see D.B.F.P., Second Series, Vol. XVII, no. 78 and Vol. XVIII, no. 34.
4 Thomas, The Spanish Civil War. p. 215-216. Carr, The Comintern and the Spanish Civil War, p. 15.
outbreak of the war to Moscow and continually stated that were it not for communist intervention, Germany and Italy would not have been "obliged" to help Franco. In addition, the Rothermere and Beaverbrook press argued that the Soviet Union had no reason to be involved in the civil war since Spain was geographically far from Moscow's interests. Thus these papers argued the Soviet Government had ulterior motives for Europe.
Though the quality conservative press, with the exception of the Scotsman and
the Sunday Times, was similarly opposed to Soviet involvement in Spain, these papers
recognised that all major European states had to work collectively to prevent the war from spreading. Nevertheless, at times these newspapers accused the Soviet Government of inflaming the situation and of pushing Europe closer to war for its own purposes. For
example, the attitude of the Observer was intolerant of the Soviet Union, thus prejudging
the situation in Spain. Like the popular conservative press, the paper's editor, Garvin, stated that "Moscow's stimulus and aid long before Franco invaded is the cause of Spain's war lasting so long and so cruelly. "5 However, the majority of the conservative press consistently argued that non-intervention was the only policy to follow, as it kept British men from fighting in Spain and prevented the war from spreading throughout Europe, an attitude which reflected and found encouragement from the British Government.
In contrast, the liberal and labour press, with the Scotsman and the Sunday
Times, were sympathetic and supportive of the Soviet Union's calls for collective action
against Germany and Italy. These papers realised that the Soviet Union was assisting the Republican Government, but argued that Moscow was merely responding to German and Italian aid and attempting to prevent the demise of a democratically elected government. The liberal and labour press achieved a balance in their reporting by recognising that the republican and the nationalist armies were equally accountable for the atrocities in Spain
5 The Observer, 29 November 1936. "Drift; The New Alliances and Their Meaning" by J. L. Garvin. See also, 7 November 1937, "The Truth About Intervention; How Russia Feeds the War; Back to Fair Play" by J. L. Garvin.
Furthermore, these newspapers and journals, though very supportive of non intervention, were critical of the British Government for not enforcing the plan more vigorously. Thus the liberal and labour press gave the appearance of opposing His Majesty's Government though these papers had no more desire to send British troops to Spain than politicians or conservative newspapers.
Reds and Blacks
The Illustrated London News printed an astute article by Arthur Bryant, the
editor of the journal, in August 1936 which acknowledged and explained the early lack of interest displayed by the British press in the Spanish Civil War. Bryant pointed out that while "neighbouring countries" thought of revolutions or civil wars,
British minds think of the annual holiday... We may scan the papers anxiously and shake our heads over the doings of the bloodthirsty Fascists or the wicked Reds (depending on our political convictions) but we really do care very little what their doings are so long as they do not interfere with ours. Our friends are sometimes shocked by this absorption of ourselves in trifles. They accuse us of lacking romanticism and lacking in political imagination... and call us a nation of shopkeepers.
Bryant, however, believed it was not necessarily bad that "England never stirs for anything but her own material interest" since ideals, in practice, frequently assumed a different shape from that which was intended. 6
Regardless of this detached attitude, the Illustrated London News was critical of
prejudiced press coverage by papers which reported that Spanish priests were being murdered by "progressively-minded" young communists while other newspapers wrote that the same communists were being "bundled against walls" by the army and summarily
6 The Illustrated London News, 8 August 1936. "Our Notebook" by Arthur Bryant. Arthur Bryant, also the biographer and confidant of Stanley Baldwin, had visited Spain in the Spring of 1936 and recognised that revolution was imminent See Little, p. 296.
against communist involvement in Spain and rarely printed an article which did not condemn the evil practices of the "Reds" while praising the honourable work of the
nationalists to save Spain. The Daily Express's correspondents in Spain - D. Sefton
Delmer (who became the paper's Moscow Correspondent in 1939), Selkirk Panton, and O. D. Gallacher - regularly used "Reds" interchangeably with "Republicans". Sefton Delmer, for example, reported from the Northern Rebel Headquarters at Burgos as a witness to the nationalist fight for the "Red Army" village of Guadarrama, where he claimed to have spent four hours being bombed by "Red" planes.8 Gallacher reported in a similar style and alleged Largo Caballero, the Prime Minister of the Republican Government from February 1936 to May 1937, was Spain's "Red" boss.9 TheDa/7y
Mail printed equally sensationalist headlines which alleged the "Rout of the Spanish Red
Army" while "Red Women Butcher Spanish Priests".
Thus the popular conservative press was in no doubt who was to blame for the increased threat of a European war and wrote leading articles which were no more objective towards the Soviet Union than reports by their correspondents. For example,
the Evening News alleged that the "supposedly moderate Left-Wing Government" of
Spain was powerless to control "these murderous gangs [of Reds]" who were supported by Moscow. As the "tide of Red murder" increased, the "anti-Reds" had been forced to
respond to "save Spain".ii The Daily Mail reported that communist troops and arms had
been flooding into Spain on the orders of the Soviet Government to throw the country into a "reign of murder and rapine". The paper condemned the Spanish Government for betraying the country and for arming the "dregs of society", while a communist victory,
in the opinion of the Daily Mail, would be a "terrible blow to civilisation".12 The
7 The Illustrated London News, 8 August 1936. "Our Notebook" by Arthur Bryant.
8 The Daily Express, 6 August 1936. *Daily Express Bombed By Red Airmen” by D. Sefton
Delmer, Staff Reporter.
9 The Daily Express, 5 September 1936. “Reds Fight to End” by O. D. Gallacher, Staff Reporter.
1® See articles throughout August 1936 for examples.
11 The Evening News, 3 August 1936. Leading article, "Red Spain".
12 The Daily Mail, 4 August 1936. Leading article, "M. Blum’s Choice". The "dregs of society" referred to Spanish Communists.
won. It was thus with relief that the paper reported, "well-informed witnesses assure us the Spanish Reds are certain to lose and the Spanish Patriots are certain to win".i5
A leading article in the Daily Mail alleged British newspapers which attempted to
present events of the civil war in an impartial manner were "Britain's home-made Reds
and friends of the Bolsheviks... who continue to pervert the facts of the Spanish W a r " . 14
In reality, the majority of British newspapers, though concerned by the possibility of communism spreading in Spain, 15 refused to believe the civil war was caused solely by
the Soviet Government. For example, the Daily Telegraph, though generally
unsupportive of the Soviet Union's involvement in Spain, cautioned that the Spanish crisis could not simply be seen as an affair between "Blacks and Reds".16 Only the
Observer was noticeably "anti-Red" and irrationally critical of the Soviet Union's
position in Spain.17 At no point did the liberal and labour press advocate Britain joining the war though they did demand collective action, preferably at the negotiating table, amongst Britain, France, the Soviet Union and Germany if Hitler would participate. Liberal and labour papers demanded that the British Government recognise that the Soviet Union was not to blame for the new crisis in Europe but that through cooperation, the Soviet Government could help Britain prevent the spread of war into the rest of Europe. 18 Furthermore, the liberal and labour press censured the Rothermere and Beaverbrook newspapers for their partial journalism.
15 The Evening News, 10 August 1936. Leading article, "Keeping the Bull in the Ring". 14 The Daily Mail, 22 August 1936. Leading article, "The Truth Once Again"; 4 August 1936, leading article, "M. Blum's Choice".
15 See for example, the Daily Telegraph, 3 August 1936. Leading article, “Spain’s Peril form
Communism”. The Times, 5 August 1936.
16 The Daily Telegraph, 5 August 1936. Leading article, “Europe’s Clear Duty in Spain”.