Letter : Situation in Spain

              INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS
9,   AVENUE   D'ORSAY, PARIS-VII
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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: President : W. M. Citrine, Great Britain
Vice-Presidents: H. Jacobean. Denmark; L. Jouhaux, France; E. Kupers, Holland; Corn. Mertens, Belgium; R. Tayerle, Czechoslovakia 
General Secretary: W Schevenels
Affiliated countries: ARGENTINE AUSTRIA BELGIUM CANADA CZECHOSLOVAKIA DANTZIG MARK DUTCH EAST INDIES ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GREAT BRITAIN GREECE HOLLAND HUNGARY INDIA LUXEMBURG MEMEL TERRITORY MEXICO NORWAY PALESTINE POLAND ROUMANIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH-WEST AFRICA SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND YUGOSLAVIA
Letter Sit. Espagne
No 419
CONFIDENTIAL 
Mr. Walter M. Citrine 
LONDON.
29th October 1937.
Dear Comrade Citrine,
SITUATION IN SPAIN
In reply to your letter of the 28th October, on the above subject, I am glad to give you the following information.
Distress in Republican Areas:
In the last few months the problem of food supplies in Republican Spain has lost its acute character.      It would of course be irresponsible to state that this problem has been solved to the full satisfaction of the Government.    There are in fact still very important gaps in the organisation, but, as far as I understand, this situation is mainly due to conflicts between the Government and the consumers on the one hand and on the other certain bodies entrusted with the organisation of food and other supplies for the civil population and the army.    In some quarters it is said that these bodies are pursuing particular political aims and are disregarding, in carrying out their task, the much more important requirements of supplying the population as a whole.
This, by the way, is one of the important points which led to trouble between the Government and its Socialist and Communist supporters on the one side and Caballero's people and the CNT on the other.
It may be assumed, however, that under the present circumstances, the most important needs of the population and of the army in the way of food, clothing, etc., can be met by the present organisation set up by