Evening Star Newspaper, September 19, 1936, Page 4

A4 * CATALONIA MOVES T0 COLLECTIVISH Goes Further Than Rest 6f Loyalist Spain Toward Social Revolution. This is the sizth of a series of uncensored dispatches on under- surface conditions in Spain, written by Walter Duranty, jamous foreign correspondent, after traveling sev- eral weeks through the war-torn provinces of Catalonia, Aragon and New Castile. BY WALTER DURANTY. By Radio to The Star. TOULON, France, September 19.— The most interesting question in the Spanish situation is, how far do events and tendencies in Catalonia correspond with what is happening or will happen in the rest of Loyalist Spain? The crux of the whole matter lies there because Catalonia has gone further than the rest of the country on the path of social revolution—and 13 going farther still—although the . popular leaders still are rather sky of the phrase, social revolution— chiefly, one supposes, because it sounds like playing the game of the rebels, who call themselves Nationalists and call the Loyalists Marxists. At this point, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that there is little or no Marxism in the Catalan people’s movement, although the majority of foreigners in Barcelona, mearly all of whom lost money or Spanish friends as a result of that movement, refer harshly to the Barcelona authorities | as “Communists” or “Reds.” Like | the foreigners in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution, they dislike the transition of Catalonia from capital- | ism and the profit motive to & collec- tivist system in which profit is ex- cluded. Transition in Progress. Unless I am vastly mistaken, such a transition is in progress today and is advancing by leaps and bounds, but the popular leaders were careful to tell me that it will not be done, if they can help it, on such a thoroughgoing or hurried scale as in Russia under militant communism. The Catalan ideal appears to be some- thing like the Soviet under the “nep,” with all big finance, industry, busi- ness, transportation and public utilities | run by the state—in short, state con- trol of the basic means of production— | but considerable freedom for petty | productions and business—that is to say, private trade and private profit— under state control. As matters now stand, all the banks and financial establishments of Barce- lona are nationalized, the stock ex- | change is closed, and the valuta ex- | change is fixed as arbitrarily as in | Moscow, although, as in Moscow, there | is a bootleg exchange at far below the | fixed rates. Practically all the big | factories, department stores, large | estate, and, of course, all church property and public utilities already are nationalized or are run by workers’ committees, which comes to the same | thing. The agrarian question, which | forms the subject of a later article, re- mains unsettled, but the indications are that a considerable degree of collectivism will be introduced. In short, Catalonia has had a pro- Jetarian revolution, or what the popu- | lar leaders call a democratic revolu- | tion, because they think the word proletarian savors too strongly of Mos- cow and the word dictatorship is abhorrent to them. For these leaders are anarchists, not Marxists. Even the numerically greatest popular party—the Catalan Left Nationalists— is far closer to anarchism than to bol- shevism, Marxism or communism. Defined as Individualism. What the Spaniards, especially the Catalans, mean by anarchism is very different from what the word con- notes to the American understanding, as will be explained in a later article. For the time being it may be defined as an expression of individualism, which is immensely strong in Span- fards generally and in the Catalans in particular. Foreigners who know Spain well de- clare that his individualism is the curse of the country—that there is no Spain as a unit, but Navarre, Castile, Andalusia, Catalonia and ‘a dozen other provinces which will not work together unless compelled by & mas- ter's hand. It must be admitted that in Loyalist Spain, as in Soviet Russia shortly after the Bolshevik revolution, the idea of local autonomy has run wild. Not Catalonia alone, but Valencia, Malaga and the other important cen- ters controlled by the Loyalists, care little for the central authority of Ma- drid. Nevertheless, like Soviet Russia, they have the common purpose of fighting reactionaries and, whether they realize it or not, this purpose will bind them together. I had an example of this on the Baragossa front when I presented my credentials from the Barcelona Anti- Fascist Militia Committee to Gen. Durruti, commanding . column which was composed mainly of Barcelona anarchists, Ecornful of Emblem. “What is this separatist emblem?” he said, pointing sconrfully toward the Catalonia—and this is Spain. Next the document. “This is Aragon, not Catalonai—and this is Spain. Next time you come here, tell your Cata- Jonion friends to give you a pass with- out that flag—I don’t like it.” He spoke roughly, but his eyes were smiling, and he added quickly, “that does not matter. First, we will beat the rebels and then fix the consti- tution.” I asked how, and Gen. Durruti in- dicated hope for a federation, some- thing between the Soviet Union and the sovereign States of America. “But that,” he said, “will come later. Meanwhile we are fighting side by side, Anarchists, Socialists, Com munists, Trotskyites, Catalan Na- tionalists and other Spaniards, against the Fascist enemy. One thing is cer- tain—when we have won, it will be & people’s government in the true sense of the word and the govern- ment of & united people, because this struggle will unite us.” Catalonia Sets 1t is likely that Gen. Durruti spoke truly and that Catalonis, despite its separatist tendencies, which, like “home rule for Ireland,” date far back, is setting an example to the rest of Spain. It is likely, too, that the “Loyal- 1ss” or “government forces” will fol- Jow that example and, although they have no Lenin, will swing more and more toward the idea of proletarian collectivism—different, no doubt, from Moscow’s because each nation follows the line that suits it best—based upon the masses of workers and peasants and the popular army that is being formed from these ts. ‘The recent chance goverriment | nificant item of recent Spanish news | | Elmer Mains wanted to sell his cow. The driver and three passengers were killed at Cheshire, Conn., Fifteen others were injured. THE EVENING §TAR, WASHINGTON, when this bus overturned. —Copyright, A. P. Wirephoto. at Madrid seems to prove this beyond | a doubt, and, as the struggle grows | harsher with the advent of Winter, | the process of proletarianization is likely to be accelerated. | In this connection, the most sig- | is the dispatch of 5,000 Catalan troops | to the Madrid front, which is not merely a mark of military solidarity, | important as that is, but an act of | profound political meaning. (Cepyrisht, 1936, by the North American HONEST ADVERTISING Farmer Tells the Truth When Try- ing to Sell Cow. DELAWARE, Ohio (#).— Farmer But he had no desire to misrepreserit things. He advertised like this: “For sale, Jersey cow, seven years | old, I don't know what is the matter | with this cow. Some days she will | give three gallons and other days & | quart. She’s a beauty to look at and | gentle as & kitten and would make 8 | good family cow if your family is| real small.” Government Planes Fall Fighting Each Other by Mistake By the Associated Press. RABAT, French Morocco, Sep- tember 19.—The insurgent radio station at Jerez de la Frontera today reported two government planes had fallen in flames be- hind the Fascist lines west of Toledo after fighting each other by mistake. The station also said a Leftist junta, independent of Madrid, had been set up at Santander. SPRING When you invest in this community of enchanting beauty you have assurance of the continuous protection of its nat- ural endowments— surrounded by such regulating restric- tions as make im- possible any inhar- monious note of home designing—or the invasion of any incongruous element. Irvin S. Cobb Says: Good Colors for Shirts Under Dictators All Used Up. Alumni Association to Meet. LINCOLN, Va., September 19 (Spe- cial).—The Lincoln High School Alumni Association will hold its an- nual meeting in the high school building here tomorrow at 8 p.m. Fol- lowing the election of officers, a pro= gram will be given and a social hour will follow. Present officers of the association are Marvin Simpson, pres- ident; Lake Van Sickler, vice presi- dent; Margaret Ward, secretary, and Louise Otley, treasurer. | JAPANESE OFFICE SLAIN IN HANKOW Chinese Sought for Firing Shot in Back of Police- man’s Head. By the Associated Press. HANKOW, China, September 19.— Niwajiro Yoshioks, & member of the Japanese consular police in Hankow, was shot to death by an unidentified Chinese, the Domei (Japanese) News Agency reported today. The agency sald Yoshioka was shot in the back of the head while he was standing inside a police box. Domel further reported & Man- chukuoan military officer, & native of Korea, arrived in Hankow and re- ported to Japanese authorities he had been attacked in the dining car of a train between Peiping and Han- kow by Chinese passengers, who staged an anti-Japanese demonstration. Japanese naval forces, anchored here in conjunction with the con- sular police, established emergency patrols in the national concession, in which the slaying occurred. Yoshiaki Miura, Japanese consul general, requested assistance from Chinese authorities in apprehending the slayer. Japanese residents of Hankow were summoned to meet Sunday to con- sider measures for their own protec- tion. JAPANESE RULE FENGTAL Chinese Troops Evacuate Own North China Barracks. PEIPING, September 19 (P).— Japanese military authorities won complete control today of Fengtai, dominating point for all rail lines in North China, as Chinese troops evacuated their own barracks. The victory resulted from & Japa- nese protest over the reported attack by Chinese soldiers on & Japanese officer and orderly. Frank Smothers, Far East corre- jpondent for an American newspaper (Chicago Daily News) and his wife D. ¢, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1936. cers during an attempt to report the surrender of the Chinese troops. The terms on which the settlement of the incident was based included complete evacuation of the area by the 19th Chinese Army and an apology to the Japanese military authorities. The evacuation was started and the apology was made, Before the settlement Chinese and Japanese troops lined up in military positions facing each other. The Japanese surrounded the troop, bar- racks while the Chinese mounted machine guns on ihe bullding’s roof in preparation for a possible attack. Superior officers of the two forces agreed to the terms of the surrender, however, and a clash was averted. NAVAL OFFICERS CONFER. Japanese Hold Emergency Session in Shanghal. SHANGHAI, September 19 (#).— Naval authorities of the 3d Japanese Fleet, advised of the killing of a Japanese consular policeman at Hankow, went into emergency session here today on the flagship cruiser Idzumo. The naval officials said the con- ference was called to “consider meas- ures to be taken as a result of the slaying.” . VIRGINIA BUé DRIVER FREED IN FATAL CRASH By the Associated Press. WILLIAMSBURG, Va.,, September 19.—W. M. Walker, driver of a Penin- sula Lines bus which collided with an automoblile fatally infuring three persons, was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in Trial Court here :| yesterday. The bus driver said that he ran| his machine off the road on a curve in an attempt to avold striking the oncoming automobile. None of the bus passengers was injured, but the three occupants of the car died. They were Miss Grace Kerns, prominent singer and a mem* ber of the Randolph Macon Woman's College faculty; H. J. Kerns, s H. J. Kerns, jr., of Norfolk. The ac- cident occurred near here September were handled roughly by Japanese offi- | 10. ., and | FRENCH DAIRYMEN ARE CALLED OUT One Injured in Scuffle Over Occupancy of Marne De- partment Plant, By the Associated Press. PARIS, September 19. — Dairy workers in the Marne department de- clared a strike for higher wages today to heighten the French government’s labor troubles. One dairy employe suffered a frac- tured skull when he fell downstairs during a scuffie among workers who | occupled the plants. Officials in Paris, meanwhile, dis- patched a corps of conciliators to the labor-troubled regions in an effort to halt the spread of walkouts. Employers’ Effigy Burned. At Lille, where textile workers Won a 6 per cent wage increase, the Vic- torious employes celebrated with a parade and burned a figure repre- senting the leader of the Employers’ Negotiating Committee. Street car service in Toulon was| halted by police after the transit company objected to municipal oper- ation of the lines during a strike, Other Strikes Continue, At Epinal, in the Vosges depart- ment, 30,000 textile workers continued their “folded arms” strike. At Saint Die 10,000 employes held the ma- Jority of the factories from continuing production. A general meeting of the French Confederation of Labor was called for September 25 “to survey the situa- tion and study proper measures to safeguard the rights of workers in respect to collective (bargaining) contracts and to assure the economic recovery of the Nation.” Law Hinders Research. Bcientists who wish to discover the secrets of the moon are asking the repeal of the British explosives law of 1875, which bans tests by rockets designed to be fired miles into the sky. GEORGESAYSUS, BETTER PREPARED Readiness to Wage War Is Best Peace Guarantee, Georgians Told. By the Associated Press. ATLANTA, September 19.—Sena- tor Walter F. George, Democrat, of Georgia, says America is better pre- pared “than at any time since the end of the World Wax nd declared this preparedness tme “surest guarantee” of peace. | Georgia’s senior Senator spoke last night at a Democratic party celebra- tion of the recent primary defeat of Gov. Eugene Talmadge, persistent critic of the New Deal. He praised the administration’s do= mestic and foreign policies. And con- tinued: “Don’t let them tell you our country is not prepared to defend her foreign policies, which may become all impor= tant during the next two years * * °, “This Nation of ours is better pre=- pared tonight than at any time since the end of the World War. I tell you this and I am not a pacifist. “We are prepared. And that is the surest guarantee that we will stay out of the struggles now seething in Eu- rope.” SENTENCE COMMUTED Methvin Conviction in Slaying of Sheriff Upheld. | OKLAHOMA CITY, September 19 | (#)—The Criminal Court of Appeals commuted the death penalty yesterday for Henry Methvin, 23, to life im- prisonment when it partially recog- nized assistance he gave authorities in the capture and slaying of the late Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, his cigar-smoking woman companion. ‘The court upheld Methvin's convic- | tion in the slaying of Cal Campbell, | Ottawa County constable, Methvin escaped from & Texas prison farm with Barrow in Janu- ' ary, 1935, SANTA MONICA, September 19. Let's see. Among others, we now have the Blue Shirts in Ireland, the Brown Shirts in Germany, the Red Shirts in Russia, and, of course, the Black Shirts in Italy, w hich seems the most practical of all because you don't need to wash a black shirt for months and too quick. alarmists among us are predicting an early dicta- torship here. At the rate all the standard shares are being snapped up, we'll have to think up s new color in shirts, and, unless we hurry, there may not be any new colors to think up, and you can’t have a dic- tatorship without a shirt to match— that's the rule. Lavender hasn't been | taken yet by anybody, but lavender seems kind of sissy, and, while, a gravy-colored shirt might suit the careless eater, it lacks zing, don't you think? In any event, our shirt ought to have a good long tail to it, because, by that time, the American taxpayer probably will have lost his pants. <anmn;‘ 1936, by the North American e wspaper Allisnce, Inc.) 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