SPANISH REPUBLIC

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 559, 16 June 1933, Page 3

SPANISH REPUBLIC

DISTRUSTIMG PEOPLE SECOND . ANNIVERSARY FINDS COUNTRY IN . TURMOIL. .. SEETHING WITH DISCONTENT. The second anniversary of the Spanish Republic, which was celehrated last month, found the people still less in the mood for rej'oicing th'an they were a year ago, gtates a special eorrespondent of the London Morning Post. Events during the last 12 months have had a woeful effect on puhlic opinion. There is an outward cairn, but heneath the surface the countrjr is seething with discontent. Great tides of distrust and hatred are flowing througli the land which are only kept in check by the unjust and dictatorial "law in defence of the Republic." Spain has been in the grip of a dictatorship for over >a year. Constitutional government is still a myth in Spain. No sooner was the democratically worded Constitution approved in the Cortes over a year ago than Senor Azana, .the Prime Minister, obtained Parliamentary sanction to add a clause known as the "law for the defence, of the Republic." By means of this law Senor Azana can do as he likes, and to this law is due the secret of his success, if success it can be called. Never was a Cortes more divorced from public opinion than the present one. In a Chamber of 470 Deputies. there are 42 Catholies, and one Monarchist. Its unrepresentative character was brought about by unfair meth'ods and terrorism. Candidates of the "Right" were prevented from canvassing and addressing their constituents, and the Catholic Press was muzzled. A Black Year. The "law in defence of the Republic" is the logical consequence of a sectarian Cortes which is determined that the Conservatives of Spain be crushed. A survery of events during the last year will enable one to see what can be done under this law. About 140 mei\#spajp!ers, includihg Spain's greatest organs of opinion, such as "A.B.C.," "E1 Debate," "Informaciones," and "La Nacios," have been suspended. In many cases the suspensions have lasted for months, and no specific charges have been brought forward. Thousands of men have been thrown into prisons all over the country, apparently for no other reason than that they were law-ab/ding ciitzens of the "Right" and held different political ideas to those. in po'wer. Following the abortive revolt of Augnst 10, there was a wholesale round-up of Conservatives, and 140 men of the best Spanish families were sent without trial to Villa Visneros, being transported under conditions comparable to those of galley slaves. There was not "even any charge against the bulk of them. Social agitation during the last 12 months has resulted in about a hundred presons being kilied and several hundred wounded. Some years must elapse before Spain forgets the recent tragic shooting of fourteen peasants in cold blood in the village of Casas Viejas in the Province of Cadiz. The land problem has not been settled. For months past hardly a day has passed without the invasion of private estates in some part of Andalusia and the Estremadura. A state ibordering on anarchy has existed in this part of Spain for some time.

Stifling Industry. The elements which have suffered most from this state of' affairs are the law-abiding citizens of the country of the "Ri'ght" and the masses -of poor workers not affiliated to Syndalicalism or Socialism or any other "ism" who simply want to work in peace as they did during the Dictatorship of the late General Primo de Rivera. Spanish1 prosperity has been seriously affected hy all this turmoil. Banking and business are curtailed. Industry and agriculture are languishing,1 revenue is no coming in as it should — stagnation and impoverishment are gradually overtaking the productive life of what should be a prosperous country. A visit to the poor districts of M&drid, Barcelona, Seville and other Spanish cities bears witness to the misery existlng.

The shadow of famine hangs ovei many people in Spain at this moment. Will the lesson be learned in time and the remedies applied before it is too late ? The following figures recently published in Spain will give some idea of the economic state of the country, as a resut of the new democrablc regime: — Imports, 1930, 2,447.000,000 pesetas; 1932, 975,000,000 pesetas. Exports, 2,456,000,000 pesetas; 1932, 742,000,000 pesetas. Many a f actory o wner or employer of labour finds it impossihle to be master in his own house, and cannot run his works efficiently because of the impossible conditions imposed either by Socialist or Syndicalist agitators. | Signs of Reaction. It is felt in many quarters that if constitutional government is not restored soon, with a respect for citizens' rights, a .reaction may set in, to follow in the footsteps 'of Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler. Evidently j this is feared in ofScial circles, especially among the Socialists. Two weeks ago a weekly paper called "E1 Fascio" was to be published, but the Government intervened following upon some violent Socialist resolutions, and seized all copies of the new weekly before it appeared on the street. Apparently "blue shirts" were to be worn in Spain. as several people have been fined for wearing shirts of this colour. A shop in Madrid was fined for having accepted an order to make 100 blue shirts, and the shirts were seized by the police. This repression may lead to a strong Nazi or or Fascist movement in Spain when some kind of ldberty is established. At any rate, some are quietly

I '? 1 " ■ " ~ and secretly trying to organise a FaS- j cist movement. For some time the number of police, civil guards and shoek police guarding all approaches to the Cortes give it th'e aspect of a citadel. Never did j King Alfonso have the armed guard around him as one sees guarding every move of Senor Azana and other mem- | bers 'Of his Cabinet. . I haye--'seen General Primo de Rivera many times •strolling along the popular Recoletas Tubbing shoulders with the crowd on a Sunday morning. * -