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[Reproduced from conjuringthepast.com where there is also a Versión en Español]
As I write this, Spain is currently facing the exact same crisis it found itself in 87 years ago, back in 1936, just before the Civil War began. This is the result of 46 years of so-called democracy and capitalism, the last 37 of which were spent within the European Union. The much reviled Franco ruled Spain as a dictator for 36 years after the Civil War which had left Spain devastated and bankrupt. After WWII Spain was totally isolated by the hatred of what the rest of the world considered to be “Fascism.”
In 1969, whilst Spain’s “fascist” regime was still underway, Franco appointed Juan Carlos as successor to the title of king. Upon his death, Franco’s guardianship of a, by then healthy, thriving Spain, to its monarch-in-waiting, Juan Carlos I, and to democracy. Now, after the same period of time under the European Union’s “democratic” regime, a crippled Spain once more faces destruction and oblivion.
How can this be possible?
I apologise in advance for any sloppiness and lack of detail in what I am about to present, but there is so much that could be said it would end up smothering the important message it reveals. It’s for the sake of that message that I will try to concentrate on the main points alone.
Everyone has heard of the Spanish Civil War and knows that the ‘fascist’ Franco was the only one of the so-called ‘Axis of Evil’ dictators who was successful in overcoming his adversaries. This article is not about accusing or excusing Franco’s regime, it’s about events and how those events have repeated and are repeating themselves right now.
Initially the Spanish Civil war was portrayed as a workers crusade against the evils of “fascist capitalism.” It was incited in 1936 by rebel military generals, led by Franco, against the ‘Frente Popular’ (Popular Front,) the supposedly democratically elected Republican government.
Accounts of the Civil War are nearly all written from the perspective of hindsight and prejudice after the period of Franco’s regime. In other words, they have been written by those he defied and defeated. I don’t want to cover the entire sequence of events related to the Civil War, but I would like to highlight just a few episodes that are relevant to this article and give a little background information to put it all in perspective…
“By 1923 conditions became chaotic. To prevent the Communist Party bringing about another revolution the king of Spain asked General Primo de Rivera to become military dictator...
“...He worked so hard that only his breakdown in health in 1929 can explain the errors in judgment he made during 1930...
“...Tired and worn out, and as if in a hurry to unburden himself of the responsibilities of office, he called in two socialist leaders, Besteiro and Saborit. He charged them with the task of reorganizing the electoral machinery of the nation so the people could decide whether they wanted a monarchy or a republican government. Just why De Rivera appointed Besteiro and Saborit to re-organize the electoral machine of Spain will probably never be known...
“...The two socialists rigged the election machinery so well a socialist-Republican Government was assured. In Madrid alone the number of fictitious voters exceeded 40,000. Similar corruption existed in all the larger centres of population.” ‘Pawns in the Game’, William Guy Carr, 1958.
This rigged election signalled the end of the Spanish monarchy.
“King Alfonso XIII of Spain issued his last public proclamation. It read as follows :
‘I am the king of all Spaniards, and I am a Spaniard. I could find ample means to maintain my royal prerogatives in effective resistance to those who assail them, but I prefer to stand resolutely aside rather than to provoke a conflict which might array my countrymen against one another in Civil War and patricidal strife.
‘I renounce no single one of my rights which, rather than being mine, are an accumulated legacy of history for the guardianship of which I shall one day have to render strict account. I shall wait the true and full expression of the collective conscience and, until the nation speaks, I deliberately suspend the exercise of my royal powers and am leaving Spain, thus acknowledging that she is sole mistress of her destinies. Also now I believe that I am fulfilling the duty which the love of my country dictates. I pray God that all other Spaniards may feel and fulfil their duty as sincerely as I do.’
“...This document proves that the International [WS: and National] Press lied to their readers when it reported The King of Spain had abdicated. The King of Spain never abdicated. Franco holds control of Government because the International conspirators are still determined to turn Spain into a Totalitarian Dictatorship to serve their ends.” (ibid. Franco was still in power when this book was written.)
The above is confirmed by the fact that in January 1941, Alfonso XIII renounced his rights to the Spanish throne in favour of his grandson Juan Carlos. Why would he do that if there was no Spanish throne? Then, as already mentioned, upon his own death, Franco willingly returned the control of Spain to Alfonso’s XIII’s grandson, King Juan Carlos.
“On May 14th, 1931, a meeting was held in the Ateneo Club, in Madrid, to discuss the new political programme...
“...Its eight points were:
- Creation of a republican dictatorship.
- Immediate punishment of all responsible for illegal acts under the dictatorship.
- Disbanding the Civil Guard, the Army, and the police, etc., and the substitution of armed republicans chosen from the labouring classes and Republican Clubs.
- Confiscation of property of religious orders.
- Nationalization of land.
- Suppression of all press agencies hostile to the Republican cause.
- Utilization of technical schools and other buildings for the public good.
- Postponement of the Cortes until this programme had been carried out.” (ibid.)
There was a great deal of international support for the Republican cause against Franco. There were famously ‘International Brigades’ of foreign volunteers fighting against Franco. One such supporter was John McGovern, a member of the British Worker’s Party, who had a seat in the British parliament. As you might imagine he was involved with many international socialist worker’s organisations and there had been reports of his Spanish “brothers” being imprisoned in Barcelona – which was at that time the headquarters of the Republican anti-fascist government. Three individual British socialist representatives had visited Barcelona during 1937 in order to confirm and resolve these issues, but to no avail. In November of that year John McGovern and a representative of the Central Committee of the League for Human Rights along with someone from an organisation called the S.R.I., were granted permission to visit Barcelona. His experience was recorded in a pamphlet he published upon his return to Britain entitled:
TERROR IN SPAIN How the COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL has destroyed Working
Class Unity, undermined the fight against Franco, and suppressed
the Social Revolution By JOHN McGOVERN, M.P. (Price 1d)
Class Unity, undermined the fight against Franco, and suppressed
the Social Revolution By JOHN McGOVERN, M.P. (Price 1d)
He provides some interesting background:
“Russia has provided certain military supplies to the Spanish Government. It is freely alleged that in return she has been permitted to place certain representatives in key positions, especially in the army and police forces. It has also been alleged that the recurring changes in the Government have been in large part due to the plotting and threats of Spanish Communist representatives acting on the orders of the Communist International.”
McGovern attributes this to an attempt by the Russians to divert the crusade away from "Worker’s Power" to "Defence of Democracy," which has been achieved through the influence of Liberals, Right-Wing Socialists, and particularly the Communists. If that isn’t bizarre enough in itself he then goes on to say…
“It is widely suspected that this change has been put through in order to placate French and British Capitalism. Russia is believed to be anxious to improve her standing with the British Government in order to conclude a further military alliance. Russia believes the way to do this is to prove her trustworthiness by repudiating any economic revolution in Spain.”
Let’s not forget that these are the words of a British MP from 1937 who one would assume has access to privileged information. Even so, the concept of Right-Wing Socialists and Russia placating French and British Capitalism is really difficult to assimilate.
Anyway, it seems that when this takeover of key positions took place in Barcelona on May Day, the Spanish Worker’s factions rebelled against the Russians. The Communist International swiftly declared the main Worker’s organisations illegal and banned all their propaganda. A Spanish Communist assumed the position of Chief of Police in Barcelona and…
“As soon as he was installed the Comintern Cheka was established in Barcelona; there were wholesale arrests, abductions, tortures, disappearances and murders of opponents of Communist policy.”
The “Comintern Cheka” was the Communist International Secret Police. By the time McGovern arrived in November 1937, over 3,000 Spanish Worker’s members, men and women, had been imprisoned, tortured and many others assassinated…”
These imprisoned and murdered people were the very ones who had been whipped up into the frenzy that facilitated the socialist revolution in Spain.
“The hand of the Cheka has stretched outside Spain. The wife of Joaquin Maurin, the P.O.U.M. leader, who is a prisoner in Franco's hands, lives in Paris. Her home was raided by French Communists. Eight of them invaded her flat, cut off the telephone, locked the doors and proceeded to ransack the papers and books; they believed that her flat was a centre of P.O.U.M. propaganda. Even in France the Moscow-directed Cheka operates.”
On the face of it, this sounds absolutely crazy. A leader of one of the worker’s parties – an enemy of Franco – is caught and imprisoned by Franco. Then the Comintern secret police – also enemies of Franco – reach out all the way to Paris to interrogate the prisoner’s wife! It only makes sense if the Russians had an entirely different agenda planned for Spain and if there were three sides involved in the Civil War.
“At the beginning there was magnificent unity. Despite deep theoretical differences, the Syndicalists, Socialists, Anarchists, Communists and the Revolutionary Socialists of the P.O.U.M. were all together. They fought the Fascists side by side, they formed their workers' militia, they had a United Military Council to co-ordinate their activities.”
Now they had served their purpose they were dispensed with like so much rubbish.
“Apart from the humane object of our mission, we believed that an amnesty and the ending of Cheka operations would strengthen the Worker's Front against Franco and his Italian and German allies. With these aims we set out for Barcelona, determined to do everything in our power to bring about the release of the anti-Fascist prisoners, to encourage working-class unity, and to assist the struggle against Fascist Capitalism in Spain and throughout the world.”
I’m beginning to wonder if Mr. McGovern wasn’t a bit deluded.
“The Communists are also mainly responsible for weakening the military fight against Franco. They refused to allow arms to be sent to the Aragon Front because the anti-Fascist forces there were manned by the C.N.T. and P.O.U.M. [Spanish Worker’s Parties.] If arms had been available, the anti-Fascist army could have advanced months ago at Saragossa — and Madrid would have been relieved and the Fascists would never have succeeded in taking the Basque country or the Asturias. This is now recognised to have been the great strategical error of the war. The Communists were even prepared to sacrifice the war because of their political opposition to the C.N.T. and the P.O.U.M. There are many other ways in which the Communists have weakened the military fight…”
It’s beginning to sound like the Russians/Communists were only interested in securing Cataluña don’t you think?
When McGovern visited the Carcel Modelo prison in Barcelona he found that there were 500 of Franco’s fascists imprisoned there alongside another 500 anti-fascists from the Spanish Worker’s Parties and even some from the International Brigade – no doubt some well-intentioned foreigners who had no idea what they were getting into. All the different groups told the same tales of torture by the Cheka.
McGovern’s final visit was to the Cheka Secret Prison in Barcelona…
“When we walked up the steps of Calle Vallmajor Prison our path was barred by two guards with rifles and bayonets fixed in position. We presented our authority to visit the prison from the Director of Prisons and the Minister of Justice, and word was conveyed to an inner room. In due course a further official appeared and he looked at our credentials with evident contempt. He informed us that he did not take any orders from the Director of Prisons or the Minister of Justice as they were not his bosses. We enquired who was his boss, and he gave us an address to the Cheka headquarters. His refusal to allow us to inspect the prison or see the prisoners was definite and complete. I must add that this official of the Secret Prison, as well as the two armed guards, were of a much lower type than any of the officials we had previously seen. They had the look of gangsters.”
McGovern and his crew set off to confront the Cheka…
“In due course there appeared two young men, neither of whom was Spanish. Our interpreter, who has a wide knowledge of languages and countries, was convinced from their manner of speech that one was Russian and the other German. The Russian informed us that we could neither see inside the prison nor interview the prisoners. I replied that we had credentials from the Director of Prisons and the Minister of Justice and asked whether he was more powerful than the Government, adding that if we were refused admission we would be compelled to draw our own conclusions as to the reason. The two officials were evidently taken aback by this direct and challenging question and retired again for consultation or orders. When they reappeared we were once more informed that we could see neither prison or prisoners.”
There then followed much negotiating between the Cheka and the supposed Spanish government, but all to no avail and the Cheka refused the visit point blank. McGovern then summed up his visit thus:
“There are two International Brigades in Spain, one a fighting force, drawn from the Socialist Movement of the world, and the other an International Cheka drawn from Comintern's paid gangsters, especially from Germany and Italy... These German and Italian Communist officials who escaped from Hitler and Mussolini have now themselves adopted the Fascist methods of brutality. The Cheka first attempts to destroy the character of every decent working-class leader by slander. Then it proceeds with arrests, abductions, tortures and assassinations. The victims of this Murder Trust lie dead in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid.”
Source
“Moscow would still the tongues, shackle the limbs, and mould robot minds in every militant fighter throughout the world. It buys and corrupts leaders in each country and pours out money in propaganda… For my part I cannot excuse or apologise for their acts. Human decency demands an exposure of their brutal methods. If Socialism meant what Moscow imposes, I would not want it. The Socialism I work for must give freedom, not tyranny, to the workers. All tyrannies I will denounce. The workers of Britain must choose between the terror of the Comintern and the freedom of Socialism.”
To the modern reader this may all sound quite confusing with Right-Wing Socialists, Communist Capitalists, Fascist Capitalism, escapee communists using fascist methods and the concept of Socialism representing freedom is extraordinarily out of place in modern day Spain. What we need is another perspective to try and clarify what the fuff was going on.
Captain Archibald Maule Ramsay was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He served with the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards in the First World War until he was severely wounded in 1916 - thereafter at Regimental H.Q. and then the War Office and later the British War Mission in Paris until the end of the war. From 1920 he became a Member of H.M. Scottish Bodyguard. In 1931 he was elected a Member of Parliament for Midlothian and Peeblesshire.
So, here we have another British politician of the same era who should also have been in a position to be privy to privileged information. In fact it turns out that he knew too much and was arrested under Regulation 18b (also known as the ‘Fifth Columnist’ charge) on the 23rd May, 1940. He was detained, without charge or trial, in a cell in Brixton Prison until the 26th September, 1944. On the following morning he resumed his seat in the House of Commons and remained there until the end of that Parliament in 1945. Fortunately for us he also wrote about his experiences in a book entitled ‘The Nameless War’ published in 1952…
“Here is the story that people have said would never be written in our time — the true history of events leading up to the Second World War, told by one who enjoyed the friendship and confidence of Mr. Neville Chamberlain during the critical months between Munich and September, 1939. There has long been an unofficial ban on books dealing with what Captain Ramsay calls "The Nameless War", the conflict which has been waged from behind the political scene for centuries, which is still being waged and of which very few are aware.” (From the Preface)
Captain Ramsay has this to say about the International Brigades…
“These International Brigades, besides representing the very latest novelty in revolutionary technique, were a remarkable production. They were recruited from criminals, adventurers and dupes, mostly communists, from 52 different countries, mysteriously transported and assembled in formations in Spain within a few weeks of the outbreak of disorder, uniformed in a garb closely related to our battle dress, and armed with weapons bearing the Jewish five-pointed star...
“This star and the Seal of Solomon were upon the signet rings of N.C.O.s and Officers in this communist horde of ill-disciplined ruffians. I have seen them myself in wear.”
The Civil War attracted a multitude of famous and infamous journalists and writers to Spain.
Many of these were communist sympathisers, some were even Russian spys,
such as Ernest Hemingway (above left in a helmet,) John Dos Passos, Martha Gellhorn,
Robert Capa, Virgina Cowles, Herbert Matthews, George Orwell (1984 'Big Brother',)
André Malraux, Kim Philby (Russian spy,) Antoine de Saint-Euxpéry.
Source
“Germany and Italy had each in their turn experienced the throes of communist revolution, and emerged victorious over this foulest of earthly plagues. They knew who had financed and organised the International Brigades; and with what fell purpose Barcelona had been declared in October 1936 the Capital of the Soviet States of Western Europe.”
So, there we have corroboration of John McGovern’s account whereby he witnessed two International Brigades – one comprised of Communists and the other of well-intentioned socialists. We also have confirmation of the multi-racial “diversity” of the Communist International Brigade from his encounter with a Russian and also exiled German and Italian communists in the secret Cheka prison. What’s more significant is that McGovern, along with the rest of the world, was obviously unaware that Barcelona had been declared the Capital of the Soviet States of Western Europe, although by the end of his visit he saw it with his own eyes. This highlights the intention by the Soviet Union to establish a western base of operations in Cataluña. They obviously considered it a highly strategic position. Who knows, perhaps there were even other more esoteric reasons for their choice relating to Ley Lines or other energies. Whatever the reason, it explains why the Soviets appeared not to care about supporting military action beyond Cataluña, as observed by John McGovern.
Apologies, the forum only allows posts of 30000 characters and apparently this one has more so I have to split it in 2 parts, so it's continued in Part 2...
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