PARTISAN REVIEW
told me that between November, 1946, and April, 1947, ten thousand
people were imprisoned. CNT, UGT, and communist newspapers circu–
late in Madrid and other large cities, but there is little organized re–
sistance except in isolated mountain districts in the north and in Anda–
lusia. From abroad both the socialists and the communists claimed
leadership
in
the short Asturian coal strike, which occurred in May,
1947, but little is actually known about it. Many socialists and republi–
cans admit that the communist underground is growing, mainly because
the international situation favors it. Of the Western countries, only
France has boycotted Franco, and it is believed that the border was
closed by the French government as a concession to the communists.
The victory of the Labour Party did not change Britain's policy, not–
withstanding the pledges of support made by Attlee to the Loyalists
when he visited Spain during the civil war as his party's representative.
Alcala de Henares, where I saw one of the political trials, is an
ancient, decayed town, the birthplace of Cervantes and, in the fifteenth
century, famous for its university. Ten men, tramway employees from
Cuatro Caminos charged with distributing the communist paper
Mundo
Obrero,
were the defendants. I was told by the son of one of them that
they had been arrested sixteen months ago. Such trials are theoretically,
public but they are never announced; embassies and the foreign press
are notified by the underground or by relatives of the accused. I came
with one of the embassy secretaries, in a resplendent green embassy car
before which soldiers and Guardia Civil gave way in the antique streets.
Diplomaticos,
we went unchallenged past the sentries and under rifles
up the staircase into the long hall of the courtroom. It was lined with
Guardia and their machine guns. We sat down at the rear among the
families of the accused.
The court was a tribunal of officers, for members of illegal political
parties are in the category of criminals endangering public safety and
come under the army's jurisdiction. Looking toward the narrow win–
dows, we could see only dimly. The prisoners were on benches with
their backs turned to us. The members of the tribunal had the light
behind them and their faces, too, were obscure. In profile at either
side of the room were the prosecutor and the officer appointed for the
defense. Boots and scabbards shone under the tables.
A clerk hurriedly reads the depositions of the ten. On such and
such a night, Fulano de Tal met another conspirator in such and such
a place and received or handed over money, instructions, papers. One
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