International Information. Vol.XIII, no.32 : The Duty of the International Proletariat in the Spanish Revolution

              INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION
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Vol. XIII, No. 32.   - 311 -   August 21st, 1936.
Special Article for the "I.I."
The Duty of the International Proletariat in the Spanish Revolution.
by Pietro Nenni, Madrid, August 1936.
As a result of the military-Fascist sedition of July 17th, 19th last, the Spain of the people and the working class has entered upon a new phase in its history.
It was by a miracle that it escaped from the murderous attack upon its liberties planned by the army officers, the priests and the fascists, under the guidance of capitalism.
Five years after the revolution of April 1931, practically the whole of the army, the civil guard and the higher ranks of the civil service have risen against the Republic, to which, however, they had taken an oath of fidelity.     This is a confirmation of the fact that there is no real revolution without the systematic destruction and organic remodelling of the military, police and administrative machinery of the State.
The negative element of the miracle to which the Republic owes its salvation is represented by the indecision of the military chiefs in Madrid and Barcelona. The military sedition broke out in Morocco on July 17th and in Madrid and Barcelona on the 19th. In Madrid especially, the military rebels,  instead of occupying the Presidential offices, the ministries and the streets, shut themselves up in their barracks.   The President of the Republic, Senor Azana, told Comrade de Brouckere and myself that the rebels would have been able to collar [him] in the Prado, where he was at the time, without meeting the least difficulty.    Very probably they did not think it necessary to lay hands on the head of the State, just as they had not foreseen the resistance of the people.
This resistance, immediate and heroic, was the positive element of the miracle of which we are speaking. The taking of the Montana barracks by the people was a first mortal blow to the sedition. In the disorder which followed the rebellion of the military and the insurrection of the Fascists there was a centre of order represented by the cadres of the workers' and Socialist militia which had already fought in October 1934.   Around these cadres the new armed force of the Republic was organised.     Thus the fundamental problem of every revolution, namely, the armament of the people and the creation of a revolutionary army is, if not already solved, at least on the way to solution.
I have just passed a few days on the Sierra front. There is still an enormous amount to be done in the sphere of organisation. The fusion of the elements of the old army end the various militias is going on slowly. But to my mind the dominating fact is the creation L.