Evening Star Newspaper, September 18, 1936, Page 13

WORKERS CONTROL LOYALIST CITIES Labor Unions Held Domi- nant Factor Among Anti- Fascists in Spain. This is the fifth of a series of uncensored dispatches on under- surface conditions in Spain, written by Waliter Duranty, famous foreign correspondent, after traveling for several weeks through the war- torn provinces of Catalonia, Aragon and New Castile. BY WALTER DURANTY. By Radio to The Star. TOULON, France, September 18.— The key to an understanding of events in Spain is the fact that, in the four great citles of Madrid, Bsrcelona, Valencia and Malaga where the re- bellion was suppressed, the suppres- sion was acomplished not by gowern- ment troops or by the civil guards— that well trained gendarmerie which, on the whole, is more inclined toward the Fascists than to the ‘“frente popular”—but by armed workers, “militia,” labor unions and workers in the political parties. ‘To suppress the rebellion, they were given arms or took arms without per- mission. Not only in those four cities, but elsewhere throughout Spain workers’ organizations seized or ‘were given arms and fought the rebels with success or failure. That single fact. the possession of arms by the workers, immediately changed the whole state of affairs. ‘There might be no Lenin and no Bolshevik party, but the possession of arms gave power to the workers and made the labor unions—they call them syndicates in Spain—and the labor political organizations the dominant factor on the anti-Fascist side. ‘Workers’ Militia in Power. This is most obviously true in Catalonia, where the government, or “generalitat,” is little more than a Tubber stamp to countersigi. the orders of the all-powerful workers’ militia. " I had proof of this the moment I crossed the French border to Portbou. I had a personal letter from the Spanish Ambassador to Paris, recommending me to all and| sundry. It worked like magic with the customs and government officials in the Portbou station. But they added gently, “if you want to go on to Tar- celona, you need the stamp of the| Militia Committee. Their office is down on the seafront.” I went down to the seafront and found a group of youngsters with rifles and revolvers and the red and black emblems of anarchism. The Anar- chists rule Catalonia, but they are not what the word means to Americans— crezy bandits throwing bombs. In Catalonia the Anarchists are the most important political party, although slightly exceeded in numbers by the Catalan Nationalist party, and, whatever may or may not be their anarchic ideas of individual freedom, they are beginning to develop a fairly efficient system of goummenul con- trol. So these young Anarchists looked over my papers and shrugged their shoulders at the signature of the Spanish Ambassador to Paris. The fact that I came from Moscow turned the scales, although they were careful to remark that they did not approve the Bolshevik bureaucracy. Moscow Connections Helpful. “That’s not freedom,” they said. *That's not the dictatorship of the proletariat, but a dictatorship over the proletariat, and we do not approve it.” I heard the same thing later in Bar- celona, but nevertheless my Moscow connections were a guarantee. The train ran smoothly to Barce- Jona, although its guards, armed to the teeth and wearing the red and black insignia of anarchism, were careful to tell me that the road was now run by the workers. “We have thrown out all the bosses and station masters,” they sald. “Our ti .ins are now run by the workers—we have no use for bosses.” 1L was the same story in Barcelona. There were no private cars or taxi- cabs. Everything had been taken over, not by the government, but by the Catalan Nationalists, the allied militia, the Anarchists and the Socialists, which latter include everything from mild Second Internationalists of the MacDonald school to 100 per cent Stalinist Bolsheviks, independent Marxists and Trotskyite Bolsheviks. After some delay, I found a horse €ab, which had not been requisitioned, and drove to one of the smaller hotels. For some mysterious reason, horse cabs can exist in days of revolution. although their drivers are almost invariably counter-revolutionary. It was 50 in Moscow when I went there in 1921, and it was so in Barcelona. My cabman grumbled continuously about the burning of churches and “red” shootings, but, when I asked him whether he was on the side of the people or on the side of privilege, he replied with a cheerful grin, “Of course, {m for the people, but they don’t take cabs. Only people with money take cabs, and I am a cab driver, am I not?” which, perhaps, is an excellent answer. Early the next morning, I visited the American and British Consulates and found that, while both of them had done splendid work in helping the evacuation of their nationals, they were inclined to Jook askance at the Anarcho-Syndicalists and the Left Catalan organizations, which, with the united Socialists, held the real power in Barcelona. Proof of Real Authority. For me, this was the final proof of where the real authority lay, so, instead of visiting the generalitat, or nominal government, I went straight to the headquarters of “the Central Committee of United Anti-Fascist Militias,” in a bullding called the Capitania, which formerly was the residence of the civil government. The Capitania was guarded by a number of dangerous-looking and un- disciplined warriors, three of whom presented rifiles with bayonets at my breast and asked my business. I mumbled “prensa,” which means “press,” and they let me pass. That word was an open sesame through miles of corridors until, at last, I reached what is called “the Propa- banda Department of the United Anti-Fascist Militias of Catalonia.” There I found friends—or perhaps I should say comrades—of all na- tions, German exiles, Italian exiles, Hungarians, Rumanians, even one small Russian girl who had married a Spanish proletarian writer two years 2go when he came to Moscow for the International Congress of Proletarian Writers and had accompanied him to Spain and lost him there and, after some time and difficulty, had got & job in the anti-Fascist propaganda | department. Department Is Communist. Strangely enough, in Barcelona, which is dominated by tke anarchists, this propaganda department is mainly Communist, so I could speak their language. They put me immediately in touch with the principal anarchist | leader—although the anarchists abhor | the word “leader"—Garcia Oliver, and | the general secretary of the United | Militia Committee, Jaime Miravitlles, who represents the left wing of the Catalan Nationalists. | On the following day I met the most militant representatives of the United Socialists and, from conversations with all three groups, found it easy to | understand that, in Catalonia at all | events, there had occurred a real so- cial revolution. All three of them were inclined to dodge the phase as such, but it was perfectly clear that they knew they and the armed workers whom they represented are the real power in Catalonia, and that the gov- ernment, or generalitat, is no more than a rubber stamp to confirm their orders. (Copyright 1936, by the Norch American Newspaper Alliance Inc.) — COMMITTED TO ASYLUM By the Associated Press. SOUTH BOSTON, Va., September 18.—The Halifax Circuit Court ordered Walter Lacy, veteran mail carrier charged with killing Charles Fulp, committed to the asylum at Marion after three State alienists reported he had been “insane for several years.” Fulp, intervening between his eldest son Allan and Lacy, was shot and killed at the gate of his home July 22. The two families had been on good CLOTHES STORED Save ho closet clothes w I| Merchants Moth - Proof . Indi- wicker NATIONAL 6900 MERCHANTS’ TRANSFER & STORAGE CO. THIfith ond gay . . . ond are goi evar before. “Eventones,” “Chombray Royal” THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. T, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1936. R R et 37 Raleigh Presents 4 Great KNOX Headliners! POST OFFICE SPOILS HIT BY RAMSPECK Civil Service Chairman Says Ap- pointments Are Backbone of System. By the Associated Press. 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