Circular

              FEDERATION SYNDICALE INTERNATIONALE
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS
INTERNATIONALER GEWERKSCHAFTSBUND
9, AVENUE D'ORSAY, PARIS-VIIe
ADRESSE TELEGRAPHIQUE, TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS, TELEGRAMMADRESSE : INTERFED-PARIS
TELEPHONE : INVALIDES 45-88

Sch/H/G.
F. I. de Solidarite 43
8th January, 1937.
To Affiliated and Sympathising National Centres 
To International Trade Secretariats.
Dear Comrades,
As the campaign which is being carried on for democratic and republican Spain by the International Federation of Trade Unions and the Labour and Socialist International is very often misrepresented, it is felt that what has been achieved in the field of international solidarity should at least receive greater publicity in our own press.   The workers and public opinion in general should know that the Trade Union and Labour and Socialist Internationals have done everything possible in the way of international solidarity towards their Spanish comrades, and I am therefore sending you herewith, for your personal information and for publication where this seems to you to be suitable, an exact account of the international relief work.
Political Action:     Although we have from the outset continually reported, in proclamations and resolutions, on the political action taken to defend the rights of democratic and republican Spain, we would again recall here that the two Internationals, immediately after the outbreak of the conflict in Spain, used all the means in their power to influence public opinion and to make appropriate representations to the governments in order to obtain for the constitutional Government of Spain all the advantages, without restriction or reservation, to which it is entitled in virtue of the international law laid down in the League Covenant. Everything was also done to get the insurrectionary generals treated really as rebels by the League, the governments and public opinion.
As far as its own activities are concerned, the International Labour Movement has never swerved from the principle which, expressed in a sentence, is that the Spanish government should under all circumstances receive the means necessary for its defence against the rebels.    The attitude adopted by the two Internationals, which never accepted the principle of neutrality, should not be forgotten, and the fact that, later on, the force of circumstances obliged them to accept the non-intervention agreement concluded by the governments, was due to reasons which are known to all and which determined the attitude of all democratic governments and all responsible national Labour organisations, irrespective of their political tendency.
The developments in Spain and the flagrant violation of the non-intervention agreement by certain governments made it necessary to hold, over the last few months, several meetings of the two Internationals, which publicly proclaimed their attitude and the action to be taken. It should be emphasised here that all the decisions taken were unanimous and that in each case the action decided on was put into effect without delay.