Spanish news. Vol. 1, no. 10

              SPANISH NEWS
The Organ of the Friends of the Spanish Republic
Vol 1. No. 10   MARCH 12th, 1937   Price Twopence
'Madrid Can Be Held For All Time' 
Says FRANK RYAN
FRANK RYAN
BILL SCOTT
LOOKING a little tired, left arm in a sling, limping on one leg, dressed in a sheepskin coat and the light of a thousand fights in his eyes, Frank Ryan came to town, accompanied by "Bill" Scott and Donal O'Reilly, two Dublin workers. The trio had just arrived in from Madrid.
Other men have come from Spain, one of whom was an Irishman, who plastered himself all over a reactionary newspaper in Dublin and told Ireland all he had done, forgetting to tell Ireland that he was posted as a deserter, jailed for being drunk and left Spain on a British steamer. The trouble with this Irishman was that he thought Burgos was a suburb of Madrid and missed his directions.
Food and petrol are as important in Spain to-day as guns," said Frank Ryan.
"I am going back to Dublin in the morning," he said, "and I wish that somebody else had the job of telling the mothers of my comrades who died in Spain as to how they died. The mothers of Ireland, God help them, will never understand why men should leave Ireland to fight in a foreign country."
Frank Ryan knows of the powerful propaganda that has been waged in Ireland by the Church and other reactionary bodies, so that women are not able to appreciate the magnificence of the sacrifices made by their sons and brothers in Spain.
"How goes the war in Spain?"
"If the positions dominating the Madrid-Valencia road can be held for another two months by the Government forces then Madrid is safe for all time to come," said Frank Ryan.
"By that time," he continued, "the Government will have sufficient reserves at its disposal to keep off any army and to start an offensive."
"What is the primary need of the Spanish Government?"
"Food and petrol are as important as guns," he said.
"It is the duty of all people outside of Spain," he continued, "to work for the right of the Spanish Government to buy all the materials it needs to defeat this attack upon its elementary rights."
"How did you find the Spanish people?"
" They are a great people and I never want to meet finer. There is so much about them that reminds me of my own people. They are as impulsive as the Irish and as generous in their hospitality. It is said they are reckless in their courage, maybe, but you have got to admire them for their utter disregard for their own lives when the independence of their nation is at stake."
(Cont. on page 5)
LATEST NEWS FROM SPAIN
BACK in London after a brief visit to Valencia and Madrid as the guest of the Foreign Minister, Senor del Vayo, Mr. Victor Bodker, a well-known journalist and formerly Reuter's representative in Berlin for many years, is thrilled with the heroic struggle of the Spanish people against alien fascism.
"I have never seen such a fine spirit anywhere as shown in Madrid and Valencia," he told Spanish News. "The people are united in their struggle against the foreign invaders, and they are carrying on with a cheerfulness that is wonderful.
"In Madrid I saw a large queue of people before a building and I wondered what they were doing. They were waiting to get into a cinema to see the Three Marx Brothers in 'A Night at the Opera'"!
"In Valencia you would not think that a war is going on at all. Everybody is taking things calmly and one has to go a hundred miles before one comes to the front."
Mr. Bodker accompanied Senor del Vayo last week on a motor tour to Madrid. They were well received wherever they went, but they experienced some trouble in getting petrol of which there is a definite shortage.
"We travelled along the main Valencia-Madrid road until we got to within twenty miles of Madrid and were then forced to make a slight detour, as only military cars and lorries were permitted to pass over this section of the road.
"I was struck by the remarkable spirit of independence which the civil war has bred in the average Spaniard. All obsequiousness has gone. Waiters and girls in cafes refuse to accept tips, consider themselves insulted if they are offered, and addressed the Foreign Minister as 'Comrade' Del Vayo. He would return their clenched fist salute and reply in kind.
"It was the same when I accompanied Senor Del Vayo on his inspection of University City. Militiamen would spring to attention with the clocklike precision of trained soldiers, but gave not the military salute, but the clenched fist.
"They are rapidly becoming a well-knit military force and I felt the greatest confidence in them. There is certainly a food shortage in Madrid, but it has not as yet damped the spirit of the defenders.
"Just as serious a danger as lack of food is the grave shortage of petrol. Only military cars or cars used by State officials are now allowed on the roads, as petrol must be conserved at all costs."
Mr. Bodker added that the Spanish Government must win unless the Italians and Germans openly intervene further in the struggle.
CONFERENCE POSTPONED
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL of the "Friends of the Spanish People," in view of the meeting of the International Federation of Trade Unions this week in London and other important conferences over the week-end, have decided to postpone their conference which was to have been held next Sunday in Latchmere Baths, Battersea. The Council felt that it would be unwise to proceed with the Conference until the deliberations of the I.F.T.U. conference had been fully discussed by them. In the meantime, those organisations who sent in credentials are asked to await further word from the Council as to the date of the postponed conference.