An interview with La Pasionaria

- Anti-Franco tide rising in Spain

By ART SHIELDS

MOSCOW

VISITED Dolores Ibarruri,

the beloved “La Pasionaria”

of Spain, to congratulate her

on winning the Lenin Peace

Prize. But: she modestly insisted

__ that the prize was not won by.
any individual.

_ It was won by the Spanish
_ people, who are fighting for
_ peace on a mass scale.

The struggle against Franco
is a struggle for peace; she re-
peated this again and again.
Franco was the ally of Hitler
-and Mussolini in World War II
And Franco is now providing
the Pentagon with the deadly
military bases that threaten the

__ World with thermonuclear war.

I came to -see the famed
_ Spanish leader at an exciting
time.

The strike movement was
_ Spreading through Spain. The
entire Asturian coal fields, from
'which she came, were shut
~ down in spite of savage fascist
repression. The popular move-
‘Ment is swelling in many direc- |
tions. And she believes that it
Will be possible to get rid of
Franco without another civil
War.

te Tells of struggles

That is not a certainty. But
_ the possibility is strong.

= Dolores Ibarruri was the ‘soul

On the
labor front

CAME across an interest-
ing column entitled Min-
ority Report and written

by Ed Finn appearing in Can- _

~ adian Transport, the official
organ of the Canadian Bro-
therhood of Railway Trans-
port Workers Union (CBRT).
It was written in connection
with negotiations between
railway unions and compa-
nies with regard to the issue
of strike action.

By the time this appears
there may already be a set-
tlement achieved, based on
the majority report which
proposed a 19 cents wage in-
crease spread over a two
year period. However, the
sentiments expressed by Mr.
Finn are quite interesting and

worth drawing attention to

irrespective of the outcome

of present negotiations. They

are quoted below.
a ee:

Government intervention in
some form or other has de-

prived the non-ops of the

strike weapon three times in

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

DOLORES IBARRURI

of the battles against the fas-
cist insurrection.in the grim

Spanish war years, 1936-1939.

And she has been playing an
important role in the struggles
since. Her night and day ef-
forts, however, have taken a
physical toll. She is now get-
ting medical treatment in Mos-
cow. But she is not a bit iso-
lated. She is in constant, two-
way contact with her comrades
in Spain.

She gave many details of the
movement as we drank coffee

in the cozy apartment, where
she is convalescing. She spoke

of a recent demonstration of |

40,000 anti-fascists in Bilbao,

the northern port city; of an-
other big one in Guernica, the
Basque “Holy City’ which the
Nazis’ Condor Legion destroy-
ed; of big strikes in Catalonia
and the Seville area; of the
mass struggles of peasants in

Southern Spain. And of the big.

anti-Franco trend
Catholic Church.

The Church used to be Fran-
co’s biggest base. But big anti-
Franco spirit is flowing through
Catholic circles today. And Do-
lores Ibarruri explained why.

Catholic workers and Com-
munists are striking together,
she said. Catholic anti-fascists
and Communists are’ demon-
strating against the Franco re-
gime as mass pressure is hav-
ing a significant effect in the
Catholic hierarchy itself.

Thus the Chief Abbott of the
important monastery at Mont-
serrat, near Barcelona, sharply
attacked the Franco regime as
an “unjust” government. And
the Vatican refused to censure
the Abbot at Franco’s request.

The mass opposition has also
had a destructive effect on the
Spanish. fascist society, “The
Falange,” which was a power-
ful prop for the dictator in
earlier years. The Falange is
now split. A “left” Falange
movement has arisen.

inside the

Propped by dollars

In fact large sections of the

Spanish” ruling class think of
Franco as a liability today.

Dolores Jbarruri does not
want people to have any illu-
sions about the difficulties of
the struggle, however. Franco
still has a section of the hier-
archy and many landowners
behind him. But his biggest sup-
port comes from the high-rank-
ing officers of the army, and
the American dollars behind
them. Without the dollars Fran-
co would not last many days.

But dollars cannot defeat un-
ity, she said. The Spanish peo-
ple’s best weapon is unity. And
the anti-fascist movements are
more united now than at any
time since the war. But. still
more unity is needed for final
victory. And the development

of maximum unity is still ham-

pered by disruptive propaganda.

Chinese disruption

Some of this comes from an-
archist groups. The anarchists
lost most of their prestige af-
ter their leaders joined the
treacherous Fifth Column in
March, 1939, in the last days
of the civil war. And some of
the anarchist leaders today are
utilizing the Chinese leaders’
propaganda against the Soviet
Union and many of the world’s
Communist parties.

I asked if the Chinese lead-
ers were working with any
group of ex-Communist party

-the Chinese leaders

members in Spain.
“With none inside —

she said. They ae

with a small group ov"

’

The Chinese leaders
ganda is spread by the
police, however, ee
police recently publis 1
titious “Communist” Pa
they labelled Man
That is the name of z
ground Communist a
They filled this fo
with the Chinese lea
tacks on the Commum
ties, and they gave»
‘distribution. .

The Franco televis!
Franco radio have Po
da as well. They wena
to broadcast the als
that the Spanish | :
party had held a sect
ing in which Dolores”
was removed from h
chairman and the pa
eral secretary, Carillo,
removed.

Sends greetings

This secret meetin e:
leged to have Sune
Chinese position. The tin
all lies. No such ne
held, Dolores Ibarrut a

Dolores Ibarruri hes
Jet me go without ee
warmest greetings 10 ©"
in America. Meee
—People’s —

Should the non-ops strike?

the past 15 years. It is regret-
table, nevertheless, that 100,-
000 railway workers have to
depend on the workers of
other industries, to set the
pace for them in wage in-
creases: it is more than re-
_ grettable — it is humiliating.

Personally, I am far from
convinced that railway work-
ers have completely and for-
ever lost the right to strike.
The actions of past govern-
ments, while establishing un-
_ welcome precedents, are not
an. infallible indicator of
what the present government

~ will do. The restraint shown
by the Pearson administra-
tion during the Montreal
longshoremen’s strike last
year would seem to imply
that intervention in a threat-
ened rail strike would come
only as a last resort.

The justification of any
government move to avert
or stop a strike would be to
protect the nation’s econo-
my. Is it absolutely certain
and unavoidable however,
that a railway strike would

deal the economy such a ser-
ious blow? Is it not possible
for the non-ops unions to de-
vise some kind of modified,
Selective strike action that’
would hurt the _ railways
without crippling the econo-
my? I pose these questions
because there seems to me
no reason why the unions
should continue to think
solely in terms of a massive
general railway shutdown.

The railways, while still an
important mode of transport,
are no longer as vital to
the distribution of essential
goods as they were even five
or 10 years ago. Most parts
of the country, in an emer-
gency could be serviced ade-
quately by trucks, ships and
planes. Perhaps the non-op
unions, in consultation with
the federal government,

could draw up a list of goods
that they would allow to be
delivered to communities un-
able to obtain them in any
other. way, as was done dur-
ing the 1950 strike. They
might even permit the re-

maining Russian wheat ship-
ments to go through on
schedule. Such an arrange-

ment would eliminate the ex-

cuse for government inter-
vention and make it strictly
a battle between the rail-
ways and their non-operating
workers.

No doubt there are many
objections that could be
made to this kind of selec- —
tive strike: I can think of a
few myself. But until some-
thing of the sort is carefully
considered, if not actually
attempted, it cannot be as-

sumed that the non-ops have
entirely lost. the right to
strike. Perhaps they have

only forfieited it, preferring
the jousting of technicians to
the hardships of the picket’
lines. ©

* * *

A few comments might be
in order with regard to the
proposals advanced by Mr.
Finn. a

In Western Europe labor

July 10, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUN

_ Mr. Finn, even for 4

exert their strength !

_ pressure which can

: jth
Jaws operate differently
they do here with Bs
that unions can ae
i suggers=
along the lines sug day.
wo)
two, and then return io,
The ability to so ach a
there is less of a ee
the workers who a
strike and less of ase
union treasuries. At t nl
time the unions are @

which seem to be 9U
fective.

‘Here, as-is know}, ©
Acts prohibit strikes
the period of the cons
subject which is receiV=,
creasing attention by vat
ing body of the trade
movement. Howevehy
does not prevent get
tion of a™ strike ae
which could, in cerl@
cumstances, have thé.
effect as a general
would. : :

The main value of i
posals advanced, he"
are not so much the
als in themselves, of
need for all sections
trade union mover
consider various [0%

d an

loped both to defen
vance the interests ye
workers concerned. | y
veloping situation
require a variety ~
forms. ie

&,