Letter

              INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS
9, Avenue d'Orsay, Paris-VIIe
IFTU
Sch/H
TELEGRAMS: INTERFED—PARIS 
TELEPHONE: INVALIDES 45-88
AFFILIATED COUNTRIES: ARGENTINE AUSTRIA BELGIUM CANADA CZECHOSLOVAKIA DANTZIG DENMARK DUTCH EAST INDIES ESTONIA FINLAND FRANCE GREAT BRITAIN GREECE HOLLAND HUNGARY INDIA LUXEMBURG MEMEL TERRITORY PALESTINE POLAND ROUMANIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH-WEST AFRICA SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND YUGOSLAVIA
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: 
President W. M. Citrine, Great Britain; 
Vice-Presidents: H. Jacobsen, Denmark; L. Jouhaux, France; E. Kupers, Holland; Corn. Mertens, Belgium; R. Tayerle, Czechoslovakia;
General Secretary: W. Schevenels.
Letter  F I de Sol
No.  989
21st October 1938.
Mr. H. V. Tewson , London.
Dear Comrade Tewson,
In reply to your letter of the 18th October, and in confirmation of the telephone conversation I had this morning with Comrade Bell, I should like to state emphatically that our position as regards relief action for Spain has not changed, in spite of the decision taken by the Spanish Government or the Comité Nacional de Ayuda set up by Governmental decree.
When the first attempts were made to change our status as an international relief institution for Spain, we got into touch with the Prime Minister, Comrade Negrin, in order to make it clear that it would be absolutely impossible for us to continue our relief campaign with success if we had to accept the control of the Co-ordinating Committee or the Comité Nacional de Ayuda. I then explained the various reasons which made it absolutely imperative for the status of the International Solidarity Fund and its national sections, and the procedure followed up till then for collecting funds, purchasing and consigning goods to Spain and distributing them there to be maintained unchanged.
The Government agreed with this view, and it was decided that, irrespective of the decisions and instructions issued by the Comité Nacional de Ayuda and of the recommendations communicated to different relief organisations through the Spanish ambassadors in the different countries, the International Solidarity Fund would carry on with its work as in the past. This decision of the Government in Spain has been confirmed on several recent occasions.