIl the N lOtiO-
husiastic adhesion new Govern- nal Oonunittee8 of the two par-
ment Spanish Republic expression ties. It is necessary, not to sup-
people's firm will to do everything port nor te particlpate in the at-
to quickly and definitely crush titudes of th.- elements who are
fascism enemy liberty and pro- lriterested in creating difficulties,
gress.-LuIgi GALLO, Commis· wblch the solution of the cri!l.is
saire Inspector of the Internatio· might provoke.
nal Brigades."
Indalecio PRIETO.
National Defense Minister.
Valencia.
"Meeting International Briga-
des CommiBsaires greets you 8.8
chief of all armed forces fighting
for the crushing of fascism and
places itself enthUBiastical1y at
your orders certain tbat under
your guidance and under the gui-
dance of new Popular Front Go-
vernment we shall march quickly
to vlctory.-Luigi GALLO, Com·
missaire Inspector of the Interna-
tional Brigades."
ALVAREZ DEL VALLO.
General War Commissaire.
Valencia.
!lIn name all Commissaires and Vincente Uribe minister 01 Agriculture
volunteers International Brigades
we send you warm greetings fe- Fa~:Z VaiZlant-Couturter, leading
licitations for your confirmation French Oommunist, writes the fOl-
leading post General War Com· lou;ing in the "Httmanite" alter
missariat eloquent evidence your an extended visit to the Basque
high merits in creation new Spa- prov nces:
nish Popular Al"'Ir.ly and as inspi- "While the Nazi aviators were
rer prompt victory fascism to gunning at us, and, hu,gging the
which new Government is a gua- pampet, my cheek against the
rantee.-Luigi GAI,LO, Commis- fragrant earth, I wa.s listening to
saire Inspector of the Internatio·
the throbbin.q Of the blood at my
nal Brigades."
temples, I could hear in that sa-
me rythm the voices of the peo-
2000 refugee chi I d r e n from ple of Paris" Airplanes for Spain!
Euzkadl arrived in London aboard Airplanes for Spain!" I assure you
the S. S. Avana. The pro-Bil- that that cry, spontaneously born
bao Conuuittee of London bas de- Of the popula)' conscience 01 Pa-
cbrred itself ready to give ade- ris in defense of the world's libert-
quate shelter to all the 2000 chil- ies, was living in me.
dren. And the crime of the blockade
11i1i1i1i1i1i1ll11li1i1i1i11li1i11i1i1i11i11i1i1i1li1i1i1li1i1li1i1i1i1 appeared to me more horrible yet.
mission of 1923 was the resu It of And I was ashamed to bring to
a lack of a broad and popular the heroes surrounding m.e this
unity. The magnificent resistance measly consolation, consolat ion
of July 1936 and the forging out which, however, was moving them
of the great, discipline and com- to tears, and which they were
bative army in 1937 demonstrat- welcoming with their "U. H. P."
es that t;IC Popular Front has Of gratitude: our food ships and
saved Spa;',. the evacuation of children ..."
 6 TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
THI: HISTORY OF THE GOVERMENT CRISIS
(Cnntinllcd frum paA'e ont'.)
.,erat4o!l3 of the People's Army
t"'ughout the country.
•. Reorganization of the War
Commissariat and creation of a
DeW directive wmmlttee, to be
composed of delegates of allor-
gaDizations entering the govern-
m£Clt. It shall be responsible to
the MinIstry of War and to the
Supreme Council of War, but
aha.u control the . political direc-
tion of Ita wortL
II. The PrIme Minister ~hall
occupy him.oeif exclusively with
the 'l"ork Or this department, and
theMiniatry of W I1.r Is to beheld
by another person.
Tbe tlnal point proposes that Go-
Yernanent 'Program shall be drawn
up' lind '!II&de public on the same
day the calilDet t&kes otflce. The-
ee apIDIODS were a.m<plifled in a
letter ~d to the Pres.l dent
by comrade Jos~ Dlaz. The Com-
DIWlf8t Party demanded the tho-
roug~ reorganlzat4on of tbe enti·
I'!war machinery In all its as-
peCts, tI1ti conducting of the Net-
lon's ~ustry and economic lite
. to a centr&! pl811 designed to end
the war speedily, and the infle-
sible. maintainaDce of public or-
Jeslie lIernandez,
MiDi.ter or He"Uh and Education.
der and l.:de suppression of pro-
vocation.
On Saturday evening "Mundo
Obrero" in a leading article infor-
med that the Government's re-
llignation bad been necesll8ry b3-
cause Its errors had led to the
Trotskylte's revolt in Catalonia,
. md bad been re1Iected in the pre-
BeIlt military Inactivity and the
cbaotlc ata.te of Spanish Industry.
Sunday, May is.
DurIng the monz1ng Largo Ca-
ballero made publIc his plans for
a new c&blnet. It was a8 follows: .
U. G. T. , three ministers, ·p rlme
ministry - ship and a reorganized
ministry of a defence (to be held
by one person), with fOllr depart-
ments, War, Marine, Air, and Mu-
nitions. Foreing affairs, and ho-
me affairs.
Socialist Party:
Ministry c·f Economy and Agri-
culture, and of J'ndustry and Com-
merce.
Communist Party, Public In-
struction, and Labor.
Lett Republican Party, Public
Works and Propaganda.
C. N. T., Justice, and Health.
T·h e C8il.a1an Left Republican
Party, and the Basque Nati..,al-
1st Party _re to receive Minis-
tries without portfolio (ie. without
definite departments).
This plan W&9 accepted by the
U. G. T. executive and the Re-
publica.. union, but rejected by
the C. N. T., the Socialist Party,
the Communist Pwrty, and tbe
Left Republicans. The principles
for rejections were:
The C. N. T. refused to accept
both a pOSition of Inferiority with
regards the U. G. T. and 'o f equa-
lity with the Communist Party,
which, it said. had provoked the
criSis, had not shown the same
degreee of loyality .... the C. N. T .
and which was a smaller body. Al-
so it sa.id that whHe it was in
agreement with tha U. G. T. hold-
l."g the war ministries, It could
not . conseot to all contructive
posts (economy an d Indu£.1ry) ,
being in one persoE's hands,. and
declared that the C. N . T. had
most enthusias-:t1 fer this work.
Finally, the C. N. T. said that
the government o.s constituted
would be conservative and allti-
proletarian.
The Left Republican Party ob-
jected to the P,ime Mi"i£ter being
Minister of WH, and the Commu-
nist . Party In rejecting Largo
Caba.llero·s plan pres£ed !h·. same
point, and the Socialist Party de-
clared that It would not enter the
government without the Commun-
ist Party.
As a result of these negative
replies, comrade Largo Cabailero
gave up his effort to form a new
cabinet, whereupon comrade Ne-
grin, . former Minister of Econo-
my, was given the task. He at
On~ visited the offices of .all par-
tie.s and organizations.
Monday 17.
The C. N. T. declared In a of-
DIANA (U. G. T .> Lura. 8. Tel. fl.lUfi.-K&drkI.
ficiaJ note that it could not enter
the government presided over by
Negrin, neither directly nor indi-
rectly. It said that Negrin had
proposed a c",binet of nine minis'
Lers, one from each of the parties
and orga.n:.zations of the Popular
Front.
At 10,45, comrade Negrin an-
nou.n.ced that he had fonned his
cabinet and this had been accep-
ted by the President. The posts
are distributed as follows:
Prime Ministership and Public
Economy, Juan Negrin, Socialist
Party.
Foreign Affairs, .Jose Giral,
Lett Republican.
National De fen s e, Indaleclo
Prieto, Socialist Party.
Justice, Manuel Irujo, Basque
Nationalist Party.'
Gobernaclon (Public Order, etc.) ,
JulI4n Zugazagoltia, Soc I a lis t
Party.
Health 8Dd Education, Jelllis
Hernandez, Communist Party.
'Agriculture, Vicente Uri be,
Communist Party.
Public Works and Communica-
tion, Giner de los Rios, Republi-
can Union .
Labor, Jaime Ayguade, Catalan
Left Republican.
In a general statement of poli-
cy which was at once made pu-
bliC, thE> new Govenm>ent hoped
that the U . G. T. and the C. N. T.
would change their attitude, but
nevertheless believed that the cab-
inet represented the -b road mr.!)-
ses of people. It promised to keep
order in the rear guard inflexibly
and to permit nO organization to
provok, disturbances. Fur the -
more, it announced its intention of
.reorganising all war and economic
activities and of calling the Cor-
tes together at the earliest poss-
ible date.
It must be borne In reind that
the mass of the U. G. T. Is com-
posed of ' Socialists and Commun-
ists. The Typographical Union,
U. G. T . has protested against the
U . G. T. executive's refusal to en-
ter the Government.
(N. B., the executive of the U.
G. T. was elected in 1932 and the-
re bas been no National Congress
during the last four years.) Ma-
drid demonstration of the U. G.
T. May endorsed the government.
Summing ' Ui', it Is clear that
the formation of the new Govern-
ment represel'ts a serious effort
to reorganize the machinery of
war and to plan the nation's eco-
nomy. The way Is 'open for the
dissldeot organizations to enter
U. G. T. to call Natio-
nal Convention
shortly
At a plenary meetlq of the
National Comml«- of the UDion
General de Trab3jadores held in
Valencia Tuesday May 18, and on
motion made by the Federation
of Gra1\c Arts, supported by the
Building Trades Federation, Tea-
chers Federatio.n, Workers of Pe-
troleum Products aDd 0 the r
Unions, a cledelon was arrived at
to call at an ....rIy date .. Nation-
al Convention of the U. G. T.
.Severe criticism w .... e:l<pJ'e88ed
by the repreeentatlves of .,veral
union.. OR the attitude of the .Ex....
cutlve Commi«- at tile time of
the Government crlAIIo.
The National Convention will be
called not only to cUlIeU88 and jud-
ge the conduct of tile Central
Committee, but aloo to deal with
all the problelD8 arl&lnl' from tbe
war and of tile revolution.
NOTE.-The last National CoR-
ventlon of the U. G. T. was beld
in 1932.
What are they going
there for?
"L'R1IIDBAlU," of P&rls publlah-
as thi8 omlno_ piece of ...._
"From conililentJa1. · and reUab1e
8ource8 we learn tbat a number
of non-eonunl8s1oned offlcle.... of
the Italian Army have been ..ent
to serve In the German Army and
In territory adjoining Poland and
Checko - Sluvakla. In Italian f&9-
clst centers It 18 Insl8tently wJUs.
pered that a tascl8t putsch, buek-
ed by fascist InterventloD, Ie
helng prepared and 18 sebeduJed
to start within one montll agaln8t
Checko-Slovakla.
French nation helps
Bilbao
On Thursday May 12, the Pa-
ris BUbao CommIttee receIved
30.000 fran"" and three tons of
food for the Baeque people. 130.000
francs had '-n collected pre-
viously.
1I1111111111111111111111111111111HllllllllllntlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUI
the Government when they wish.
The present cabinet Is a true Pop-
ular Froot Government and re-
presents the people's desire' and
determination to intensify the
fight apInst the f8llClst Invadea.

FOR LIBERTY
Yol. N.· 2 June t
OUR ARMY IS A PEOPLE'S ARMY
Development of the regular army of the Spanish Republic
PABT I
:It I. the object of this article
at once to trace the growth and
development of ·t he Republican
Army and to show that It Is a
real People'. Army. Just as we
llav~ beell told that the PopulllJ"
Front pollcy was responsible for
the event. of Barcelona, we have
alao had to listen to the rldicu-
loua .tateD)ent that we of the Po-
pqlar Front are creating a new
dqer In bulldlllg up a regular
army.
ThIs &rgUIXIent win not carry
the BUghteBt weight with thoee
who have tollDwed the whole
course of the arIrl)"s evolution
since the July days. General Mla-
ja, defender of Madrid, in an in-
terview with the writer, recently .
declared that ."the regular army
hl\8 grown up from below, out ot.
the people, it has not been impos-
ed trom above". This Is abeolu"
tely true and In a matte ot tact
bllotorical way. At every stage the '
parttcular forms the army was t o
take, Its methods, content and or;
ganlzaUon, can be seen In em-
bryo long befor<!> a government de-
cree regularizes or clarifies the si-
tuation. And without the constant
compenetratlon of the clvllian peo-
ple and the armed torces It would
have been ImPossible to bring the
preeent army Into being.
THE TllBEE PERIODS
The history of the war may be
divided Into three ptIas<!>S:
l,-'nLe Romantic ph&.le dur\llc'
The VOLUNTEER
which improvised forces, losely or-
ganized and badly trained were
expected rapldiy to defeat a pu-
rely Spanish fascism .
2.-- The Awakening period. In
this period the enemy makes use
of the vast resources given him
by toreign tasclm, both In mater-
ial.. and technical advice and per-
Bonell. The Republican forces be-
gin to crystallze Into a regular ar-
my but no reserves are created.
3. -The Realist period. Faced
with Invading fascist armies and
"PASIONARIA" formerly bODorary Commander Sth iWsimcnt.
learning at last that war has Its
own objective nature, and that It
rigorously Imposes Its OWn laws
upon a government, the Popular
Front Government begins to evol-
ve a nation-wide plan for the
whole mutta·r y and economle Ute
of the country.
THE JULY DAYS
When the people aided by
the loyal Assault Guards had
deteated the tascist rising In
iJ'!~.'~lt ~ ~- ";/~a
:':~.. :~. ;~~; .:,:~ ';('1;
"/t~
1137
MadrId there reDl&lned the In-
mediate necessity of repulsing
the enemy marching on the city.
The tlrst torces were organ-:
!zed, Dot .b y the government, but
by trade unions, syndicates and
political parties. Often the a el
groups were nothing more than &
number of friends who rallied
round the strongest character
among them. There was, Indeed,
some talk ot torming a govenl-
mental army and two "qutntoa~
or conscript drafts were called
up. This had no effect, partly be-
cause the men called upon W81'e
already In the torces, and partly
because those who were not pre-
ferred to go to the companies or-
ganized by their respective poli-
tical parties. In these early days
Madrid was detended by an Irreg-
ular army of a bewildering and
complex mosaic pattern. There
were Socialist companies and bet-
talions, Communist and C. N . T.
companies and Left Republican,
all ot whom preserved' their ""par-
ale headquarters and particular
stafts.
BEGINNING OF ORDI<;K
Nevertheless a cryslalizing mov-
eroMt can be seen evOl in t!llB
purely popular period. The Fifth
Regiment, beginning with ils Com-
panies of Steel, began aL once to
propagand for a regular army
upon the OMls of definile organ-
ization and sound milltary train-
ing. This Fifth Regiment, which
was to become the IllIJst famous
of Spanish Republican forces dur-
(CoDlinuetl on P-£e 7)
 t TIlE VOLUNTEER FOB LIBERTY
MALAGA A. MARTYRED CITY
500 refugees from fascist spain arrive at Valencia.
More tban five hundred refu- jails and from the ship "~ut!s
gees from MaLaga arrived at Va- de Chavarri" at 8J1chor in port.
lencia from Gibraltar on May 25. 'l'hen followed 300 Italian tanks,
They had m8J1aged, I!omehow, to m8J1ned by Itali8J1 crews. After
enter the British Zone in their them, in - three columns, came no
fr8J1tic esc~e from the fascist leas than 16.000 ita.l1an tropa, .hI
bands, at the time of the fall of fuU Italian uniforms. 'rhen ca.lne
MAlsga. the artillery, machine guns mor-
When they left Gibraltar, com- tars. Everything was Italian. La:st,
pelled to do so by the British Gov- bringing up the rear, were small
ernor, wh<> feared an epidemic, sections at fascists, falangisls,
!\Ialasa re'u~" C"M at Almrria.
beca.use of the appalling over- and rebel civil guards. As the
crowding of refugees escaping troops were ma.rching thru the
fro m the international fascist city, going east in pursuit of the
terror unleashed over Andalusia, refugees fr8J1tically fleeing to-
everyone of then chOBe Valencia wards Motrll and Almeria, or
as his deatination, 8J1ywhere away {rem the fascisls,
They are all peasants and work- from two Italian and three Ger-
ers, people deeply a.ttached to man steamers squadrons of air-
their homes, their fa.m.llies, their pl8J1es were being unloaded, white
fields and their pitifully small German crews of specialists hur-
worldly goods. Their homes ..bsnd- riedly assembled them.
oned, their famlJles scattered, F o r a perlcd of ten days the
their fields lost, they arrived In oity was calm. Then the terror
Valeneta a sad but hopeful crowd started. During the ten days of
The only topic of their conversa· calm, l':luny naively belieVed in
tion is the terror they witnessed. the premises made by the fascist
leader Jose Estrada. They reenter-
ad their homes and resumed their
FOREIGN ARMS FOR FASCIST
work. Secretly llste of proscribed
TERROR
pe~ple were being prepared. The
The,y tell of the 18.000 Italiano agents of fascism were making
entering MAlaga while the city in ready. Once the lists were made
a restless ·and fearful sHence was the arresls started. In three days
wondering what wculd happen. 6.500 persons werearre8ted. In
The coming of the fascisls had one single night 209 women, most-
been preceded by promises that ly girls, members of the Young
the fascisls would not carry out Socialist League were taken to
reprisals, that everyone would be jail. After the arrests began the
forgiven, even the militias. "Black Squadron" was organized.
The Italian entry was preceded The components were 400 youths
by a strong patrol of Fal&ngists drawn from the scum of the bour-
whose first act was to free all geois underworld. Theirs was
the fasctpts priMners from the night work. From one to five In
Marshal Voroshiloff
to the Red Army on
May Day.
the morning every. night, they
Marbal Voroshilolf, the fW8aIan
took lar~ groups of prisoners out
War Commissar, addressing the
to the cemeteries or to some out
parade in the Red Square, said:
cd' the way street where the vic-
tims, tied with barbed wire were Only the Red A"my hinders Fa-
shot. scism fram attacking the country
Of the SoViets and lieginning a
new world slaughter. Faaci8m is
ALL LEFFS AND PROGRES-
SIVES lULLED the most deadly enemy 01 the
workers and peasants. The Red
The first to be killed W88 the Army has been, is, and wW lor
Popular Front Mayor Eugenio wer . remain the guardian · of the
Entrambasagua. Net content with
peace Of the entire world, howe-
having murdered him, they drag- v er much our enemies may dese li·
ged his body thl'll the city iltreets. be it CI8 predatory and preparing
Then came the turn of Juan Del- to attack neighbouring State. All
gado president cd' the Left Repu- these insinuations cannot cOttceal
blican Ycutlh, then Rafael Trigue- the fact that Fascism hC18 already
ros, a man W'ho belonged to no entered on the path Of war and
polltlcal party, but who was ex- arson.
tremely popular in MAlaga.. Three " The Red Army is preparing to
catholic priesls Who had matle attack." shout those' who have
common cause with the people themael1Jes alrelUly attacked and
were also killed. are de.9trcying whole _tlo..... The
On Ea.ster Sunday a speCial rei- Red A rmy does not exist for
ebratlon was thought neccessary. attack, but to annihilate attackerlJ
200 prisoners were shot. The day utterly.
after, the bodies of more than two
(mildred gir<1s, iIIlembers of the
Young SocIal1st League were pick-
ed up In the .streets. Altogether CONSUMERS POWER STRIKE
this terror lasted for mol'e than OF MIOHIGAN ENDED
n. month.
Men were found hanging from The Michigan Consumers Pow-
trees in parks and fields; victims er strike Involving over 7.000
Were out to pieces, horrible mu- workers and affecting chiefly the
tilations perpetrated. Even nurses General Motors planla In F1lnt
working in military h<l8p1tals and LanSing was ended when the
Were killed. United Automobile Workers Union
(C. I. 0.) and Governor Murphy
were aocepted as mediators.
MALAGA WAS ONOE SPANISH
Today MaLaga Is a German city.
The lash and the clu'b 80 dear
t o the German terror work over-
time in Malaga. Workers are ma-
de to work under the lash of for-
elng overseers.
Malaga's hospitals, meanwhile,
are full of wounded. More than
9.000 cd' them. The houses and the
churches also are full of the
wounded from the Almeria and
Cordobe. fronls.
The "Maine" is on its way back
to Gibraltar to bring another load
of refugees to Valencia.
This is the work of fascism at
its most t~ical.
Badajoz, Guern!ca, MAlaga! Na-
mes of fascist victories over
unarmed clvlllan populations, but
also names that today loom large
in the minds of the workers the
world over! "'If!~in~ h,.rorf" Ih .. lialian innadeu.

Fascist Spies in the
.United States
A fa8c.lst spy and anns-purchas-
ill« ~y has been exposed in
.... UDlted States by HIe publlca-
tlen In the Dally Worker of Iet-
~ 8I1d documents issuing from
the offlees of Dmz and Garcia.,
stNm*ip operators, 17 Battery
Place, New York. The head of this
o~tlon is a fonner Spanish
" ...... ·&ador to tbe United States,
IlIUl .......ncilOCo de CardeJlJl8. wbo
claims protection of a fink diplo-
matic passport.
Tile DaRy Worker has publil.h-
ell pbotostats of all corresponden-
ce pa88lng between spy centers,
from wblcb It is seen. amongst
otber things, tbat the f ....cist gang
augpsted on Marcb 5th, 19S7.
that a speedy anned sbip be sent
to tbe strait of Yucatan to block
shipping from Mexico to the
Spanlsb Rel'llblic. "u tbere were
such a. chip" one letter says ttnot
olle of the Hhips 'With armaments
would get through".
Tbe documents also disdose that
this ring b .... conspired to violatc
U. S. la.ws by pUr(~ha8e of arm:i
for li'ranco, and that there t>xist'S
a network of agclwies in Vera
Cruz, Mexico and Havana, Cuha.
Spies in these places send rpg-ubl r
reports on th~ movement of 8,)311"
Isb shipping, through New Yorl,
to f ..sdst H. Q. in Sj,ain. Ui(lln-
malic plots comp within fhl' S('olU'
of the ('ardf>:lUlS outfit; 0114' h·tt~·r
ren~al!oi that 011 April M. HJ37. tht·
fascist agent Diaz was in Hantlla
touting for recognition of Fran-
(~o'S "Goverl1lnent" by Cuhu.
F'ake aid socit"tit"s
han' ht'1'n
formed, in partic'ular thl' ('0111-
mODwt"al Spanish Ue.lipf FlIlId, a>w
fourth An_~., and f.h,~ :\nwri«-all
ComnliUt't" for SI)allish Udil'f, mu'
of whose prpsidE"uts is Og-d,'n
Hammond, fornwr ,:, S, .\mha"i-
sador in SI)uin, 1'his ('nlln'rn (tut's
things in an ~lIJ1hassadt)rial st.,·I(',
H. Q. is at Vand('rhilt Hutl'l,
POPEVJ<; AND BJ<;TTY !lOOI'
ON STRIKJ<;
Bett~· HOOl) and PupI',n' an' UII
Hf,rike in N t·w Y fJrk ('it ,v. Ollt'
hundred Du'mbel'S of tht' wt'll
known animated c'artoolls arl' dp-
maDding regular wag-t's. Thf'~
claim that the 15 dollars a wec'li
they get does n't kt"t"~) tht"m ill
!>tJ)ina(·,h.
THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT
PRESENTS ITS PLEA TO THE
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
At the time of going to press
the present session of the League
of Nations is not sufficiently ad-
vanced for us to make long com-
ment. This will appear net week.
So far the Spanish Government
has rejected the proposal, backed
by England and France, for med-
iation between Franco and the
Gcvernment. AJJ Comrade Negrin
has pointed cut, mediation can be
effected between State and State,
but not between a Government
and a group of rebels. Only one
kind of umediation" is possible.
the total defeat of fascism by the
People's Government.
We may point out that these
proposal for mediation always co·
me when the situation is especially
favorable to the government. They
have occurred before. and now,
after recent victories at Guadala-
jara and Pozoblanco and the fom-
ation of the new government
they are being repeated.
The government has made the
first diplomatic distribution of
the White Book on Italian inter-
vention. This volume is sure to
provolw intense interest. We un-
derstand that it consists of over
three hundred pages and contains
photographs of Italian and mil-
itary. orders and other documents
all proving that there is indeed
an Italian Army of Occupation in
Spain.
A scheme for the withdrawal of
foreign volunteers is to be discus-
sed. In this respect a government
spokesmen has declared that Hit station has been constructed as the
is impossible to confuse breaches
of the obligation of not authoriz-
ing the departure of volunteers,
with the organization and send-
ing by the Italian government of
a definie expeditionary force".
In other words, the International
Brigades are a real volunteer for-
ce which governments have tried
to prevent being formed. (The
French g(}vernment for instance
has closed its frontiers.) The ital- scientists have a regular plan of
ians are not volunteers and have
been sent by their government,
often against their will, and by
means of cruel deception.
It was stated in Paris that in
all probability, Portugal would
oppose the withdrawal of volun-
teers.
Soviet Union Makes
Peaceful Conquest.
The anl)ouncement by the So-
viet Union that its scientists have
conquered the arctic regions of
the North Pole marks another
gloriOUS page in Soviet scien-
tific advances.
There now exists at the North
Pole a Soviet scientific colony
whose base is situated on a huge
block of ice registered on a list of
Soviet polar stations under the
name of "North Pole No. 56". The
central polar directing point of
the sea route for ships, and its
air field, recently established is
the landing point for airplanes.
Throughout the Northern polar
regions wireless telegraph points,
radio centers, beacons, ports for
ships, and coal and oil bases have
been set up. In definitely conquer-
ing the North Pole the Soviet
air routes and waterway routes
into the most haza.rdous point.!:! of
the arctic.
Pravda, Soviet organ, say s
that Robert Peary, who first vi-
sited the North Pole, like other
great explorPfs had no elements
nor forces for the scientific or-
ganisation of work at the pole.
He wass not able to place his dis·
coveries into the hands of scien-
tists and the people. But the So·
viet f'xplol'ers have behind them
the entire nation.
The name "Stalin" is propost"'d
for central base of the arctic,
The Juan Negrin, new Prime
Minister Spain. through the
of
press praisel the Soviet Union'/
for its wcnuerful polar and scien-
tific achievements.
The Red Flag of the Sovkt
CJlicn waves now at the Nnrth
Polt'.
ONF; SI'I'R\<;l\U; ('OI'RT ,,,'I)(;t;
RJ<;SWNS
;\,'n <tHuht in a j{liJWlh'r flf n'-
t II r II i II ~ inil-lliJ,;"l'JI('(', Suprf'Hw
('ourt ,Justi('" Yall Il"nanh'r n'-
sig'I1t'<1 from his po!';itiuli. l'ht' g-t'H-
th'mall j", 7X Yf'ars old.
\\'ht'n Pn'sitlt'nt }{oost"\'l'It heard
thp news, h~ smiling-I,V COmnll·11t~
pd: "This mah,t"s 011(' point. Thert'
a rt' fin' HJOrt' to go,"
4 THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
.
SPANISH GOVERNMENT AIDS STARVING PEASANTRY
The Problem of the land In Spain
In recent days we bave beard
from certain quarters the charge
that the Spanish revolution has
been betrayed by the formation
of the new govemment. In pass-
ing, we may -p oint out that POUM,
one of tbe organizations making
this charge, had aiready said that
previous P opular Fro!lt govern-
ments had never begun the revo-
lution. Probably P . O. U. M . un-
derstands by revolution the shOOt-
ing of workers by tbose who pro-
fess to serv" them; nevertheless,
it Is vltaily Important to know
what bas really bappened ir: the
Spanish countryside.
Fitty-slx per cent of the Span-
ish peoplc live on tbe land ; the
agrarian problem, therefore. has
always been tbe m ost critical of
Span ish problems. " Andaiucia ~s­
te. muri£ndo.se de hambr . ... Anda-
lucia is dying of hunger. The cla'-
sical pbrasc was true of Ca,tilla'
a.nd Extremadura and other parts
as well. In 1930 the writer found
whole dl.strlcts, in the neighbour-
hood of Plasencia and Caceres
(the city where the hero Duffy
made his H. Q. before running
homel, while tbe average wage
_ mixture had become usclcsH for
..\ lood COlllrlulC', but Ih f" Intlll.rd, ~· .... n'r
tltu;::hl hint to rrad or wrilC',
of the flelu worker was one and
a half to two pesetas a day. Tbe
same was true of Salamanca,
formerly Gil Robles' seat and now
Von Franco's.
Again, at Javierrelatre in High
A ragon, during 1932, the writer
discovered tbat tbere bad beoo
a famine during the preceding
winter, dUe to the absencc of
wind. How could an absence of
wind Cal.1S':: people to die (;f hun-
In Ihf' uld dQ ~' " under Ih~ mOdllreh)'
ger? Very soon mem bers (If the
Internatlonai Brigade will have
an opportunity of und""tandlng
how, for the mont-h s of reaping,
July and August, are followed by
the winnowing weeks, when the
chaff and the grain, trodden out
by oxen, are tllrown into the air
for the wind to separate. In that
year in Javierrelatre there had
been no wind and the fermented
bread.
THERE WER); GASOJ.lNt:
DRIVEN WINNOWING MA-
CHINt:S IN THAT VILLAGt:,
DUT THE EASANTS WERt:
TOO POOR TO HIRE THEM
FROM THE RICHER LAND-
OWNt}RS
There lies the cause of ~'p"'in's
agricultural backwardness. Thc
poverty of the peasant, and thc
c rushing rents, in the impo~sibi­
IIty of watering their fields ade-
quately or of manuring them, re-
sUlting in low yield. A Spanish
economist says "Soria lands, bare
hills of Almazan . where tile plOW
only ~cratches the seil a~d after
the (fforts of a" untiratle farwer.
only yields t.hree times the vol-
ume of seeeds put into the ground.
Lands of Sahagun... land of Sai-
amanca, wbere bardly three or
four times tbe quantity of seed
sown is returned. Land without
trees, without cattle." These arc
extr~me cases but a yield of nine
one and h.1r 1''-lMltaa" day Cor l:t huuni wurk lIud".r 11
SINtihi.h Itun.
times is considered good in pros-
perous parts of Spain, whereas in
the U. S. A. or in Elngland 18 to
1 is quite usual.
It Is not Lhe natural imposslbi-
iity of watering and manuri,n g the
f ields which has impoverished
Spsin, but lhe neglect of absentee
landlordo! and tbe abeence of plan
characteristic of a seml-feudal
s tate. Furnlsbed only wltb a light
plough, often of primitive Roman
type, tbe peasant waa unable to
undertake deep plowing which
would protect bl.s crop" against
drought.
And with this poverty went Ig-
norance and liIiteracy. In 1926
forty-two per cent of the nation
was Uliterate and there were
whole districts where the propor-
tion reaclled was ninety per cen't.
Even DOW: after tbe efforts of
the Republic, a great proportion
of the men of the twooty-fourth
battalion, Fifteenth Brigade, fine
fighters anu goou comrades, are
illiterate.
THE WORK OF THE REPUBLIC
0"- 19S1
First, In the matter of educat-
ion; in two years the Republic
created 9.000 new scbools; by
means of an Education Loan
another 20.000 schools were to be
built.
Tben, on the technlcal aide of
Land Reform, vast irrigatiOl\
schem ... were drawn up In 1932,
aiming at the watering of 5.000.000
acree of land, at a coet of five
thousand million pesetas, to be
spread over 25 years. Many of
these schemes were begun, BUch
as the lower Gaudaiquiver Valley
Canai, the Gaudaicaciu Reservoir
and canals . the GenII workB, and
elsewhere.
LAND FOR THE I't:ASANTIS
Mos t Important of all the Mar-
celino Domingo Agrarian Reforms
of December 22, 1932 pn:lpOSed to
take over vast estates, upon a
basl.s of compensation, to be dlvld-
cd among the peasants and their
organizations. Certain of the nu-
bles implicated in the anti-repu-
blican rising of Augu"t 1932, wcre
to !'eceive no compensation. Tho-
ugh this reform was slow and
hesitant, much waa done to im-
prove the field workel'>l' condition.
The Popular Front Government
of February 1936 was -p ledged to
speed up this iand reform, which
would have destroyed t-b e power
of the semi-feudal classes repre-
sented by Franco.
:\ Ulcdi~ul .«hnique. In Ihe hilla Aruund
)0" wunlt"fI MUll"rill ."noM" tlli" wa,.o

WHAT HAS BEEN DON"; MINCE
JULY 1986
In the words of Comrade Vicen-
te Uribe, minister of ~griculture,
It hu been the Government's po-
lley "to elOpropriate the great
lUuIlorda, enemies of the people,
D live the land to those who
work on It... we have cleaned loyal
SpaIn cl the foui disease of boss
rule, of the oppressor of the field
WOl'kera" •
No longer are there vast estates
like those of the Duke of. Medlna-
cell wbo owned two hundred thous-
and acres. The one 'hundred and
twenty fi ve 'housand acn)li of the
Duke of PeAa.randa are In lbe
Iwldo of. bi. peaaants and work-
erI!; 80 are the ·b Uodn!d and seven-
teen tbousand acres of the Duke
of VllIabermosa, the eighty-seven
t.IIousaolu of tbe Duke of Alba,
Franco propaganda agent In Lcn-
don DOW, wbo has declared that
the Comrades of the IntematiODaI
BrigIIdee are thieves and er!n:o'D-
&Is (8IId be did not mean marely
the quartermaster). AI!d the onc
million acres which belonged to
only fourteen fascist Dukes, Counts
and grandees of Spain has also
been divided among the people.
ALTOGETHER FIVE'lIIIInON
EIGHT HUNDRED THO U -
SAND AOBES OF LAND UA-
VE BEEN SHARED OUT
Tbl. figure represents eighteen
per cent at the ·cultivable area of
SpakI, morover, It excludes wbatwlsb to put our greateot efforts
bas been done In Catalonia, cer-
tain part. of AragOll, and In tile'
relions of Santander and Astu- \ aries. Yet to lbe rear of our lIneo,
rias.
It I. true to say that in tbose
regions ' wbere tbe land problem
was abarpest It has already been
solved. In the province of Cludad
Real,tex: IIlstance, 1.855.000 acres nes, the weight of oppressioll
have been liven to workers organ-
Izations and collect! ves. In lbe
provice of Albaccte, headquarters
oi the Internatlo~ Brigades,
L116.ooo acres, in Jaen, 900.000,
In the province of Madrid, 3.0.000
acres In Cuenca 325.000 acres bave
been ex!proprlated Valencia work-
era and p _ t s have received
235.000 acrell, tbe hungry people
of Guadalajara, Granada 8IlU Mur-
cia have also been helped.
Besides this dlrecUy expropriat-
ed land hundreds of thousands of
acres have been taken over In
other ways: If comrade!! ' of the
!klgllsh and Lincoln Battalion of
tile 15th Brigade look back from
their Hoes they will see a broad,
peen and w'!ll cultivated valley.
TIlE VOLUNTEI!;R FOR UBI!;RTY
If in that valley there is any pea-
sant who, hefore tbe fascist ri"lng
paid I'ent to a landlord, then he no
longer does so. The landlord and
tenant relation no longer exists.
The peasant pays not a single
penny of rent, though wben the
Ume comes, like every other citi-
zen, he will pay his dues to the
state. At present he may freely
rc.Mat ",,·~re ....... up .. hoeI:~
ta.ki . . ",i,......i. libe.......
enjoy the use of nationalized land.
We ot the Popular Front have
been told by the theoretecians of
tbe P. O. U. M. that we have be-
trayed the revolution. Because we
into winning lbe war we are told
lbat we are counter-revolution-
comrades, you can see a cOUll~ry
without tyrant landlords, without
corrupt bosses, without usurers
and village money lenders. Upon
the land behind the fascists' Ji-
still rests.
WHAT IS THE Nl'lW OOVERN-
MENTS POLICY!
The CommunISt Party, in its re-
cent letter to Sellor Azalia declar-
ed that the peasant must be pro-
tected against forced collectivisa-
tions and extremist experiments
and that ' the small proprietor
must be left In posseo.ion of
his land. This has been one part
of the Government's policy, and
will continue to be.
Here and tbere cases have oc-
curred where se·1f appointed com-
mittees have collected rent from
those who a.re working national-
ized land. As the Minister of Agrl-
culture bas said lithe government
has taken the land away from the
proprietors in order to emanci-
pate the peasants, not in order to
emancipate four committeea t
• •
The government will continue
to prevent tbese injustices. It wll!
prohibit so-called "socialized" con-
trol of village commerce, it will
give practical aid to the peasants.
In Ja Vi,..en de 1. tAbeR. Here they .rc
Ove,' and above the yift of land
the government has loaned to the
peasants about 45.000.000 pesetas,
through the In.titute of Agrarian
Reform.
Besides this, specialized credits
have been granted to olive oil pro-
ducers, vineyard workers and rice
growers, for the caITying out of
necessary work and the purchase
cf seeds. And all this to the tune
cf 45.000.000 pesetas. Instead 01
fomenting !!trife in the city streets
in the name 01. revolution, tbls io
wbat lbe Popular Front govern-
ment has acheived on the land.
Despite the provocations and tile
local tyrannies of irresponsible
village Caesars, last autumn
wheat sowing was up by 7 %.
To encourage production it is
necessary to guarantee a remun·
erative price. Apart from the cor-
rection of abuses this can be done
best by large scale ministerial
purchases and by the creation 0f
cooperatives. Already in the Med·
iterraean coast districts these
cooperatives are giving good re-
sults.
HOW TO RUN A COLLECTIVE
Here Is an example of success-
ful and properly conducted col-
lectivisation. At Villanueva de
C6rdoiJ8. last July the civil guards,
disloyal to the government, cap-
tured the town and caused a great
part of tbe people to flee to the
fields. The citizens were not dis-
mayed however, and headed by
Julian Caballero, field - workers
leader, they collected all the arms
that could be found in the dis-
trict. After a sharp battle VllIa-
nueva was recaptured. In that
town where {ormerly there ruled
an absentee landlord, the a.verage
size Whose 40 estates was 01. 1500
acres, Julian Caballero is now
Mayor, idolized by the emancipa-
ted people.
Villanueva has organized splend·
Id battalions of peasant fighters,
but it ha.s also solved Its land prob-
lems. The estates of the form er
parasites are noW cultivltted col-
lectively by members of the Field
Workers trnion.
There is . nothing resembling
ccercion in Villanueva. The small
proprietors have their own aBBO-
elation and oultivate their la.nd
individually. Land was also given
to those who owned a yoke of
burses, mules or OXeD. Even In-
side the Field Workers Union there
lHM:D is a small group which without
hindrance demand. the parcelling
out of th,e land . ..
The quality of all work is ex-
cellent. The olive trees have been
zealously tended and the fields
scrupulously cleaned. All last
year. crops bavlng been gathered
and the town Is DOW collectively en-
gaged in the production of olive
oiL The natural economic diffi-
culties of Vllianueva, excess of
m'eat and oil and insufficiency of
wheal, have been overcome by
collective exchange with othcr
chan"n els. ",' hen the war time re-
:iugee ·p roblem no longer burdens
the town its prosperity will g'o
forward by leaps arid bounds.
Let no ene pretend that the in-
te rests vf the Spanish ffi""ses ha·
ve been neglected or betrayed . It
is these conquests at Villanueva '
which the comrades on tbe C6r-
doba front are defending; tbcre
advance is bringing release to
thousanrls of other peasants for
whom life has hitherto been a
savage and brutali~nb oppression .
And in holding their Jines the
comrades ef tite 15th Brigade are
likewise driving back the enemies
of the people. Comra"es, the Pop-
ular Front Government Is guard·
ian of the true Spanish and dem-
ocratic revolution'.
 6 THE VOLUNTEER .'OR UBERTY
American finance imperialism 200 Submachine guns bought on
account of the French Fascist are
In Spain seized In switzerla nd
American comrades, students
of Imperialist technique, may like
to know of an example of Amer-
ican Imperialism in Madrid City.
We refer to the Telefonica , the
Telephone Company of Spain, who-
se heau office, a skysc raper-like
building, they may have seen.
This company, headed by the
notorious Col. Behn, Is an off-
shoot of the International Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company of
New York, one of th e Morgan
conce.rns.
In 1924 tlle T ele foni ca obtained
a monopoly conce ssion from Dic-
tator Primo, which for cool impu-
<Ience surpasses anything Wall or
Threadneedle Str·eets have been
able to put out. If anyth ing it sur-
passes the achievements of Mus-
soHni's diplomacy, or army can-
teen prices.
The monopoly runs contrary to
eve ry principle of the Spanis h
constitution and every law of the
Civil Cod e in that it puts an 1m,
pa rtant political power in the
hands of a fore ign company. For
example, during the 1932 Sanjur-
j o monarchist rising in Sevilla th e
Republican G<lvernment was un-
able to make telephonic contact
with that city.
By its contract the T e lefonica
Is entitled to use stalc powers and
is exe mpt from every kind of tax.
local or national, In the present
or in the future. In one year the
Telef6nlca thus avoided a normal
bu~in e"s tax of 3,800.000 pesetas.
while its total 'If percentage .p ay-
ment to the govhnment only came
to 3,420.000 pesetas. The cost of
plant was s tagge ring. bel~
878.9~3 .ooo pesetas. aU of which
must be repaid. plus 15 ';' , in !lOld,
if the R epublic o f today wishes to
regain control o f the system.
Moreover, th e Spanish Company
mu"t pa y t o t h e American
Company 7 'j, of J/ross income
yearly, besides a 5 'A commis3ion
e n import ed .plant. on which prof-
it has presumably been paid in
the statcs. Or was U. S . A. imper-
ialism so charitable as to sell a t
('ost pr ice?) This commission C$\.-
me t o 43.000.0(10 pesetas.
FinaJly, with a highly modern
system the SrJanis h sta le in six
years has drawn 20.000.000 pes e-
tas less than with th" old outfit.
which clo.e.y .l~sembled battalion
heatlquar'en field teleph one. Boys.
like love, or common or garden
faSCism, its a racket! Ta~e an-
other shot over thc parapet at the
frientls of th e Telef6nica.
O'Duffy's inglorious Dupes
O'Duffy has given some amaz-
ing reasons for the quick re turn
of his much-boosted Briga<le fr om
Spain.
The ideas of this Brigade seem
to have changed considerably in
the few months since they set out
with such ardour to "sa ve religion
in Spain".
According to O'Duffy's state-
ment, they don't seem to have sa-
ved much or done much since they
arrived in Spain. Either Franco
did not value them very highly or
they just refused to fight.
They appear to ha ve spent most
of their time catching colds in the
"wet trenches".
O'Duffy says they have, "now
been in the front line trenches
since February 19th, s ubjected to
umceasi",g s hell fire and bomb-
ing -we have left "seven" dead in
the field. many seriously wound-
ed and many others suffer ing
from shellshock, pulmonary dis-
eases and rheumatic tever devel-
oped in the trenches during the
incessant rain of February and
March".
It was then too cold for O'Duf-
fy's men, now it is too hot.
"The greatest trial of the wa r
will undoubtedly be the danger of
Typhoid aod other fe vers trom
now on. . the complete absence of
water for either drinking or sani-
tary purposes , have had serious
effec ts o n the health of the Iris h
troops alread y."
N o clearer light could have
bee n thrown on the types which
O'Duffy re cruit r d th. n: the light
of his own stateme nt. The real
fighters for Irela·n d n ever threw
up the baltle because of the hard-
ship.q of the tr"",ch or the coldness
of th e cave On the hills;de .
The "Wild Geese" left Ireland
many years ago and fought with
all armies, in all -climates against
the rapacious army of British Im-
perialism and won undying honour
for themselves and for their peo-
ple. To_ day O'Duffy covers him-
self with Ignominy. Men who be-
The SWI'8 Federal police hilS
jU8t dIscovered a new ........ 8Rlug-
gUng organization.
Following the ..ne8t of a 8mug-
trayed the struggle for Irish In-
dependenc e, and murdered the real
fighters for Irish Freedom could
n ever expect to maintain the con-
fidence of the men they had re-
cruited, in a sustained and bloody
wa.r.
Certainly men who :would not
fight for the freedom of their
own land would quickly lose
their enthusiasm for a cause in
which their religion was being
used to cloak the most brutal op-
pression.
Possibly by now, O'Duffy's du-
pes, sadder and wiser men, realise
that the Irish Catholic Hie rarchy
when it induced and financed
the m to go t o Spain to fight for
Franco a g a inst the people a nd Ca-
th olics of Spain, betrayed them.
as it has betrayed the Irish peo-
ple's struggle so often in the past.
If th er e was any "incerlty
am ong O 'Duffy's men, then the
massacre of the Catholic people
and priests at Cuernica and Du-
rango would give them a real in-
s ig ht into the religion of Franco
a nd the priests who support him.
O'Duffy adniits that the men
made a unanimous de-cision to
return to Ireland. No greater
contrast could be made. than
between O'Duffy's dupes and the
Irishmen in the British and Ame-
rican Battalions, who have so
gloriously upheld the great tra-
ditions of the Irish people.
Our comrades have once again
made a great contribution to the
struggle of the oppressed against
reaction and tyranny.
It will be a great pity if the
Irish people allow O'Duffy bacl<
in Ireland. When St. Patrl<:k got
the snakes out of Ireland. they
k ept th em out.
UNIMPORTANT NEWS
Rockefeller died at the age of
96. Wally says 8he will marry the
Duk., on June 20.
gler by the name of Jean Roa-
chi, ... whoee po8itlon we... f~
20 slIb-machlne guns, and 8 b0-
xes containing 2.500 rlne" car-
tridges, several searcheM were
made In VllriOU. Swiss e1t1e& 200
Hub-machine guns were found.
It I. believed thllt tbJ. Krulll'
of smngglers WIlS pllrt of " lar-
ger, gang, members of which were
arrested Illtsly In several French
cltle8.
I.ately, custom guards arresteJ
!:fevera} smuggle.rs known to be
at the "ervlee of Doriot and of
De La Roque.
CHARWTI'E S. C. COTI'ON
MILL WORKERS STRIKE
The flr.t hlllle resulting from
the C. I. O .••...mp..igll in South-
ern textile m1II8 i. on. 1_100
worke,. of the Marlboro Cotton
Mill o( Bennett-ville and McColl
S. C. went on strike Mloy 9. Th~
strik~ WH.8 quite 8ponta.neouH. Ac-
cording to the llev. R. Lawrence,
co-ordinator for the Textile Work-
er. Organizing Commieee, the
workerl5 went on strike when
their patience was exausted. Or-
ganization work had been proeeed-
Ing very ....plclly prevloU8 to the
8trike. When the men went on
strike 96 % were already msn-
bers of the Ualon.
211.000 IONES AND LAUGHLIN
STEEL WORKERS STRIKE
Beca.Ufte of the ('A)mpa.ny'K rl~ ·
(usal to Hign .. Union Oontract
25.000 steel workers in the JonPH
lind LKughlin AIlqulppa and South
Pittsburgh planta were called out
on strike by the Steel Worke rs
OrganizaUon CommIttee. Becau""
of the .. (J nholy AIlI..nce" of the
Independent steel manufacturer.
under the leadership of Eme.t T.
Weir of National Steel, It I" beUev-
er that 110.000 more workers
will be on .trlke within a few dliY"
in the 1'Ittsbllrgh and Younpwwn
region.
SWEDEN. - The Trotzkylte
Kllbon has been expelled from
the Swedlsb Socialist . Party.

OUR ARMY
.... the lIrst two periods of the
war..... organized upon a Popu-
lar Front baaIa by one of the
rreat popular political parties of
SpaIn, the Communist Party. The
directors of the Fifth Regiment.
Comrades castro. Lister aDd Con-
tre...... from the very beginning
organized all their companies upon
a deftnlte military basis. with pro-
per training. and with technical
statts and specialised departments.
It was In the 1i~t week of August
that the Fifth Regiment began to
appoint political commissars, who
functioned without legal status. un-
til the goveInment. decree of Oc-
tober 15th. The first article de-
manding formation of a regular
army awea,red on August 2nd in
"MU1cia Popular", the organ at the
Fifth Regiment. Here we see In
these two Instance8the appearan-
ce of characterisUcs that were to
distinguish the army In the second
two periods.
I.-THE AWAKENING PERIOD
. Largely as a result of the effi-
ciency and propaganda of the Fifth
Regiment there was a widespread
and powerful popular demand for
a regular army and on October
10th the old militias were milita-
rized by an order of the govern-
ment. As a result of this th<!
FIRST MIXED BRIGADE, com-
manded by Comrade Lister. was
formed. Commenting upon this
governmental decree in a speech
on the 11th of October at the bri-
gade bar.racks Comrade Lister re-
fene<! to the RomaDtlc Period
thus: "We have seen day after day
small bands and little groups of
militiamen going out to the war
front just when they took it in
mind to do 80. and who enlisted
whenever they chose. When any-
one approached ,them and kid
"this pOSition must be occupied"
they used to reply "who are you,
you are wearing stars!. thM you
have nothing to do with us. Even
if you hadn't got stars we should
take no notice of you. Our chief
Is this comrade" . And the chief of
the group was olten one who. for
one reason ·')r ar.other, was l~ot in~
terested In fighting at that mo-
ment And thus we found that we
hsd at the front several thousand
combatants, but only on paper,
because in fact they did not fight
when necessary, not by reason
of their own fault, but because
they were neither organized nor
THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
IS A PEOPLE'S
dlsciplioed." The heroism of these
comrades was beyond all question,
but Comrade Lister was certainly
not exaggerating.
THE FIFTH REGIMENT
Before relerring to the results
for military organization of the
historic defence of Madrid during
the first two weeks of Novemher
it will be useful to tra~e the
growth, activity, and eventual
merging of the Fifth Regimen t in
the regular army. It must be born
in mind that the Communist Par-
ty had not organized the Fifth
Regiment in order to possesB a
force of its own and It was as a
result of Its Own propaganda that
itB members were handed over to
the govemment. While the form-
ation CYf the MIXED BRIGADES
began on October 10th there was
still thirty per cent of the Fifth
Regiment remaining under its
own command on the 27th of De-
cember. Indeed it would have
been disastrous to abolish that
command until every soldier had
heen fitted Into hi, place In the
new brigades. It must be re-
ARMY
membered that the Fifth Regi-
ment, originally intended to be
1.000 strong, had reached 70.000
In the Madrid regton alone. wi th
another 45.000 in other parts CYf
Spain. The varioUS departments
of command were therefore pro·
gresslvely suppressed. By a bri-
gade order of the 15th of Decem-
her the First MIXED BRIGADE
liqnldated aU the separate batta-
lion commands which it had in
various parts of Madrid, surren-
dered all war materials and 'p er-
sonell and entered the Hortaleza
barracks to begin a corporate
exlstsnce. Again by a Fifth Re-
giment Ord.eT of Dec. 28 every mi-
litary department Operation Inten_
dencia Or Supplies, Sanitary Ser-
vice, Shoemaklng departm .... t. tail-
ering department, armoury, etc.
were handed over to the brigades.
Comrades responsible for these
departments for the m"",t part be-
gan similar work in the regular
army; . thus we see that not only
the forms but the actual personell
of the new army was derived from
military forces not directly organ-
Ized by the governm""t. Of all
the department, only those of Soc-
Ial Work and Organization were
7
to continue, in an advisory capa-
city. until the lut FIfth Regiment
.9OldI~r had entered the army.
HUGE EOONOKY IN EFFE()-
'ftVF.8
The importance of this volunta-
ry surrender of autonomy can be
seen by referring to a speech by
Comrade Llater. given on the 23rd
of December.
Referring to the new army he
said that efficiency would be enor.
mously increased and added "We
in the Fifth Regiment had already
begun a cleam,ng up Which is still
very aecesaary in certain .p arts.
;"or eXlllllple. such battalion used
to have I<ros own command in Ma-
drid. to each of which there be-
longed approximately a hundred
bureaucraLf. Many stripes, and
many stara. while the majority
had not Been the front even from
a general barracks! All this has
been suppressed. Two or three
Indlviduala to each commaDd are
more thlln sufficient for ali the
office work which a battalion can
occ&8I011. Xou will understand
the importance of this when I tell
you that in Madrid there used to
be 60.000 meal rations Jlven out
every day to people who had not
fired a Bingle shot."
Finally, on January 27th a vaat
public meeting in the CIne Goya
was held to celebrate the comple-
te liquidation of the FIfth Regi-
ment, and this it must be remem-
bered, wu long after the event had
actually occurred. Other political
parties began to follow the aame
line and with the final Incluslo.
of the C. N. T. troopa in the reo
gular army thla proceaa came to
an end.
WHAT DOJ:8 mls I'JU)(JE.... ·
DEMONSTRATE'
It is obvious at the first g\II.D.ce
that th" vast bulk of the men in
the Republican army have been
drawn from the poli tical reg-
iments which grew up in the Re-
mantic period. That they make up
a People's Army there can be no
possible doubt. But the olficers of
the new ·brigade<!. "uch as Lister
and "Campeslno", have also lar-
gely been drawn from these ear-
lier formations. These had ori-
ginally received their appoint-
ments from the various political
parties belonging to the Popular
Front.
But more conclusively tl>&n till_
the special charllCterlatic of the
 8 THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY

Betore tbe July rising there bad GERMAN GOVERNMENT OON-

been within the old Civil Guards
both polttical fractions and Po-
p ular Front groups. and while the-
se were not strong enough to en-
sure the loyalty of the majority,
they did much to wtn over many
guard! to the Republican move-
ment.
After t he Franco rising these
groups definitely worked for t·h e
suppression. or COClverslon of the
force. and finally became strong
enough to do this on their Initia-
tive.
A central committee w as for-
m ed, headed by Sergeant-Major
Vega and from Its offices In the
basement of J.b.e Ministry of the
Interior In Madrid. began l<> re-
cruit tnto Its forees. Th..... for-
C.\lIPF.sINO. (:nmnuuuJl"r ul .'ilh n"ghnenl ,'i.tlll w.r indudry tudor )'. ces. it must be understood from
tbe very beginning were on a mi-
Republican Army. its possession
of political commissars. was derIv-
decrees governing the status and litary fooUq of long aervlce and
rigid discipline. Like tbe FIfth
work of pOlitical commissars. The
ed from the nature of the poli t i- order of October 15th. given by Regiment It was origtnaUy iI1teD-
co.I war in which the whole peo- the Minister of War. appointed ded to be oo.ly a small body yet
ple was engaged. These commls- Comrade 0 . 1 Vayo as Ccmmlssar by November about 15.000 .......,
.sars. which exJst and will continue General. He was to be alde.t by w ithin Its ranks. There quality
to extat. have as one of their tas k s . 4 sub-commtssar generals drawn can be aeen from this. of the • .000
the maintaining of jUlt that kind from the greater organizations of fully trained men on the Hadrld
the Popular F.ront; these sub- Front a1ane by November 11. 206
commissars were to appoint lower were dead and 693 wounded; about
ranks. But within the ranks of 22 %.
the actual field commissars them- The forms Its general atatt
selves. no grades or categories adopted again ahow the popnlar
were esta blished. because the ar- and political nature of the Natio-
my itself had no uniform organic nal Guards. It baa four sub-com-
structure. In other words. the mltte.. ; Investigation. to prevent
people were still making their ar- tbe ent~ of fascist and disruptive
my from below_
As the army crystallzed Into de-
finite .hap> as a reBult of party
propaganda and experience. the
decrees began to dlstInguJsh ranks
in the commissars . F or instance,
the order of November 25th. by
which date about 65 ';' of the
Fifth Regia:ent had been merged
with the Mixed Brigades, establi-
s hed the ra.!Iks of brigade, battal-
ion and company COmmiS98rB.
TlNUES HELP TO FRAN(J()
In aplte of all pledces &lid otate-
mentA to tbe oontrary. the Ger·_
man Oov~mment continues 8enct-
Inll' of no end of armament. to
the Span/lilt fasclat arml_
The otory of the Marlenboura'
18 a good iUuatraUoa of what I.
ha&ppenlng. The Marlenbou..... a
Danish f,..,lghter flying lIIeply the
fta". of the Republic of Pana.-
w .... about to oafl from Hambur".
a month ago loaded wltb boue
muked "Cbocolate" and other
8uch Innocuous freight, One of the
chocolate box.. broke open aDd
the 101l1l'.ho.......,n foulld to their
HUrprl8e that It contained a 1IIaIp-
mt'nt of dum-dum bull.. ta. on...
work.. rs Immediately Ilt8JK't'ted
th .. whole cargo. which Wll. found
to oon8lot of airplanes, to be sa-
..,mbled, of tan.... nmehIne IItIIU
and to a con8Id,,""'" part. of
topeclally ...... trueted eleetrklaJ
8wltcbeA for uee In torpedo _III.
.0\11 In",ructlon. to tb...... I."tm-
.....ntK were In' Spanleb,
The city of Frelburg In Baden.
Germany. Is exdted .,.,.,..... .....,ry
three day. a "'Iuadron of a1rplaa.-
e. wltb all GfI....... arIIQ' 1....._
nla painted over. arrl.... at &1M!
airport. The avlatora make no _
cut of the fact that tbey ue
bound for SoutMrn !ilpaln_ PIa .....
""part moml .... after ~YaL
.o\long tM 8wlllll border tbe Ger-
man Government 10 buIIdI .... &reM
number of ~ 'l'IIe IIIIDIber
of soldle... otaUonl'ld now at that
border Is live t~ .. great ...
before the last war_ ('"",otant
maneuvres are taking placle In
soutb Germany. New barrack. an!
oprouUng Uke mushroom .. In Rn-
dolphzell, on tile !ilwl.. border, a
new barraclao h .... just been otart.
ed whIdl Ia to bold _raJ tbou.-
and Infantry ""Idler.. mae.blne-pn
crewe. antl-alreraft batterl..... etr••

THE N-'TUlN-'I. HtJ"'tDS

The g cn(>r a l argument can be
( :'\RI .U S ( :n.vrnf.tl -\ s. s upported f!'Om the his tory of de-
rU"u~r IJetruil .\lIhllIlUIlIlI' nurk.' r . • :dilnr
finit ~ g ove rnmental forces, such
or ( :hiC': nJllo ~' nrL("r' M IUII'I'", (1In'lI"r Pnliti j'nl
(:olUn1i-",ur or Ih .. :;.h Iit-I.dlllrll!, i,.. nnw ill a. the N a tional Republican Guards
ch ...... or prell,a •• ncln IUlIuuJ;"" I'"nf"III)' rallL ..
Rnd th ~ C arabineroa.
of political enthu8iasm which gua - The National G uards are the
rantees that the army shall n evel" s U CC f' ~ sor!; of the old universally
become a dangpr to th C" demc J(' r a l· bated C Ivll Guards, former strike
Ic Republic. breakers aDd political tools . Im-
bued for the most part with re-
AI.Wi\. \ 'S I"ROM IU;1..0W
a ctionary Ideas and practi sing the
Th e way in which g overnmenta l m ost brutal of methods . This con-
decrees in this Awakening period version (tid not come about 'a s the
tended to legall?e exi, tant facL• . result of a government dec ree but
rather than to Impose a structure as a cOJlBQuence of & m ovement
from above can tie seen from Ih., from wlthlll.
~::~~~~:'~~~'~~I~:~,:!.~bd ":':~::-~(i·..!~
Mixed
types, and Promotion, to appoi:l t
oHk:ero on the basis of good aer-
vice ; the other two department.
at that time (November) being
Organization and Supplies.
Summing up so far. the argu-
ment tbat tbe formation of the
Regular Army cOllslitUtes a dan-
ger f or the Spanish popular rf -
volution Is founded . when hone.t.
upon ignorance of the army's hr..-
tory. However. the objection I.
usually made In bad faltb. Next
week we shall stUdy the .slege of
I.ISTF.R. Madrid, especially in Its relation
to the evolution of the Higher
ComrnUld.
IIrI.ad~.

mANA (1.1. n . 'r.) S.arra, O. Tel. tU()(I.-Kadrl4.