852.00/2275: Telegram
The Chargé in Italy (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 25—1:50 p.m.]
291. My 287, July 25, 10 a.m.10 and previous telegrams. I was informed this morning at the Foreign Office that the Italian Government was prepared to send additional vessels to Spanish waters if the situation in the country became still worse and that it was ready to assist in every possible way in the relief of the nationals of any other countries, if so requested.
Italian officials are outspoken in their concern over the situation in Spain. They point out that the uprising there combined with the Communistic tendencies already manifest in France constitute a very real threat of Bolshevism in the West and that the Soviet Union itself with its reported military preparedness and its reputed financial resources indicates from that direction a constantly growing threat to the social order in Europe and the Balkans. Unofficial opinion couples expressions of anxiety over these increased Communistic activities with reference to the evidences of harmonious relationship between Italy and Germany and stresses the view that cooperation between the two countries would form a bulwark against the spread of Bolshevism in Europe both from the East and from the West.
- Not printed; it quoted a communiqué published that day listing Italian warships and other vessels dispatched to Spain for relief of Italians and citizens of other countries (852.00/2265).↩