852.00/3691
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 6.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 2610 of October 2784 and to previous correspondence relating to the meetings in London of the International Committee for Non-Intervention in Spain. It will be recalled, as reported in the despatch above cited, that the Russian Ambassador was requested at the seventh meeting for a further elucidation of the Russian position, as set forth in his letter of October 23. At the eighth meeting of the Committee, which was held yesterday afternoon, the Soviet Ambassador read to the meeting the explanation requested from his Government of their declaration that they could not consider themselves bound by the Agreement to any greater extent than any of the remaining participants. “Until there were guarantees”, the new declaration stated,
“against further supply to the rebel generals of war materials by the Governments sympathizing with their aims, and until an effective control over the strict fulfilment of the non-intervention obligations was established, those Governments who considered supplying the legitimate Spanish Government as conforming to international law, order, and justice were morally entitled to consider themselves not more bound by the Agreement than those Governments who supplied the [Page 546] rebels in contravention of the Agreement. Such was the meaning of the concluding parts of the previous Russian statement. …84a
“Russia had proposed control over Portuguese ports: Lord Plymouth had suggested control in Spanish ports and on the Spanish frontiers; Russia would not object to such control in territory not occupied by the rebels if the consent of the Spanish Government was obtained. The Soviet Government proposed to begin immediate discussion of the combined proposals.”
There is enclosed a copy, as printed in the Times this morning, of the lengthy communiqué issued at the conclusion of the meeting yesterday85 which, it is understood, covers fully the conclusions reached and the various arguments advanced. Following the text of the communiqué is a statement regarding two Portuguese notes to the chairman of the Committee which were made public yesterday. The first note refers to the complaints from the Spanish Government which had been brought to the notice of the Committee by the British Government, and the other is a reply to the charges made by the Russian Government. With reference to the assertion of the Portuguese Government of its right to withdraw from the Committee “at any moment”, it may be observed that this is a right which the members of the Committee have had all along.
It is reported in the Press that the Italians have made a series of new charges against the Russians not yet public, which are outlined in a lengthy note communicated by the Italian Ambassador to Lord Plymouth. A request of the Italians that the minutes of each meeting be published was approved yesterday by the chairman’s subcommittee, and later the full Committee approved recommendations that communiqués should be issued in future after meetings of the sub-committee as well as of the full Committee, and that the full texts of documents and declarations might be attached in exceptional cases.
Commenting upon yesterday’s meeting, the Times this morning states that the violence of the language used by the Committee surpasses anything that had yet been heard and probably anything heard at any international meeting in modern times, the Russian and Portuguese representatives being apparently the chief protagonists in this verbal battle. The discussions of the Committee have obviously as yet reached no conclusion, save that there seems to be a general agreement, with the exception of the Russian representative, that the allegations against Italy and Portugal have not been proved.
The question of the working of the Spanish Non-intervention Agreement is to come up in the House of Commons this afternoon [Page 547] in full debate and the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden, is expected to open the discussion by making a statement on the British Government’s policy.
At a joint meeting yesterday in London of the executives of the Labor Party and the Parliamentary Labor Party and the General Council of the Trades Union Congress, the decision was made to drop even qualified approval of the Government’s policy on non-intervention in Spain. The declaration adopted and published in this morning’s papers is as follows:
“Having considered the proceedings of the joint meeting of the Bureau of the Labour and Socialist International and the executive of the International Federation of Trade Unions in Paris on October 26, 1936, this joint meeting representing the British Labour movement declares, in conformity with the resolutions adopted by the Plymouth Trades Union Congress and the conference of the Labour Party at Edinburgh, that the right of the constitutionally elected Government of Spain to secure, in accordance with the practice of international law, the means necessary to uphold its authority and to enforce law and order in Spanish territory, must be re-established.
“In view of the fact that the non-intervention agreement has proved ineffective in its operation, this joint conference calls upon the British Government, acting in collaboration with the French Government, immediately to take the initiative in promoting an international arrangement which will completely restore to democratic Spain full commercial rights, including the purchase of munitions, and thus enable the Spanish people to bring their heroic struggle for liberty and democracy to a victorious conclusion.”
Respectfully yours,
First Secretary of Embassy