A Glimpse Into Franco’s He

A Spanish Catholic

to throw barricades into the path
held in bondage under Hitler’s p

This article is by one of the cou
Past decade against fascist tyranny. Sr.
from the Basque country,
last summer from

mend escaped only

PUBLIN, Hire (By Mail)—

The prisons of the area of
Spain occupied by Franco were
packed with arrested persons
from the very first day of the
revolt. The great majority of
those arrested were people jail-
ed for no other reason than
that they belonged to some po-
litical or trade union body
which had been “opposed ' to
Franco. Very many of these
were shot, and with some of the
remainder I lived in Burgos jail
from 1988 to 1942. On all, sen-
tence had been passed, in most
cases of 30 years’ Imprison-
ment.

I arrived in Burgos along
with hundreds of others who
had been condemned to death.
We were almost all Basques
and Catholics, who had fought
against fascism right from the
first day of the military re-
volt, precisely because we were
convinced that fascism was the
exact antithesis of Catholicism.

460 to 500 Garrotted

We were then transferred to
the Larinaga prison in Bil_
bao, where between 400 and
500 of my comrades were shot
or garrotted (the garote is a
particularly brutal method of
execution by strangulation).
The Franco press has now
published a certain amount ot
information about German con-
centration camps. I believe T
am not far wrong when [I say
that in Burgos Jail more than
half the prisoners weighed no
more than 100 pounds and that
if photographs could have been
obtained there as in Buchen-
wald it would not have been
possible to recognize any dit-
ference whatever between the
prisoners from the German con-
centration camp and those of
Burgos.
When we were transferred
we were taken to cells and at
first placed in solitary confine-_

MMM MMMM

Nationalist

Azurmendi,
spent many

By JOSE A ZURMENDI

ment.

In 1941 the fascist govern-
ment decreed a revision of
Sentences for all] except those
of us who had been sentenced
to death. Later, in 1942, our
sentence was also revised; our
death penalty had already been
commuted, and most of us now,
received revised sentences of
up to 12 years.

All young men who had not
fought in the war in Franco’s
armies — and of course that
meant the lot—were taken away
to earry out military service in
“Pioneer Battalions” which still
exist—in Spain based on Ale-
ciras, in Africa on Ceuta. These
young men of from 28 to 30
years of age have to serve dn
these battalions the length of
time which the age group to
which they belong served in
Franco’s armies, that is, from
two to four years.

Result To Date -

Ee in these battalions is

exceptionally hard — task
men .were “taken for a ride,”
work, in fact, making roads,
canals and so on. An example
of the kind of thing which these
battalions have to do is the con-
Struction of the Rio Martin
Canal, three miles from Tetuan
(Africa), completed in May of
this ‘year, in which Pioneer
Battalions Nos. 91 and 97 took
part. From 10 to 11 hours are
worked every day, and for this
the state pays a daily wage of
about six cents. Dinner usual_
ly consists of a dish of rice
or beans. :
All these men who have en-
dured nine years of prison life
—those who have managed to
Survive it—those who are still
in prison, those who are in exile,
and 80 percent of the ordinary
population, all felt a blind faith
in the democratic nations and
in their final victory. For that
victory they fought against

writes. Spain’s people, the first
of European fascism, are still
uppet Franco.

ntless unsung heroes of the struggle of the
the author,
months in Burgos prison. Sr. Azur-
a second prison term.

a Catholic

Germany, Italy and the-fascists
of their. own land, at first in
Spain in open but unequal con-
flict, and then in France, im
the Maquis, in the Basque Bri-
gade, and so on. Inside Spain
they did what they could to
prevent help to Germany and
assist the United Nations.

am

a : e
£4 CAL GEL DO.

And after all this, what has
this victory given us, this vic-

tory that we longed for so
much and that our enemies
feared, favoring as they did in
every way they could the Ger-
mans and Italians, sending their
“Blue Division” to fight in Rus_
Sia, boasting of the German
victories in- Poland and in
France, sneering in their news-
papers at what they called the
eclipse of Britain, and mocking
the late President Roosevelt as
a stupid visionary? ‘

Nothing: that is the terrible
truth.

130,000 Still Jailed

LL the countries in the
world that were subjected

by fascist tyrants today enjoy
freedom, and are able to choose
their own governments: but
Spain continued to be not one

ANT

They Died For Democracy

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 10

Left to Right—Joe Armita
three of the B.C.

boys who died

ge, Yorki

e Burton and Chuck Parker
in Spain fighting fascism.

5)

-talions,

whit less fascist than it was
when Franco and his followers
were only too glad to declare
it so.

The only difference is that
today they find it a little awk
ward to go on calling them-
selves, that title sounding some-
what ugly in the present in-
ternational circumstances.

That is why they are trying
to deceive the world by calling
themselves democrats. These
“democrats” are still today
holding 130,000 real democrats
in their actual jails, and main-
taining seven “Pioneer” Bat-
three in Africa, and
four in Spain, all subjected to
the worst possible conditions.

Of the 130,000 prisoners still
in Spanish jails, 90 percent are
there for “crimes” committed
before April 1, 1939. Now they
are accused of “crimes against
the security of the state,”
among which are included such
things as having handed over
money or parcels to some friend

Mac-Paps Should —
Get Full Recognition

A DECADE has passed since

the first fascist aggression
in Hurope—a decade that has
held terrible lessons for the
people of the whole world; for
the bloody struggle for domin-
ation of the earth by German
and Italian fascism might have
been halted on the battlefields
of Spain.

Unfortunately the democratic
forces of the world were slow
to recognize the danger; they
fell prey to the same anti_Soviet
red seare that is raising its
ugly head today. They ‘were
misled by the same social-dem-
ocratic confusionists who lend
their support to the red baiting
scaremongering that is now be_
ing used in an endeavor to rob
the people of the reward of
victory. The French social-dem_
ocrat Blum (who today goes to
the U.S. to ask for a loan as
the only way to curb the left-
ward trend of the people of
France), succumbed to British
pressure and closed the French
border. depriving the Spanish
people of arms to resist the
Fascist invader. The farce of
non - intervention was played
out to the bitter end, dooming
the world to years of the blood-
lest fighting ever seen.

The scene has changed.
There is no doubt of the nature
of the Spanish struggle now.
Hiverybody recognizes that the
opening shots in the struggle
to dominate the world and sub-
ject its people to Fascist slay-
ery were fired in Madrid. Yet
it is significant that official
Statements, from the British
and American governments,
demanding the removal of
Franco, still refer to the dan-
fer of ‘another civil war.’ The
war in Spain was never a civil
War; those who fought against
the people. of Spain, led by the
first “Quisling,’ Franco, were
for the most Part, Italian and
German Fascists, aided by Mo-
froccan mercenaries, the rest
were no more representative of
the Spanish than the Vichyites
represent the French.

of these 90 percent, 85 pe
Or possibly more,

of the fight to exterminate

in jail, for at the same i

are
who were at one time re
either with or without |
tions. This being so, it ca
ily be seen that the “amn-
about which the fascist gi;
ment is making such a Sc,
order to bolster up its 1s
ganda, has in fact affecte
more than 10 percent «
prisoners. ~ :
And now, seven years ~
the end of the war in !}
with the terrible world waz
ished, with the victory c
mocracy and the hypocr?
Franco, now calling his ©
an “organic democracy,’®
in view of the inaction qc
United Nations, I have §
some prisoners exclaim wij
irony that conceals all the ©
edy of their fate —“‘Perhap
democracies are now goiz
think that it is we who ar .
fascists, as the others are
ing themselves democrats.

3

But there were, in €-
country, those who recog |
the Spanish struggle for
it was ten years ago, and
the ranks of these people Va]
those who joined to form -
first International pec}
army, the International ~
gade. The governments of r
countries in Hurope give re
nition to their nationals
fought in that army: it
logical step following the
ognition that Franco and
Falangists must go; that |
ostensibly neutral Pr |
clique supported to their
most the war machine of
ler and Mussolini: that
Sent the imfamous Blue
gade to fight on the Has
front.

(pea hundred Canac
fought on the battle fi’
of Spain. They fought as
nadians in the Mackenzie-]_ {
ineau battalion and their ii.
ence, the fine .contribution sk
they made, greatly enhai ii
the prestige of Ganada. sa
true that they did not have |
approval of the Ganadian £8
ernment at the time, but 7
fought as Canadians, in a ff,
that affected all Canadians.

I

The recognition by the Et.
eral government of the ‘WV.
Paps’ as veterans of Wk 5
War Two is part and pa;

last remnants of fascism
Hurope. Hlimination of Fra
is another step in the elimi |
tion of fascist regimes in E
ope. Recognition of the M |;
Pap vets is another step in
elemination of home grown f
cists. The fight of these vi
erans is receiving: the SUpB
of the trade union moyeme
It should win the support
the Canadian Legion — of
progressive organizatic
‘Break off relations with Fr
co. Recognize the Spanish W.
Veterans,’ is a dual slogan
the battle for freedom, pei
and progress.—GC.A.S. —

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 16 by

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