travel books: in December 1936 the terror was sweeping Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The Ogpu had its own special prisons. Its units carried out assassinations and kidnappings. It filled hidden dungeons and made flying raids. It functioned, of course, independently of the Loyalist government. The Ministry of justice had no authority over the Ogpu, which was an empire within an empire. It was a power before which even some of the highest officers in the Caballero Government trembled. The Soviet Union seemed to have a grip on Loyalist Spain, as if it were already a Soviet possession. On December 16, Largo Caballero issued his proclamation of defiance to Franco: "Madrid will not fall ! Now the war will begin, because now we have the necessary war materials." Next day, in Moscow, Stalin's official mouthpiece, the newspaper Pravda, openly proclaimed that the purge in Catalonia, already begun, "will be conducted with the same energy with which it was conducted in the Soviet Union." The heroic and desperate defence of Madrid was reaching its climax. Franco's air squadrons had been wrecking the capital, his troops were almost in the suburbs. But the Loyalists now had bombers and pilots, tanks and artillery. Our military aid came just in time to save Madrid. General Berzin and his staff silently guided the fighting that General Miaja publicly commanded, and Kleber, the Comintern General, dramatized before the world. The splendid feats of the International Brigade, and the material help received from the Soviet Union, so promoted the growth of the Communist Party of Spain that by January 1937 its membership was more than 200,000. The saving of Madrid enormously enhanced Soviet prestige. books

Books > Old Books > I Was Stalin's Agent (1940)

Page 121

III
STALIN'S HAND IN SPAIN

in December 1936 the terror was sweeping Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The Ogpu had its own special prisons. Its units carried out assassinations and kidnappings. It filled hidden dungeons and made flying raids. It functioned, of course, independently of the Loyalist government. The Ministry of justice had no authority over the Ogpu, which was an empire within an empire. It was a power before which even some of the highest officers in the Caballero Government trembled. The Soviet Union seemed to have a grip on Loyalist Spain, as if it were already a Soviet possession.
On December 16, Largo Caballero issued his proclamation of defiance to Franco: "Madrid will not fall ! Now the war will begin, because now we have the necessary war materials."
Next day, in Moscow, Stalin's official mouthpiece, the newspaper Pravda, openly proclaimed that the purge in Catalonia, already begun, "will be conducted with the same energy with which it was conducted in the Soviet Union."
The heroic and desperate defence of Madrid was reaching its climax. Franco's air squadrons had been wrecking the capital, his troops were almost in the suburbs. But the Loyalists now had bombers and pilots, tanks and artillery. Our military aid came just in time to save Madrid. General Berzin and his staff silently guided the fighting that General Miaja publicly commanded, and Kleber, the Comintern General, dramatized before the world.
The splendid feats of the International Brigade, and the material help received from the Soviet Union, so promoted the growth of the Communist Party of Spain that by January 1937 its membership was more than 200,000. The saving of Madrid enormously enhanced Soviet prestige.