Page Four

PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE

Men Of The

International Brigade

By MICHAEL O'MARA.

Women and children flee- ing through streets slippery with blood as plane after plane swoops down upon them spraying death. ...

Men tenderly lifting the tangled body of a child trom the wreckage of a house in the working-class district of Madrid... .

Refugees from Malaga streamin£e along the highway skirting the

GEN. E. KLEBER Commands Brigade

sea—old men and women, children, wounded men—while a merciless artillery fire turns the flight into a shambles. .And after the artil- lery, the Moors, the Italians, the Germans. ...

Gorpses piled high in the bull ring at Badajoz where machine suns mowed men down in scores all through one long, terrible day. Two thousand of them slaughtered by the Fascists because they had dared to defend their hard-won freedom. .. .-

This is the war in Spain today, a war in which the Fascists are sparing neither young nor old, combatant or non-combatant, com- munist or liberal, catholic or prot- estant. War as it may some day strike nearer home if the ruthless fide of Fascism is not stemmed in Spain. ;

These mountains, dark and Sombre against a Pacific sunset. What guarantee have we that they

By WM. PURVIS

Victory Square was packed with ex-service men, angrily protesting the latest act of a grateful government in cutting their pensions. Everywhere were city police- men and down a side street the scarlet coated mounted listened for the whistle which would call them into action, clubs swinging.

A short, stocky man, his broad face marred by a deep scar, sud- denly appeared on the parapet behind the Cenotaph, raising his voice above the tumult, trans- forming a difficult situation which might easily have led to a massacre of ex-servicemen into an organized march from the square.

A plainclothesman, yanking the stocky man down from the para- pet, wrote in his pook: “R. Kerr. Agitator.”

x

This was in 1932. Today, Bob Kerr is political commissioner for the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion, Ganada’s splendid body of anti- Fascists fighting in defence of democracy in Spain.

These men who provide leader- ship in the various units ef the International Brigade and the Spanish People’s Army—theirs 1S a responsible position, necessitat— ing qualifications developed only in the course of long years in the service of the working class. Bob Kerr possesses all these very ne- cessary qualifications.

Picture, if you will, this people’s army in the making, inspired by ideals beyond the ken of the Fas- cist generals who must resort to every subterfuge to maintain dis- cipline in their own troops.

Dr. Norman Bethune, head of the Canadian medical unit in Spain, who last weelk returned to Montreal for a lecture tour of the Dominion before he goes back to Madrid, described this rapid transformation of workers, peas- ants into a fighting force without peer.

‘How the troops have changed,” he said. “They have a wonderful morale and real discipline. All comrades, of course, but they snap fo attention and salute their of- ficers.”

*

The task of inspiring the troops sith the ideal of self-discipline and willing co-operation devolved upon the political commissioners who, by personal example and painstaking explanation, not only transformed disorganized forces into an army, but also converted this army into a vast school.

Anna Louise Strong tells of a visit to the front-line where edu-

may mot echo to the drone of bombers? These tranquil valleys where birch and poplar are fresh and ereen in the springtime. What suarantee have we that some day the fields may not he churned and tor by steel, the birch and poplar jagged, blackened stumps in 2 wilderness from which all life has been blasted?

Only the strength of the people themselves united against reaction can assure us that what democra- tic rights we have will not become empty phrases in the mouths of Trascist demagosgues-

*

To Canada’s eternal honor and Slory Canadian anti--?ascists have rot failed to answer the challenge of Fascism in Spain. Pour hundred of them in the Mackenzie-Papi- neau battalion have already added to the traditions of the Canadian people.

In Spain. they are aiding in the work of constructing the future amid the wreckage of the past. Some day, when the history of the International Brigade is written, we shall know the whole story, but excerpts from the various bulletins and papers published by the various battalions show a keeness of perception, a brilliance of thought, that is nothing short of inspiring.

*

The Lincoln Battalion gets out a daily news bulletin, carrying news from all world centres, but news condensed and tersely written, re- flecting all those incidents which touch upon the Spanish war.

From Vienna, Fascist dominated city, is recorded the report of a football game between Italian and Austrian teams that ended im a riot.

“Well broke loose,’ reports the Daily News Brief of the Tinecoln Battalion. “Erom the grandstand the audience, en masse, swept out of their seats and onto the field in a wild and frenzied wave, shout- ing: ‘Down with Mussolini, up with the Spanish Workers’!”

World news is carefully watched and analyzed and digested by mem- bers of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, the Jineoln Battalion and all the members of the Inter- national Brigade. They watch Rome and Berlin with eagle eye and iondon and the Non-Inter- vention committee appear every day in the Battalion News.

In the printed journal, Our Wight, organ of the International

Brigade, the writing is divided into Spanish and French and Enelish.

Pull of pictures and lessons in Spanish, with news from the world and all fronts; with letters from the fighting men themselves. In it is the account of “Dead Mule Trench,’ when five members of the Lincoln Battalion, with only three rifles between them, took a eroup of Fascists who had sur- rounded them. f

‘We eave them rapid fire, but it didn’t seem to take any effect so we gave them bombs (hand grenades) and it proved ef- fective because one of the Fascists became inquisitive about what was happening and Graham picked him off. Wp comes another and Graham scores again. .. Wwe couldn't turn to the Jeft as the

Tascists had that part covered and

the turn to the right had a lot of dead in it. Soe we decided to eross the parapet for a couple of yards. . . . Comrade Cunninghani

somersaulted over with what looked like a wound in the arm . , ~. later, we learned, he had three wounds. . .

@ur Front has pictures in it and poems and jokes, for the boys

have their laughing in Spain, as at home.

They record with pride visits of jJeaders, such as Willie Gallacher.

DR. N. BETHUNE Heads Medical Unit

MP, and Harry Communist

Pollitt, leader,, from

British Great

BOB KERR

Author Of Moscow Play Is Soviet Polar Flight Pilot

An unusually interesting pre- miere has taken place in the Mos- cow Realist Theatre. It is a North Pole drama entitled “The Dream” and deals with the conquest of the North Pole by air. The clos- ing scene, in which the drama be- comes a reality, was greeted by the audience with tremendous ap- plause. The next day it was Jearned from the press that the author of the drama none other than the famous airman and

was

hero of the Soviet Union, A. Wod dopianov, who had himself accomp- lished the feat which represented the dream his hero the airman, Besfamilny, in his piece.

Vodopianoy paid the greatest attention to all the preliminary work necessary for the presenta- tion of his drama, and when he wa sdispatched by the Soviet gov- ernment on his great task, he kept in touch with the theatre by wireless.

Britain, who told the boys, “We are too close to the fight to realize the historic part our comrades are playing in the struggle against Fascism. Yes, there is being writ- ten one of the most glorious pages in the lone struggle of the masses ef the people for freedom from oppression and tyranny.”

- *

Visits from doctors, women as well as men, and many scenes from the trenches. Some of them look like shots of boys at play with a “monument” gun on the lawn of the school back home. Others shove the serious faces of these men who are fighting volun- tarily, for their own cause.

In the Spanish News, that comes out daily in the trenches too, are extracts from the Popular Irront Press, mostly political in nature. You'll find here the stress that is placed on unity and the ready recosnition of the others when the Anarchists show their desire for it too. A quote from the Anarchist GNT paper on the work of war commissars receives first space and prominence in the Daily Bulletin of the Brigade:

“

above all, the Commissar must not be sectarian. He must not work for any one party. His work must be impartial, in exer- cising his functions, the commissar is not of the UGT, CNT, or any other part. He is a commiissar of unity.’

x

They follow carefully the words and actions of the leaders of the government forces. When Premier Weerin greets and compliments the Communist party of Madrid, the greeting and the partys answer appears in the News Bulletin—andad they don’t neglect to remind Negrin that the Communist party has at all times been one of the most faithful executors of all the decisions of the government.”

They discuss the agrarian ques- tion repeatedly, making the point over and over again that the al- liance of the town workers and the peasants, as pointed out from the beginning by the Communists, is absolutely necessary and a “fundamental question.”

They quote the press from over the world, reprinting the words of warm praise in the Spanish peo- ple’s press for the International Brigade.

ob Kerr == Political Commisstoner

cational work was being conduct- ed among the men.

“Their thirst for knowledge de- mands conclusive answers and is a preparation for their new tasks after Franco and his Fascist al- lies are swept from the country,” she declared.

Strong anarchist and syndicalist tendencies deep-rooted in this country only now emerging from feudalism naturally led to differ- ences and misconceptions which were ably met by political leaders accustomed to debate and convinc- ing argument.

Shrewdly written leaflets and carefully prepared speeches adapt- ed to every type of soldier within the Fascist ranks and every Sec- tor of the enemy front are every- Gay tasks of these political com- missioners.

One of the youngest soldiers in the Scottish Borderers, Bob Kerr received his baptism of fire in the world war, bears scars on face and arm inflicted in a hell that tested nerve and constitution, yet which hardened him for his pres- ent task. =

It was characteristic of him that he waived a small disability pen- sion for a lump sum to transport him to the Canadian prairies in {925 from the small Scottish mining town in which he was born and where he gained his first experience of trade union work.

His leadership in the Alco relief camp strike of 1931 when the men walked out in protest against the reactionary policies of Premier R. B. Bennett, established him as 2 leader who, though lacking the gift of oratory, had few equals when it came to questions of or ganization.

Tt was at this time that he joined the Communist party. Last week in Toronto at its twelfth ses- sion, the central committee of the party unanimously elected him 4 member.

x

Anyox strikers will remember his work as picket captain in 1934 when street battles against police and scabs centred the attention of the whole province on methods employed by Granby Consolidated and the provincial police and forced an investigation by the de- partment of labor.

In Cumberland, his canny lead- ership of the miners’ union in its struggle to win pecognition, decent eonditions and higher wages from Canadian Gollieries is attested by every member. It is largely due to his work that Cumberland is now a solidly union town.

And teday, this keen student of Lenin and Marx who learned how to apply theory in practice through long work among indus- trial workers, is political commis- sioner of the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion. Britisn Columbia is honored.

(Top) Women and children of Loyalist Jaen have fled fo caves in the surrounding

hills to escape the pitiless

raids of Fascist bombers.

(Below) Nurses take Basque

youngsters to a camp near

Four

Southampton.

sand children have been evac- uated to England from the

shatlered Basque port.

thou-

‘Left’ Socialism And The

People’s Front

It is true that Fascist ten- dencies are everywhere de- veloping among the capi- talist class. But the growth of Fascist tendencies among the capitalist class is one thing and their expression in a powerful mass movement is another. Even if we grant

that the srowth of Fascist moods among the capitalist class is in> evitable, it is not inevitable that millions of non-capitalists (petty bourgeoisie and backward work- ers) shall be won for Fascism.

The conerete task, on the basis of a sober examination of the situation, is to pursue a policy that wins those elements as sup- porters or allies of the Labor movement in the struggle against Fascism, and in most countries the workin class movement must be united itself before it eam influence other sections of the people.

The capitalist class is under no illusions as to the danger of working class unity, The whole yast propaganda machine at its disposal is used to prevent work- ine class unity as long as pos- sible. When this fails the aim is to isolate the working class from other sections of the peo- ple.

In 2 whole series of countries a united working class would still be in’ a minority. It is therefore necessary to win the intermedi- ate strata -of the population for the anti-Fascist struggle. - 2 And that is the People’s Front.

x

Wow unreal many of the eriti- cisms of the People's Front ave, is seen in relation to the Spanish struggle. Here, the Fascist move- ment, supported by Hitler and Mussolini, is menacing the major- ity of the Spanish people.

Not only workers’ organiza- tions are in peril, but all demo- cratic institutions, all modern

culture. If Franco wins there will be a reactionary regime in Spain compared with which the worst of Nazi barbarism will seem like “sweetness and light.” And for the simple reason that Franco is heavily supported by the Wascist powers, his defeat will mot be easy.

Surely the sensible thing is to unite every element hostile to Franco in the struggle to defeat him, and the common basis on which to unite is defense of exist- ing democratic zovernments, in which organizations of the work- ers have preponderant influence.

But this, which appears to us as stark commonsense, is a crime and betrayal in the sight of “Veit” Socialists who raise a hysterical clamor to the effect that capitalist democracy is hardly worth defend- ing, that non-working class demo- erats are unreliable allies, that the real issue is Socialism versus Pascism.

All these high-Sounding phrases can be expressed more coneretely in the propositions: (i) Franco can be defeated by class-conscious So- cialists alone, without the assist- ance of the peasantry or the town petty bourgeoisie; (2) Or while we need those elements, we are pre- pared to accept their co-operation. put only on the basis of our pro-

eram. When one remembers the fact that the working class is in a minority in Spain, that the peas- antry had not the revolutionary tradition that it had in Russia, the folly of these tactics is more than evident,

To justify this ridiculous stand- point sham Socialist arguments are employed. We are told that if Wascism erows on the soil of capitalism it can only be finally defeated by the abolition of capi- talism. This is true, but unhelp- ful. For the problem in France and Spain, the problem that is arising élsewhere, is what to do in coun- tries where the majority of the people are anti-Pascist but not yet Socialist, in order to defeat the immediate Fascist attack, and in the process win masses of non- Socialists to see the necessity of

overthrowing the capitalist system _

itself.

Another popular argument is that the People’s Front means the abandonment of class Struggle for class co-operation. Really, one would have thought that the civil war in which the Spanish People’s Front is engaged is a sufficiently acute form of class struggle to suit even the most energetic reyo- lutionary.

It should be noted that while “Teft’ Socialists are arguing that the People’s Front is dangerous because it stifles class strugele, the Right wing is shrieking that the People’s Front, by intensifying the class struggle, leads directly to civil war.

So far from stifling the class struggle, the development of the People’s Front has altered the re- Jation of class forees in favor of the working class. In less than a year it took Caballero from jail and made him premier of Spain. It was not because the develop- ment of the People’s Front was stifling the class struggle, it was pecause it was gradually stifline reaction that the generals resorted to arms.

>.<

Tt is assumed that a People’s Front is an alliance of a static character. This is entirely wrong. The People’s Front is an alliance between the working class and the petty bourgeoisie, But the specific weight of the working class move- ment in the alliance can change in the process of development of the struggle. Indeed, it is the duty

F j |

A recent issue of The Na- tion, liberal American week- ly, carries an excellent sum- mary of the rising tide of Fascism in Latin America by G. Arbaiza, distinguished South American journalist.

Spanish - speaking America, writes Arbaiza, has been split into two camps by the Fascist in- vasion of Spain. The majority of the ruling classes are “praying for Franco.’ These ruling classes have revealed themselves as po- tential allies of Fascism in this hemisphere; and in ome country at least, Brazil, there is a promis- ing crop of tropical Fascists, a million strong, partly financed by German and Italian bankers and entrepreneurs.

The thing seems logical aiter all. If the coming struggle is to be between democracy and dic- tatorship, on which side would you expect to find fifteen Latin American dictators? The only countries free from dictatorship today are Colombia, Gosta> Rica, Mexico and Panama. Out of 19 rulers, twelve wear epaulets.

Many of the dictators have bor- rewed Nazi methods, enacting laws to bar leftists from the suf- frage, and making it a criminal offense to profess ““commiunistic” or “other dangerous ideas.”

The Peruvian dictator, Bena- vides, has developed a piece of Jegislation, his Ley de Seguridad Publica, which groups among Communist crimes even the shoot- ing of fireworks.

Foreseeing an eventful chal- lenge to the Western hemisphere by a Huropean Fascism reaching across the Atlantic to the mineral and pastoral wealth of South Am- erica, the writer recommends an information bureau on the Spanish war, set up in Wew York or Mexico to distribute literature in the southern countries.

“Jatin Americans who have been aroused by the Fascist mas- sacre of Spaniards,’ writes Ar- baiza, “and ithe many others who would be if they knew the truth, have at their command a practical way of registering their protest and making it effective. Let them boyeott en masse the trade and traders of Germany and Italy in Latin America. Nothing could be

beiter calculated to restrain their»

murderous intervention in Spain.”

of the working class parties to see that it does change.

Before the Fascist rising in Spain there was a People’s Front. Today, there is a People’s Front, but the influence of the working class in this People’s Front has increased enormously and the outlook of large numbers of the middie class allies of the workers has undergone significant change.

The People’s Front must be regarded, therefore, not only as 2 form of co-operation between the working class and the democratic middle class for the purpose of

_ defeating Fascism, but also as @ form of co-operation in which the

workers, in the course of the strugele, transform the outlook of their allies—In Tabor Monthly, London.

THREAT

You, whose eyes forever turn to far horizons

Remote, as purple sum

ts in the dusk,

Whose dreams are fair. To whom

The call. clear-ringing and prophetic

From heights whereon already falls the dawn Has come unheeded and unheard

So filled you were with dreaming,

So unaware the time was near:

That geese winging north to an arelic summer Could fill you with longing. But not

The feet of a people

marching here.

[kis you who must heed this threat to your dreaming, You who must lead in the struggle now, For who in the long gray might of December

Wall recall the spring:

Who will remember?

s promise—

—Harold Griffin.

souseran

See wtiy eee 2 oianca a She Se Rete ee aaclin pNe ae