From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 3 No. 62 [40], 27 September 1923, pp. 701–702.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2023). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
The military who have now succeeded to power in Spain find their chief support among the capitalists of Catalonia. The latter are endeavouring to set up a dictatorship in order to cripple the proletarian organizations and thereby gain the possibility of reducing wages and prolonging working hours. There exists in the political life of Spain a continual antagonism between the interests of the landed proprietors, from whose ranks the ruling parties have hitherto been drawn, and those of the Catalonian industrials. The taking over of power by the military, now why the industrials of Catalonia the possibility of deposing the agrarians from the government and putting themselves in their place. It is for this reason that the Catalonian great bourgeoisie is the only group which accepted the military coup d’etat with enthusiasm. The Catalonian bourgeoisie and the militant part, both of whom are inspired by the example of Italian Fascism are attempting to set up in Spain a government after the style of Mussolini. The new rulers have dissolved Parliament, set aside the civil government, placed the country under a condition of martial law and established a censorship over the press. The new government has before all issued a decree for the creation of national “Somates”, whereby a counterpart of the Fascist militia of Italy will be set up throughout the whole of Spain.
The new military directorate, which has come into power as a result of the coup d’état, corresponds in some respects to the Great Fascist Council of Mussolini. The program of the new Dictatorship provides, before all, for the most vigorous prosecution of the war in Morocco. But this will in no wise serve to avert the collapse of industry, nor the bankruptcy of the state. For this reason the military dictatorship cannot be of long duration. The continuation of the Moroccan war must embitter the broad masses of the population against the new rulers, and also the great landlords who are attached to the old political parties and stand in opposition to the new system. The working class will, therefore, if it sets to work properly, soon settle with its Fascist opponents.
Last updated on 29 April 2023