The Spanish Revolution. Vol. 1, no. 6

              Vol.1  N.o6   Barcelona, November 25, 1936   Please reprint
THE SPANISH REVOLUTION
WEEKLY BULLETIN OF THE WORKERS' PARTY OF MARXIST UNIFICATION OF SPAIN
P.O.U.M.
AGENTS FOR ENGLAND:
The I.L.P. 
The Marxist League. 
The Socialist League. 
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EDITORIAL OFFICE: "THE SPANISH REVOLUTION"
10, Rambla de los Estudios 
BARCELONA
CONTENTS
Capitalist Democracy or Socialism: The Brussels Congress defines the Issue. - Resolutions on Spain. - Proceedings of the Brussels Congress. - Recognition of the Burgos Junta. - The Growth of the Workers Party of Marxist Unification the P.O.U.M at the front. - The Agrarian program of the P.O.U.M. - Political Rights at 18. - The New School — News and Notes
CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY OR SOCIALISM 
The Brusselles Congress defines the Issue
The resolution on Spain, voted by the Brussels Congress, which we are publishing elsewhere in this bulletin, won the approval of our Anarchist comrades of the "Solidaridad Obrera". However, it has drawn the ire of the reformists of the "Treball", the newspaper of the Catalan Communists, who are so bitterly attacking the P.O.U.M. and its revolutionary position. It is scarcely necessary to say that this resolution was drafted with minute care for historical accuracy and political justice.
What does is say regarding the attitude of the Soviet Government towards the course of events in Spain- In the firts place it states that the neutrality policy was initiated by the French Peoples' Front and that this Peoples' Front was initiated by the Communist International. This is an historic fact that no one can deny. Can anyone deny that the Soviet Government was associated with this mistaken nonintervention policy?
There has been a change in the attitude of the Soviet Government, a change that we, as responsible revolutionary Marxists, cannot be content just to welcome and praise, but must explain, and interpret to the working class. Has Stalin at last understood the mistake which he made for two and a half months and has he now decided to correct it? That there was a mistake is proved by the fact of its correction, and the change of policy. Really the most important factor which has dictated this change is the realization on the part of Stalin, that Franco, with the bold aid of Hitler and Mussolini, would win the civil war, thus reinforcing the political and strategic positions of German fascism, which Stalin holds as his mortal enemy. The correction of the error was not dictated by the desire to serve the interests of the Spanish revolution — although Lenin would not have stayed neutral for a single minute — but rather by a preoccupation with its foreign policy, the instinct of self preservation in face of the international forces. In a word, the real interest of Stalin is not the fate of the Spanish or international working class, but rather the defense of the Soviet Goverment, by his policy of treaties with one block of states against another.
In spite of this, the resolution invites the workers of the world to "uphold all attempts of this kind", which are capable of being effective in the struggle against fascism. The working class must oppose, however, any policy which would try to alter the class character of the Spanish revolution or attempt to limit it to the defense of the capitalist republic. Why do we say this? Because the Soviet Governement brings aid to the democratic republic and not to the socialist revolution. We do not and cannot agree to this.
We are struggling with the Spanish workers for the Socialist revolution, not just for the democratic republic. Are we going to hide our profound disagreement with the Soviet Government, with the Communist International and with its Spanish section? Not at all. That would be hypocritical and criminal. We are not hypocrites and criminals, but responsible, revolutionary Marxists. We hold a political line and we shall defend it. We are responsible before the working masses and before the revolution and we shall not fail.
We welcome the help of Soviet Russia, a little late, but none the less valuable, but in exchange for this aid, we shall never consent to divert the working class from its class duty or to hold back the revolution. With aid or without it, with help or alone, faithful to Marx and Lenin, we shall fight to the very end, to victory or to death, for the Spanish and for the international socialist revolution.
RESOLUTION ON SPAIN
1) The Congress expresses its deepest solidarity with the Spanish workers struggling against fascism. If they had only to fight against the fascist forces of Spain, their victory would be certain; but they are fighting at present against the forces of international capitalism, and especially those of the fascist countries, Italy, Germany and Portugal.
2) Spain at the present time is the battlefield of the International working class. The Congress is proud to note that the workers of many other countries are fighting at the front beside the Spanish workers; but individual acts of courage and devotion are not sufficient. It is necesary that the entire working class should participate actively in the struggle.
3) The Congress emphatically condems the so called "neutrality" policy which has been actually carried out until recently by the International Trade Union Federation of Amsterdam, the parties of the IInd International and the governments in which they participate. It notes that the French government, giving way before the pressure of the reactionary French bourgeoisie and the fascist states, has taken the initiative in establishing the real blockade against the Spanish revolution, confirming once more the inability of the bourgeois democracies to struggle effectively against national or international fascism. The Congress condems this foreign policy of the French Peoples' Front, a Peoples' front that was formed upon the initiative of the Communist International itself.
The Congress likewise condemns the policy of the Soviet government which felt it necessary to join in the deceptive non-intervention agreement. It hopes that the present attitude of the U.S.S.R. dictated by the fear of seeing Hitlerian fascism