The Spanish Maquis and the Supreme Junta
Araquistain, Luis
The Spanish Maquis and the Supreme Junta Repudiated by the Spanish Socialists and Liberals, the Communists Create a New 'United front' By Luis Araquistain formtr AwrHNwr •/ tA« SpwUk KtpubUe te...
...The Spanish Maquis and the Supreme Junta Repudiated by the Spanish Socialists and Liberals, the Communists Create a New 'United front' By Luis Araquistain formtr AwrHNwr •/ tA« SpwUk KtpubUe te London RECENTLY stories im printed to toe effect that gioups of Spanish Maquis, lad by tba "Supreme Junta of National Union," crosssd tba Pyionooa to fight Franco's Forces...
...During the German occupation many were in forced labor camps, in factories, mines, and fields...
...The Cess mania* aaaueavers may frighten the saeeleratea who are beginaing te abeaden Fraaee...
...A few thousands were able to go from France to Mexico and other parts of the western hemisphere...
...The < ommunist* would thus enter the Spanish State through the back door...
...A mysterious entity, called the Supreme Junta of National Union, appeared as leader of the Spanish Maquis in this adventure...
...They thought the revolt of the Spanish military caste would win as quickly aa did the "Pro-nunciamento" of Primo de Rivera In 1923...
...Another Spanish word which hat been incorporated Into all languages is "pronunciamsnto," which meant a military revolt...
...But only through accredited diplomats, never through sn irresponsible snd unpredictable party...
...That lesson may check Spanish officers in future, and perhaps our struggle will not have been in vain...
...On one occasion Catherine the Great demanded as the price of a military alliance with Britain the island of Minorca in the Mediterranian...
...And what ara tha chances of a successful revolt against the FalangsT "Maquis" is n new French equivalent of an old Spanish word, ''guerillas...
...Guerilla is a small war, and the Spanish are famous for this sort of irregular warfare, in which "guerilleroa" have long participated against invaders and tyrants...
...Or Franco may be frightened into i•storing the monarchy in the hope ef wiaaiag aew anppert at ansae and abroad—for ths Spaaiah people may fear a new Meed bath...
...The great majority of Spanish refugees sre not Communists...
...Sowing confusion and mouthing empty slogans, they tried to outwit their opponents who refused to have anything to do with them...
...The civil war which began in July 1938 was threefold: it waa an international war waged by Nasi Ger-snany and Fascist Italy against the Spanish Republic...
...Upon inquiry it waa learned that none ef the sppeneate of Franco in Spain or abroad had over heard ef thia Supreme Junta...
...the former being popular risings against usurpers and the latter revolts •f army officers against civil authority, though there have also been military insurrections against military rovernmente—hungry wolves against well-fed wolves...
...It was a "pronunciamsnto" iauched by Spanish officers against a constitutional, democratically elected government, aided by foreign fascism...
...Although unmasked in England and America, the Supreme Junta emerged in Franca and the Pyrenees, claiming to lead the Spanish Maquis...
...But in March 1939 the odds sgsinst the Spanish guerrilleros or militiamen were overwhelming, and defeated, they were forced to flee to France, as many as could escape...
...The Spanish fascist regime is still serving Germany...
...Taking advantage of the war materials bought for hard cash from Russia, and blackmailing the other parties in the Loyalist Government with the threat ef atopping this despeiately needed supply if their demands were not met, the Communists tried, and partly succeeded, to split, absorb, or annihilate the other parties and the trade unions, if they could not gain control of them...
...Isolated from the rest of the world for four yesrs, Lhey may have been momentarily deceived, but aa soon as they learn the truth about the Supreme Junta, they disavow it...
...Apparently the monarchist* welcome Communist help...
...When France was invaded by Allied forces, the Spanish guerrilleros became Maquis, took to more effective weapons alongside the French Maquis, often leading them in guerilla warfare against the common enemy...
...Spanish bankers have gone te Argentine to transfer large amounts of money for Nasi leaders...
...but we cannot love Communists in Spain after our bitter experience...
...They will never forget that the Spanish people were not the weak, decedent • rsbble they hsd imagined, but a folk ready to sell their lives dearly for freedom...
...The pries would bo, of courae, participation in the'new government of "National Union," praaided over by Don Juan...
...There would be an awkward situation in southwestern Europe—a monarchical Soviet...
...Wees ws heard ef the handful of Spanish Maquis penstratiai into Spain through the Pyrenees, we asked, for ekes* benefit...
...A curious united* front indeed...
...but once inside they would gain strong positions and then seek to throw out, or dominate, their Royalist partners...
...The mischief they dp in Spain ia even greater...
...Mussolini snd Hitler were determined to get rid of a democratic Spanish government which would have been sympathetic to the western democracies in the coming World War II...
...But it proved to be the most atrocious war of modern times...
...Whether conceived in London, Algiera, or Moscow, the Supreme Junta certainly had Communists for father, mother, and mid-wife...
...Who aro thoso Maquis: What is tha Suprtmt Junta...
...For the safety of Europe and of democracy, it is necesssry to establish in Spain a genuinely democratic Republic which is truly independent of all foreign influence—fascist or Communist...
...The Communists replied to our Committee witli a maneuver...
...But the harm done is greet...
...We Spanish democrats like democrats everywhere have great admiration for the Red Army and the heroism of the Soviet peoples...
...The Spanish military caste learned a lesson...
...During tha Spanish civil war the Communists behaved in such a way that no liberal Republican or Socialist Party is willing to cooperate with them again...
...By this means Moscow would realize an old Tsarist ambition—access to the western seas...
...I have grsst respect for the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, and if I were the head of a government, I would be disposed to reach agreements with that government, and even an alliance with it...
...Since Napoleon's invssion of Spain in 1808 we have enjoyed little peace and normality...
...When the history of the French Underground is written it will be seen that the role played by the Spanish was important and honorable...
...A Royalist-Communist Spain would be still mors valuable...
...The history of Spain,in the 19th century is full of such suicidal incursions by Spanish emigres...
...They persecuted everybody who did not accept uncritically their totalitarian methods and tortuous policies...
...They love revolt, but only when the risks are not too great...
...This junto includes all the main liberal Republican and Socialist organisations in exile Only the Basque Nationalist* and the Ansrchists were excluded, and they sre not hostile—and, of course, the Communists, who are hostile...
...But the good faith and high motives of most of these guerilleros cannot be questioned...
...These guerilla forces could not organise themselves Into a regular army, but they were not as essily defeated as the Falangists had expected...
...As long ss Franco remains in power, he will aid the Nazis ss much as he-ran...
...Repudiated by all the anti-fascist parties of Spanish democrats-in-exile, they invented a new, all-embracing organisation, the Supreme Junta, in which Communists reside with monarchists and semi-fascist Catholics...
...The Communists have made deals with monarchists elsewhere in Europe—why not in Spain...
...We democratic Spaniards do not desire the control of our affairs by other powers, and it would be fatal to Britain and France...
...and it was a guerrilla war of the Spanish people against both domestic and foreign foes...
...It would be very awkward for the western democracies to have in Spain a government serving the inter-eats of n foreign power, whether fascist or Communiit...
...Perhaps he even encouraged them to divert their attention from southern France to the frontier of Spain, These inroads into Spain, more a gesture than a real invasion, reflect the vehemence and impatience of the Spanish character...
...It ia simply a super-national agency serving the interests of a foreign power...
...aew they will rally around Mm again te strengthen Ms tottering regime...
...9 The Communists were not included in ths Spanish Committes of Liberation for many and various reasons...
...They occupied several Spanish consulates in southern France, in what some Frenchmen thought was an excess of zeal, to the embarrassment of General de Gaulle...
...But the fundamental reason is that the Communist Party is neither a national nor an international organization...
...Spanish history has oscillated like a pendulum between guerrillas and pronuncisraentoe...
...When France was freed, these Spanish Maquis turned back toward their own country...
...The Communists are acting as agent* provocateur*, and the French reaction against them discredits also the bona fide Spanish democrats...
...It appeared that it was closely connected, however, with GH Rehies, the Catekelie reactionary new in Portugal, and with a well-known Spanish duke Bring ia London...
...It was first heard of in December, 1943, when, it was announced, it sprang from the Underground within Spain and claimed the backing of all anti-fascist parties — including not only liberal Republicans, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists, but even Royalists who helped to finance the revolt in 1936 led by Franco, and also the Catholic party which supported Franco...
...Many Nazis are in Spain and Spanish North Africa, and more have arrived from France, not to be disarmed and interned, but to act aa reserve forces for Franco, and working for Hitler...
...Franco is no friend' of democratic France, but after all, the two countries were not at war...
...But most of them, about 100,000, remained in Frsnce...
...That is why they were excluded from the Spanish Committee of Liberation—they are a foreign party in a national diaguise...
...This is false...
...De Gaulle must have laughed scornfully at Franco's offer to send aid to crush the Spanish Maquis...
...Masters of the art of sabotage, they applied it daily with skill and daring...
...By a strange coincidence the Supremo Junta was proclaimed just after the formation in Mexico City of the Spanish Committee of Liberation, with branches in various Latin American^ rountriea, in Britain, and now in France...
...Among the fii st tanks to enter Psris to expel ths Nazis were some manned by Spaniards and adorned by the Spanish Republican flag...
...ATaOWEViCR, there are some dark points about this affair which need elucidation...
...Maybe for tbe Communists', or ths Royalists', or Franco's, but certainly not for the liberal Republicans' benefit...
Vol. 27 • December 1944 • No. 49
