The Red and the Black The end of the myth of the Spanish Civil War

Weekly Standard ^ | July 16, 2001 | Stephen Schwartz

[robowombat]

A very interesting footnote to a conflict about which more lies have been told by the left than any other, even Viet-Nam. Fascinating and enlightening reading.

[bubman]

bump

[livius]

Good article. I was so disgusted by the honorary citizenship extended to these poseurs.

But somethng else should be added: "The Myth of the End of the Spanish Civil War." It's being revived right now by Zapatero, who is doing almost precisely the things that the left did prior to the Civil War, which essentially provoked it. I think we're going to see it again in our day, further complicated by the designs of the Muslims upon that country (ZP is already running around building mosques, so I guess we know who's side they'll be on). And, then as now, he has the support of all the literary twits out there, both Spanish and foreign.

[Gefreiter]

FWIW Orwell touched on some of these themes in his non-fiction, mainly in letters.

He grew disillusioned by the rampant corruption and the seeming betrayal of whatever ideals these fighters were supposed to have.

IIRC though it was not ideological reasons that finally took him off the line, but being shot in the throat.

[RippleFire]

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[Rodney King]

One remarkable feature of this debate is that it has been fought exclusively on the Left; almost no intellectuals outside Spain have come forward to defend Franco, who won the war and ruled the country as a dictator for some thirty-five years.

I proudly defend Franco, who defeated the communists in Spain, and then declined to join the Axis in WW2.

[franksolich]

Years ago, when in college, I proposed to do a research paper on the Spanish Civil War. The professor gently tried steering me towards some other subject, because, as he insisted, "There were never so many lies about any event [in Europe during the mid-20th century] than that event, and you'll be going around in circles. Everything about that war, on both sides, was lied about. There's nothing to 'research' but lies."

I did the paper anyway, and the professor was right. I came to the weak conclusion that it was a good thing Francisco Franco had won--the milder of two evils--but man, even 40 years after the event, the purely factual material was sparse, if not nonexistent.

[RKV]

Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" is one of the great owrks of modern writing. It tells the story of the Communist betrayal of their "allies" and marks Orwell's loss of faith in socialism. Highly recommended. Spain is a terrific country (I have been their twice) and the Spaniards will get past their current government, no less than we outlasted the Clintons.

[bassmaner]

Bump for later reading. It's interesting how so much of the rhetoric of the Left never changes, and how so much of what passes for contemporary leftist thought can be traced right back to the world's most prolific mass murderer - Josef Stalin.

[Rodney King]

bump

[RKV]

works - yikes!

[Pyro7480]

Nothing the leftists complain about concerning Franco compares to what the communists did in Spain. They desecrated graves, killed people for being Catholic, and generally plundered the countryside.

[ken5050]

bump for later

[Thorin]

>>>>I proudly defend Franco, who defeated the communists in Spain, and then declined to join the Axis in WW2.<<<<<

Agreed! Franco also modernized Spain's economy while preserving her morality. Arriba Espana! Viva Franco!

[Rodney King]

[skeeter]

Anti-Semitism was a serious problem among these "progressive" fighters.

Things don't change.

[mainepatsfan]

At that time Stalin considered those on the left who did not support him a bigger threat to the Soviet Union than any fascist. He was much more worried about Trotsky than Hitler.

[Stingray51]

I highly recommend the following book on the Spanish Civil War:

The Last Crusade: Spain: 1936

by Warren H. Carroll

[robowombat]

Also, Stalin appears to me to have had no interest in a communist regime in a country that didn't have a common border with the USSR. Such a regime would eventually be beyond the Man of Steel's complete control. What the Spanish Civil War was useful for was to provide a perfect cause for the newly launched Popular Front to use to provide entry for Soviet agents and stooges into various left liberal organizations and as in France government agencies. It also helped keep the 'capitalist' camp divided into a fascist and democratic wings thus reducing chances that all the 'capitalists' would sink their differences and line up against the USSR. So Stalin provided just enough military equipment to keep the Republic on its feet (at top dollar prices) and set the COMINTERN to recruiting a foreign legion (the International Brigades) to shore up the Republic on the battlefield. The goal was always to drag the war out for maximum soviet advantage never to realistically assist the Republic in winning.

Stalin's diplomacy is one of such studied duplicity that even the Borgias must salute him in Hades as being the master of the hidden maneuver and the unanticipated backstab.

[robowombat]

Also, Stalin appears to me to have had no interest in a communist regime in a country that didn't have a common border with the USSR. Such a regime would eventually be beyond the Man of Steel's complete control. What the Spanish Civil War was useful for was to provide a perfect cause for the newly launched Popular Front to use to provide entry for Soviet agents and stooges into various left liberal organizations and as in France government agencies. It also helped keep the 'capitalist' camp divided into a fascist and democratic wings thus reducing chances that all the 'capitalists' would sink their differences and line up against the USSR. So Stalin provided just enough military equipment to keep the Republic on its feet (at top dollar prices) and set the COMINTERN to recruiting a foreign legion (the International Brigades) to shore up the Republic on the battlefield. The goal was always to drag the war out for maximum soviet advantage never to realistically assist the Republic in winning.

Stalin's diplomacy is one of such studied duplicity that even the Borgias must salute him in Hades as being the master of the hidden maneuver and the unanticipated backstab.