Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, General, Volume I

852.00/6787: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State

London, October 27, 1937—7 p.m.
[Received October 27—3:28 p.m.]

670. My 667, October 26, 5 p.m. Considerable progress appears to have been made at yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the Spanish Nonintervention Subcommittee. All the representatives, with the exception of the Russian Ambassador, agreed to submit to their several Governments the resolution adopted at the meeting of October 22 (not yet textually published) which embodied the Subcommittee’s program of action to execute the British plan of last July. The Italian Ambassador was conciliatory. He withdrew his plan of insistence for unanimous acceptance of the full plan under discussion and withdrew Italy’s objection to being bound in advance to accept the findings of the two commissions proposed to be sent to Spain to ascertain total of foreign volunteers on each side. The proposal for “token” withdrawals was dropped. The Russian Ambassador, without receding from his refusal to grant rights of belligerency until after the withdrawal of the last foreigner, qualified the refusal by an ambiguous statement that if the bulk of the foreigners in Spain had actually been withdrawn and it had become clear that there were to be no further arrivals and that it was not the intention of any Government to intervene in Spanish affairs, Russia “might perhaps consent to” or “discuss” the granting of belligerent rights to the two parties fighting in Spain. At Mr. Eden’s earnest request the Committee passed over a question as to whether they should proceed, if necessary, without Russian cooperation. A later development may well be that the Committee will decide to continue its work without regard to the views of the Russian representative.

The next meeting to consider the replies of the Governments on the draft plan of action is scheduled for October 29.⁹⁰

Bingham

90. On November 4, 1937, the formula presented by the British Government was adopted by the Non-intervention Committee. It was communicated on the same date to the two Spanish parties by the Chairman of the Committee; toward the end of November replies were received from the two parties requesting certain clarifications of the Committee’s proposals.