STATE OF TE WORLD

...Ill The deterioration of the economy is evident in the reduction of food production...

...Here too are the big-bellied children...

...German was the language mo'st of therfi used nr'talking to Yugoslavs...

...And with some Americans purring tender words and offering dollar bills to Franco as a "bastion against Communism," the Fascist status quo in Spain, despite hunger, hardship, and terror, is getting a substantial shot in the arm— enough to keep it going for at least another year or two...

...I asked Bronko Pribicevic, a Zagreb law student, who served as host for the Americans, about his impressions of Americans...

...II The nine reported that they were discouraged from going into the interior without a guide, but they explored the country on their own anyway...

...The Communists, although vigorous in the underground, have lost most of their followers within the country because of the treacherous role they played in executing Republicans, Anarchists and POUMists with whom they disagreed...

...Given the vastly deteriorated standard of living, Franco exists only by virtue of his army, police force, and the connivance of the Spanish Church...

...In a trip that took us into 10 countries we never once saw anything remotely resembling these underfed children...

...The nine gave a variety of answers...

...If free elections were held today, a coalition of Republicans and Socialists would probably win a majority, I was told...

...Meyer is editor of Wisconsin's literary quarterly...

...Shelter is only one of the difficulties of life under Fascism...

...At one end of the Ramblas is the small Plaza of Catalonia...

...Would it have stayed the hands of Mussolini and Hitler, who underwrote this Fascist adventure, in plummeting toward world carnage...

...cialism...

...II A few months ago the governor of Barcelona destroyed an adobe colony of SO homes sitting near the railroad tracks because tourists coming in along the tracks were horrified by the sight...

...But in both these regions there was at least some building going on...

...The three leaders of the revolt have not been heard from since...

...put in Donald Wenger, an economics student at Boston College...

...Along the water front or railroad tracks, sometimes on hillsides, thousands of worker families squat illegally and fashion tiny living quarters out of dried mud and straw and tin cans and old corrugated iron...

...New apartments cost 600 to 1200 pesetas a month, more than most workers earn...

...One must remember that one out of every 10 Spaniards was killed in the 1936-1939 civil war—a total of two and a half million...

...After work was completed for the day, a series of tours were arranged for the students...

...They work on building homes and roads as if peace would be eternal...

...The children of these impoverished people walk around naked or in tatters that beggar description...

...If you were fighting Fascism, why didn't you fight Franco...

...This isn't Russia, you know," Bronko concluded with a grin...

...Weakening long-believed stereotypes was not a one-way process...

...To keep body and soul together Barcelona workers must hold down at least two jobs and put the entire family to work...

...One day, for example, we exceeded our quota by 260% to be the second highest brigade of the day...

...Franco's Fascists attacked the Republicans back in 1936 and were annihilated...

...A pound of black bread thus takes five of the 20 to 25 pesetas daily wage of the average working-man...

...Should more Americans come to Yugoslavia...

...Surrounding Barcelona, within the city limits, are a number of hills and gorges with scores of Franco-villes...

...In turn all these elements must be given special privileges in order to maintain their adherence to a regime whose only reason for existence is its self-aggrandizement...

...Before Franco the average worker earned between eight and 14 pesetas a day...

...Steel production, about one million tons in 1936, is down to 400,000 tons, according to Spanish underground sources in Paris...

...But this first impression of Barcelona, its beautiful Paseo Gracia, its fantastically attractive national palace, its wide Generalissimo Franco and Primo de Rivera Boulevards, its flower and bird-packed Ramblas—all these are the superficial trappings of a jaded beauty, They represent the gaudy lip rouge that hides sinister traces of unabashed and uncared for poverty...

...There's hardly any war scare compared with the United States," said Anne Kennard of Columbia University...

...In these caves, without water, heat, electric, gas, or toilet facilities, and only a whitewashed entrance, they make a meager home...

...They can't understand the American sense of humor at all," said Charlotte Agnew...

...Of the three Barcelona was easily the best stocked...

...I asked a waiter in a restaurant...

...There is stagnation everywhere, hope almost nowhere...

...Along the Ramblas everyone looks well-dressed...

...In addition to the caves there are adobe hut communities...

...For the hundreds of thousands of workers the picture is less pleasing...

...There is of course far more black market bread than rationed bread...

...One of the biggest of such communities is called Campo de Bota...

...They weren't soft...

...But in Spain there is not only no liberty, not only a life of misery, but just about nothing is being done...

...The workers frequently rebel...

...In all of Europe put together, including 37 cities we stayed in and hundred of cities we drove through, we saw nothing to compare with it...

...In three weeks, they visited collective farms, factories, cooperatives, museums, government offices, and sports arenas...

...It was a pleasant surprise...

...In East Berlin my wife and t were struck by the ready cash available to Communist bureaucrats: in Titoist Belgrade we saw special stores for officers and other privileges for the leadership, although there was a sustained Communist propaganda against such practices...

...Every day, the Americans arose at 5 a.m...

...This year alone, by official figures, the cost of the Ministry of Interior went up 130 million pesetas...

...and, after a coffee and black bread breakfast, trooped to a primitive work train for the one-mile journey to the site of the student city...

...Here, one day in May, 1937, the Anarchist and POUM rank-and-file attacked the Communists whom they charged with destroying the Spanish Republic and killing off thousands of its best fighters...

...The inefficiency and planless-ness of their work—which is mostly pure energy...

...If the battles at both ends of the Ramblas had been securely and permanently won, what would have been the consequences...

...Today his money wages are about double, but his real wages are 25% to 35% of the pre-Franco level at most...

...These nine students were the first Americans I had ever met," he said, "but they certainly altered my impression of America...

...The ministry of justice and its prison system took an additional 99 millions...

...I think we pretty well showed them that we weren't by the.way we worked...

...There were aspects of the Yugoslav character which came as a complete surprise to the Americans— aspects discovered in working and livinq with them...

...Their main concern was the stereotyped way in which both Americans and Yugoslavians regard each other...

...10 to 20 people have said to me: 'You can't be typical Americans—you're not rich or boisterous.' That's the impression they get from the movies," added Helen Morris of Carleton College...

...What are some of the main criticisms of the regime...

...The resulting rise in the price structure is tragic...

...But the rest of his bread ration must be bought on the black market at five times that price...

...Thus, from the lowliest official to the men in high places corruption is an accepted order of things...

...Across the street in a large hotel...

...Bribery and corruption are so rampant that all companies must have a representative in Madrid to deal constantly with government officials...

...The average policeman earns 750 pesetas a month— worker's wages — but his petty bribes, from blackmarket bread sellers to little storekeepers, put him in the lower middle class...

...With the connivance of bribe-conscious police and other officials the bakers produce much more for the illegal than the legal market...

...I was told there are many folded arms strikes...

...We saw literally hundreds of such youngsters in the poor quarters of town...

...By all means...

...Otherwise, the starchy and simple food and the barracks-style quarters were satisfactory...

...I thought there would be more flag-waving and yeljing about soSID LENS, author of a provocative book on LL S. labor, "Left, Right, and Center," has written articles and pamphlets for the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy Association, Harvard Business Review, and the American Quarterly . . . KARL E. MEYER, a senior at the University of Wisconsin, has just completed his second consecutive summer in Europe...

...More important," interjected Charlotte Pommerer of Rochester University, "most reports gave the impression that the majority of Yugoslavians were very unhappy, but the majority of people we have met seem content with the system— even the non-Communists...

...For instance, they just slop bricks together," added Joan Meister of Rochester University...

...Students are your best salesmen and we want them to come all over our country...

...VI The great over-all tragedy lies in the fact that the masses see little hope of change...

...A dozen eggs in 1935 cost two pesetas, today they are two pesetas apiece...

...Everywhere in the old city one sees old women with small baskets of black bread peddling their illegal wares from eight o'clock in the morning till two o'clock the following morning...

...Here in such places as Can-teras De Baro thousands of workers have dug little caves for themselves and their families with nothing but a hammer and chisel...

...I was surprised to find the Yugoslavs so polite," added Faltermayer, "and also very clean...

...He was press representative for the National Student Association's summer program of study tours, work camps, and summer schools abroad...

...The Americans found Yugoslavia a much different country from what they had expected...

...He drew his index finger across his throat in that age-old sign language...

...The subjugation of Morocco required an extra 58 millions and the Falange some 5}/$ millions...

...Leaders of other strikes similarly disappear...

...The kind words that come from some quarters in Washington concerning Franco and the possibility of loans (which everyone freely predicts would be dissipated to the corrupt officialdom and the rich) create an atmosphere in which the rank and file feel they will get no outside support if they rise again against Fascism...

...The Monarchists have relatively large support, although less than the Republicans and Socialists...

...A dramatic case in point is the experience of nine Americans who came to Yugoslavia as the first official delegation of American students since the war, worked for three weeks in an international work camp, and, for their labors, received "shock worker" awards...

...and the workingman who used to pay 70 centimos a kilo of bread before Fascism now pays 12...

...They find it hard to understand the concept of minority rights as well as majority rights," said Eve Glassberg of Bryn Mawr College...

...What do you think of Franco...

...Women are stylishly moded...

...Recreation in the evening consisted of open-air movies, dancing, and campfire singing...

...The whole approach of the government in trying to solve the country's economic problems...

...and in general, they weren't the 'babies' I expected...

...The men wear cheap but adequate summer suits that cost 500 to 1200 pesetas...

...Homes for the lower classes, new factories, schools, etc., were visible everywhere...

...Regarding freedom of speech, we met some people who were afraid of giving their opinion and who wanted to make sure we weren't spies, but we also encountered others who talked against Tito and didn't seem to worry about it...

...He toiled in work camps in Finland and Palestine, lived with families in Lapland, explored (in daylight) the Russian zones of Berlin and Vienna, and trekked through the Alps and lowlands...

...I expected a big, black country with brawny men," said Charlotte Agnew of Stanford University, "but it's not half as austere as I thought it would be—why, the people laugh and sing like Americans...

...The whole experience was "more profound than gawking at statues and scenery," according to Falter-mayer...

...Nothing moves without state permission, and according to foreign observers,' almost nothing gets state permission without the greasing of palms...

...Cheap apartments in the old quarter, near the Ramblas, cost only 100 or 150 pesetas a month, but they are scarce and the "key money" to get one may vary from 8,000 to 15,000 pesetas— a year to two year's wages for the average worker...

...Fascism never again reared its head in Barcelona until after the defeat of the rest of Spain in 1939...

...Along with 3.500 students from 18 countries, they helped build dormitories during August...

...Franco's displaced persons thus have no alternative but to create for themselves another Francoville on the hillsides or the unoccupied waterfront...

...Would it have been the first nail in the coffin of Stalinism...

...At the other end of the famous street near the Mediterranean port is a big statue of Columbus...

...All of the nine were proud of the work record they had made at the camp...

...The nine (seven of them women) were selected by the National Student Association to participate in the international work camp at Zagreb whose goal was to build the site for the new University of Zagreb...

...pesetas, about 18 times as much...

...Barcelona is the economic hub of Spain, key to its textile, tanning, engineering, chemical, printing, plywood and other industries...

...Wenger spoke for the group when he said: "The consensus before Americans got here was that we were soft and lazy—they've seen too many bad American pictures...

...After 11 years in power the Franco regime has succeeded in cutting the production of cereals, potatoes, and vegetables to approximately half the 1931-1935 average, and this despite the fact that there has been a three million increase in population since 1934...

...They want to become economically independent, whereas they should seek stabilization and specialization in their economy...

...In a six-months trip through Europe my wife and I had been in Stalinist East Berlin, Titoist Belgrade and now Falangist Barcelona...

...Part of the old quarter which flourished in the Middle Ages, it is composed of three parts, two lanes for automobile and streetcar traffic and a big center promenade along which are beer stands, book stalls, bird cages, and thousands of persons walking or sitting on chairs that can be rented for 50 centimos...

...The Government has been lax in building dams, supplying fertilizer, dividing land, and instituting better farming methods...

...Life was difficult and liberty non-existent (more so in Stalinist Berlin by far than in Titoist Belgrade...

...Every worker is entitled to 100 or 125 grams of black bread a day on the legal market for approximately half a peseta...

...All nine—none of whom was either rabid Republican or radical—were excited about their stay in Yugoslavia...

...The small tots have swollen bellies and thin legs, inexorable signs of malnutrition...

...A kilo of peaches costs 10 pesetas, a kilo of lamb 25 pesetas, coffee 150, butter 75, sausage 70 to 100, and eggs 24 pesetas a dozen...

...Shoes cost 10 pesetas in 1935, one day's wages...

...Hostility to the regime is apparent everywhere...

...People do not soon forget such an ordeal, nor do they rebel again unless the prospects of victory are clearly favorable...

...Throughout Barcelona we saw only a few signs hailing Franco, but in the adobe hut and working class areas we saw many "CNT"— the anarchist union—letters chiseled on the rock or painted on walls...

...they thought of other things besides money...

...The outlay for marines, airforce and the army increased by 230 millions...

...No factories are going up, few homes are being built, and those that are under construction are exclusively for the middle and upper classes...

...The main trouble," explained Ed Faltermayer of Swarthmore College, "commandant" of the group, "is that Yugoslavs always think of Americans as 'aggressive imperialists'— that's the irritating phrase—and are astounded to learn that not all workers are exploited, that not all Americans are anti-Negro, and that not all Americans are 'warmongers.' " "You know...

...Barcelona is far and away the most industrial city in Spain...

...There, they were rotated from job to job, which included mixing cement, building walls, and digging foundations...

...Its relative wealth and standard of living surpass every other city in the country...

...While in Barcelona I was informed that two months before there had been a strike of 2,000 workers in the gas works demanding higher wages...

...A Spanish worker with whom I spoke on the Ramblas asked me, "Why didn't the American Army march in here immediately after the war...

...Americanska Brigada' In Tito's Yugoslovia By Karl Meyer Belgrade THROUGHOUT Europe and the Middle East this summer, the American student ventured where the tourist feared to tread...

...In a peak summer of travel, the student considered it a challenge to explore areas usually off-limits to the tourist...

...A group of people at a street festival were equally outspoken...

...the universal corruption of officials, and the ever increasing share of the national economy devoted to the instruments of force needed to keep the people in subjection...

...As you walk down the Ramblas, today so detached from Europe and the rest of the world, your mind idles over history...

...Madrid, equal in population—about one and a half millions—is essentially a government city with little manufacturing...

...As a representative of NSA, I went to Zagreb to visit the Americanska Brigada at their hillside camp quarters three miles from Zagreb...

...Unable to find places to live or to pay the "key money" needed to get even inferior housing, they are forced to spend months clawing their way in primitive fashion into a hostile mountain side...

...But there is no possibility of a vote today, nor do the exhausted workers and peasants of Spain have the vitality to take independent action without sufficient outside encouragement...

...Instead, life goes on and people take the system for granted," said Faltermayer...

...This center of Barcelona is the haven for tourists and the rich and the relatively small number who live in somewhat better circumstances...

...But after these 11 years of Fascism it is a grim spectacle nevertheless...

...Franco, with the help of the church and the army, would probably receive between 10% and 20% of the vote...

...And because the student was more warmly welcomed than the average tourist, his findings more often give a more accurate picture of life abroad...

...Three interrelated factors account for this state of affairs: the lack of any sustained state activity to build dams, improve farming methods, or industrialize...

...The chief source of complaint for the Americans about the camp was the primitive sanitary system...

...In Barcelona you see the bright face of Spain, not its worse side...

...Stores are filled with all manner of merchandise and in large quantity...

...It's marvelous...

...today 125 to 140, five to six days wages...

...and the POUM has considerable strength in Catalonia...