Christmas Gifts for Spain (leaflet)

              THE LABOUR PARTY
TRANSPORT HOUSE (South Block), SMITH SQUARE, LONDON, S.W.1
Circ 45 1938-9
Christmas Gifts for Spain
Have you forgotten Spain in this year of tragedy for Europe? Austria has disappeared. Czechoslovakia has been dismembered and transformed. It is no longer a bastion of Democracy in Central Europe.
In Spain the fight still goes on through a third winter of war. The Republican Government is determined to defend the independence and national sovereignty of the Spanish people. There can be no solution to this war, they have declared, unless the people of Spain, as represented by the legitimate Government of the Spanish people, are consulted. There can be no solution until international rights have been restored, and all foreign troops, technicians, and war material, which are destroying their country, have been withdrawn.
We are constantly receiving appeals from men on the Spanish battle-front, that they should be remembered. A recent letter asks, with the authority represented by the magnificence of their gesture, for greater effectiveness in the aid which we are giving to them. They are convinced that sustained resistance is necessary, not only for the independence of Spain, but also for the prestige of the Democracies and the defence of Liberty throughout the world.    They conclude their letter with an  irresistible appeal:
" Since we, as men, are giving our lives for a supreme ideal, or leaving behind on the battlefield all that makes life worth living, it is fitting that you others should try to lessen the sufferings of our children and our old people."
Confident as they are of victory, and never doubting that they will receive the assistance which they ask from us, it is our duty and privilege to respond to their appeal with a new generosity and enthusiasm.
In the Report made at the Spanish Government's request to the Council of the League of Nations by Sir Denys Bray and Mr. L. Webster, we have been given independent and incontestable evidence of acute food shortage:
This shortage is due to the war; to the necessity for maintaining and equipping an Army in the field; to the severance of Republican Spain from its inland districts of supply; to the air blockade of its ports, especially Barcelona and Valencia; the withdrawal of labour from the land; and to the great influx of refugees (without any means of support whatever) from non-Republican Spain. By mid-winter, these refugees may number 3,000,000.
The whole population is on minimum rations; supplies are uncertain and irregular, and with the exception of the daily bread ration of 150 grams (6 oz.) of bread, the rations actually obtainable often fall far short of the rations allotted on paper.
'' While we are struck by the morale of the people, the effects of malnutrition are visible everywhere among the refugees and the poorest classes of the population, and it must become more acute with the passing of the summer sun and vegetation."
The necessities, in order of need, are :
Milk  Flour  Soap  Clothing
Sugar  Cereals  Medical Supplies  Boots