RISES IN SPAIN
The Franco regime is fecing what the Paris daily Le Monde [Merch 2] describes as the strongest wave of agitation among the students since the victory of fascism in Spain. BO
The demonstrations began in Madrid Janusry 26 when students. perticipated with workers in demanding trade-union freedom. They 'flered again February 12 with a demonstration in Quevedo Plaza in which 2,500 students participated. On February 18 the rector at the University of ‘Madrid cancelled a series of lectures. This touched
off a wave of protest and official reprisals that.has been mounting on a day-to-day basis since then.
The demonstrations have increased in size, have begun to take on strong political coloration, and have made several test appear~ ances in the streets of Madrid. The students have set up a structure that could easily become permanent.
They are now meeting with a sympathetic response elsewhere in Spain. On March 2, students in Barcelona, Bilbao, Valladolid and Zaragoza were reported in action.
Franco's Cabinet Meets
Franco's cabinet was rumored to have held a special meéting February 26 to consider the d4larming reports. The decision, sccording to tHe best inforifation available, was to’follow a "hard line" and to maintain the Caudillo'ts "principle of authority."
On Februery 18, some 2,000 students marched two kilometers in a snowstorm from the'school of.:sciences to the rectorate to protest cancellation of the last of two lectures in a series entitled "Toward a Genuine Peace." Among their slogens was "Democracy, yes} dictatorship, no,"
They followed this up the. next day by milling through the corridors, shouting, "Down with the rector!" "Freedom of expression," "Gonference, yes; academic investigation, not" (An inves-. tigation had been threatened. ) oo
The dean heard a delegation but told them the ban would be upheld. They thereupon marched to the assembly-room. There they were greeted by a surprise. The rector had conceded!
Theologian Gonzalez Ruiz went ahead with his talk, "The ~ Christian Vision and Religious Alienation." On ending, he declared: "Within the framework of the most pure onea sthen theology, you can
struggle honestly against | all forms of religious alienation, together with the Marxists.
On February 20, some 3,000 assembled to hear Mariano Aguilar Navarro, a Christian Democrat, on "The Christian Democracy.” They were told that the ban was again in effect. "Assembly of Free Students"
The essembly thereupon declared itself to be an "assembly of free students" and things | now took a sharper turn.
on February 22, when some 1,500 again sought to meet as an "assembly of free students, " their way was barred by the police. The shout went up, "Democracy, yes; dictatorship, no!"
Two days later, 5,000 students made a silent march to the office of the. rectorete to place before him the resolutions taken at a second meeting of the "First Free _ Assembly of Professors end Students." - | They were led by four professors of the school of philosophy and letters: José Luis Lopez Araugurén, Santiago Montero Diaz, Jésus Garcia Calvo, and Roberto Garcia de Vercher.
‘The police intervened. ‘The four professors were arrested along with twenty-five students. A hundred students were wounded, twenty of them seriously. Some of the armed police force were 2180 reported to have been injured.
The~5,000 students had met in the school of philosophy and voted for a Series of demands. These included union autonomy, total ‘amnesty for’ arrested students, free expression st the University, freedom of association, reform of the regulations of the University, solidarity with the workers struggling for the same right of tradeunion freedom, and finally the ‘ight for all social classes to attend the University.
“Political Character, Yess"
Asked whether the assembly hed a political character, the students replied unanimously, "Yest"
The silent march was declared by professor Garcia Calvo to _ symbolize "the silence forced upon us.”
The marchers were midway to the rectorate when the police blocked them. The students held their ground. At first the armed forces tried to disperse them by using high-pressure streams of icy water from fire hosés. The students resisted this for fifteen minutes until the water ran out. The armed forces than gave the bugle“call to charge. Hundreds of police moved in oh the students, "brutally beating them," according to ean eyewitness account. .
On February 25 an academic investigation was bégun against the four professors. They were forbidden to show up at school. Ten students were arrested at their rooms. A large armed forcé occupied the University. The rector banned students from entering any buildings except those of their own schools.
Nevertheless, 35,000 students, working their Way through windows, and obscure corridors, by-passed thé policé and held another meeting attended by the thirty-yéar-old Garcisa Calvo, by Aguiler Navarro, the Christien Democrat and by Tierno Galvan, a well-known Social Democrat. .
This assembly decided on an “indefinite strike” until the investigetion was abandoned. They sent a message to all Spanish
Universities asking them to express solidarity. They decided to hold enother meeting the next day.
At this meeting they were joined by the school of economic end political sciencé, who adopted motions echoing the democratic demands raised February 24, and expressing solidarity with the suspended professors and students.
The authorities answered by closing down the rebellious schools, by opening sn attack on correspondents who were reporting the developments, end by issuing denials that the police had resorted to any violence. .
On February 27, in the school of medicine, 2,500 students met under the chairmanship of Garcia Calvo and unanimously. decided to transform their assembly into "a single représentative and free” organ of the University, with a constituent and transitional character until the creation of a new student union,"
This body then met on March i, About 4,000 students were present. They democratically nominated a Norésidency." This consisted of _union delegates of all the’ centers and schools outside of of the centers or schools still adhering to the government union, and two members of the presidency that had sat in previous sessions.
"Day of the Free Student"
A decision was passed unanimously ‘to set aside the neXt day, March 2, as the "Day of the Free Student" snd to proceed in a nonviolent and Silent demonstration, led by the professors, to the” Cibeles Plaza up to the office of the national minister of education, in order to give him the previously passed motions, plus a series of new ones, .
These Included lifting of the sanctions against the profes-= sors, cancellation of the academic investigation and of the fines © levied against various students as well as reopening of the school of philosophy and letters and the school of medicine,
The students also denounced the "false and tendentious fews published by the press in recent aes concerning the. events that have occurred at the University." :
" It remained to be seen what the fascist authorities would do about this new development, but it eould precipitate a crisis for the regime, The students have strong ties with the Spanish workers and if they begin’ moving, too, it could spéll the beginning of the end for Spanish fascism.” The slogans now are for democratic demands, It is obvious that they can easily end up with the cry, ‘Capitalism, no; socialism, yes!"
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WALLOON SECTION OF NEW SOCIALIST