The Spanish Revolution. Vol. 2, no. 4

              Vol.II  N.o 4   Barcelona, March 3, 1937   Please reprint
THE SPANISH REVOLUTION
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.
PRICE IN U.S.A.  .05
EDITORIAL OFFICE: "THE SPANISH REVOLUTION"
10, Rambla de los Estudios 
BARCELONA
CONTENTS
1: A Government of Workers and  Peasants.      2: The 58  Decrees.      3: The  Republicans Lift Their Heads.   4: The Revolutionary   Youth Front      5: The Youth of the P.O.U.M.      6: At the Front
A WORKERS AND PEASANTS' GOVERNMENT
The fall of Malaga is being used to bolster up a political program which has failed a thousand times. The capitalist democracy of the middle class, like those pseudo-Marxists who are unable to believe in the creative force of the working class, floundering up to its neck in the swamp of its failure and weakness, instead of retiring from the public scene, tries to clear itself of the recent military defeats. Thus we see the president of the Government in his recent speech at Valencia —at the close of a demonstration of three hundred thousand persons — stating that "the Government needs deeds, not words". May we suggest to Largo Caballero and his camp who it is that has acted with deeds and who with words? Useless verbiage has accompanied all the acts and policies of the government. With speeches and more speeches, our democrats have paralyzed all offensive action; with the subterfuges of a small-time lawyer, they have stood in the way of a war industry and a coordinated economy, the very things which we need. On the contrary, it has been the working class which has at all times offered its all—its life. In exchange for what? In exchange for a gun—a gun which it has not received in the majority of cases—with which to win the war and assure its revolutionary conquests.
It is now, however, with the fall of Malaga, which demonstrates the incapacity to which we were referring, that they try to reinforce the governmental policy of annulling the revolutionary action of the workers' organisations. They speak loudly of a "strong government". A "strong government?" It sounds good. It can be said without the least hint of what they really want; but what they really want is perfectly obvious to us: under the present circumstances, a strong government, that is, a strengthening of the power of the present ruling clique would be realized at the expense of the revolutionary independence of the workers' organizations; or, more clearly stated, at their absolute and total submission to the policies of the middle class. It is coming to the light as a large scale manoeuvre, which our party, with its firm revolutionary stand, must oppose with all its might. What is needed to win the war is not a strengthening of impotence: what is necessary is rather a 100% revolutionary program.
The Revolutionary Youth Front, in its great inaugural meeting, and the Anarchist paper, "Solidaridad Obrera" have taken the stand that the army needed is a revolutionary workers' army, an army which springs from the working class and which is directly controlled by the workers' organizations. This is precisely our position. Not the "regular" or "peoples" army -such vague terms—but a revolutionary army alone can lead us to victory. But such a class army cannot be organized by a government whose program is typically middle class; it can be organized only by a revolutionary government, a government of the working class, a Workers' and Peasants' Government. A "strong" government such as is now being called for is not only a bluff, but a danger as well. It is a danger since it would be imposed at the cost of the workers' organizations and as a mortgage on their revolutionary program.
A strong government means a strengthening of the middle class program. It is a fresh attempt to revive and fortify a policy which has worse than failed. No-one can speak of a strong power to win the war, because to win the war they must always count on the working class. If the war has not been won, it is due exactly to their policy and not to the workers, who have always been ready to fight. The workers, with their revolutionary action, have never obstructed the victory over fascism, as has the government with the pretext of winning the war by opposing the revolution. What is more, a "strong government" cannot solve the problems that now confront the whole Iberian Peninsula, this can be done only by a Workers' and Peasants' Government, which will know how to organize a really victorious force through its revolutionary program.
Against every manoeuvre of the middle class we will oppose our revolutionary action. Against a "strong government" we will impose a Workers' and Peasants' Government. This alone is the guarantee of victory; this alone can win the war and make the revolution.
"A Fascist Prisoner."  "And just imagine! He's a Spaniard. "