The Spanish Revolution. Vol. 1, no. 8

              Vol.1  N.o 8   Barcelona, December 9, 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. 
PRICE IN ENGLAND: 2d.
AGENTS FOR U.S.A. :
Y.P.S.L.
The Labor Book Shop
PRICE IN U.S.A. : .05
EDITORIAL OFFICE: "THE SPANISH REVOLUTION"
10, Rambla de los Estudios 
BARCELONA
CONTENTS
The Working Class and the Menace of War. — Gorkin Speaks to the Workers of the World. - The Situation of the P.O.U.M. in Catalonia and Madrid. — A Tour of the Madrid Fronts. - Parliament. — Trade Union Unity in Malaga
The Working Class and the Menace of War
To use a good and time-honoured journalistic phrase, the German-Japanese pact has burst like a bombshell on the startled governments of Europe. At one time, such an event would have been greeted with enthusiasm and would have received the warmest praise in the press. But coming just now, the agreement between Germany and Italy has a special and uncomfortable significance to all the democratic capitalist powers of Europe. The pact threatens their very existence as imperialist states.
The international significance of the Spanish revolution is hereby clearly reflected. The Spanish revolution is shown to have a powerful influence upon relationship between capitalist powers. The pact which has been therefore directly brought about by the revolution, shows how near is the danger of a new war. The contradictions on which the capitalist regime is based make a fresh war the only solution for capitalist nations, each of them in need of new territories for expansion. The swelling of the world revolutionary movement, as awakened by our struggle, is also amply demonstrated by the German-Japanese alliance.
The whole pretended pacifist policy pursued recently by some countries has thus fallen to the ground. Even the Soviet Union had placed its faith in collective security pacts. To that end, it had liquidated the communist policy in most countries. Now the facts plainly prove that Russia has been mistaken, for the policy of the "Lesser Evil" which the Communist International has been applying throughout the world has failed. Japan and Germany have taken the Spanish Revolution as their excuse for attacking the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. should realise, from the fruits of its misguided policy, if not from revolutionary teaching, that it cannot count upon the support of capitalist powers. Now, as in the time of Lenin and Trotsky, the only resolute support which it can be sure of receiving is that of the international working class.
In the gravity of the present situation there is also a ridiculous aspect. The perplexed attitude of the democratic countries is highly ridiculous. They are afraid of a war, and yet they are busily following the very path which leads to the strengthening of their enemies. They are frightened by the impetus which the Spanish revolution is giving to the world revolution, and they are afraid of their imperialist rivals at one and the same time. They cut a sorry figure, giving out false messages of peace to which nobody listens and which no one takes seriously.
This is the moment when the working class of the world is faced with an immense revolutionary task. This task must be carried through at all costs. The workers of the world, now more than ever, must show their solidarity with and give their most energetic support to the Spanish revolution. That they are beginning to realise that our triumph rests with them, is shown by the daily increasing numbers of the militiamen who come from other countries to fight at the front in Spain.
Proletarian solidarity is needed because it will not be long before the very powers who now show themselves so critical of the new pact between Germany and Japan will be doing the same kind of thing as Germany and Japan have done. They will be drawing together to fight against Communism everywhere. How soon they will begin to do this depends largely upon the rythm of the Spanish Revolution. Therefore the attitude of the working class in each country will be in direct relation to the results of the civil war here in Spain. This is an aspect of the importance of the movement here. It will be a decisive factor in the future of the world.
Europe at the moment is in a state of great unrest. There is an uneasiness over the future. Our revolution has made the situation in Europe grow more tense by giving renewed hope and fighting spirit to the working class of the world. Nobody consciously desires war, not even the fascist states. However, they at least know that they have no other way out of their present impasse. The democratic countries do not feel well enough prepared for war and are afraid of what its results might mean to them. In spite of this, both fascists and democrats are inevitably bound for it, racing headlong in a direction which they can not control.
When the occasion arises, the workers know their duty. They must not allow the event of war to surprise them into allowing themselves to be made the tools of imperialist designs. Inspired by the Spanish revolution they must rise against their oppressors and overthrow the capitalist system. With their arms in their hands, they must unloose the revolution in every country, thus transforming imperialist war into civil war and carrying out the world revolution.
Turn imperialist War into socialist Revolution