Spain, To-Day and To-Morrow

Extract

The change which Spain has undergone since the fall of the Monarchy three years ago can hardly be appreciated except by those who were well acquainted with the work of the Dictatorship previous to the establishment of the Republic. Out of the debris of the centuries-old Monarchy a new Spain is born with new ideals and a new spirit. The old traditional institutions which routine had rendered feebler with the passage of time, have in the end been overthrown and are now being superseded by new organizations with fresh energy and a new vitality. The destructive work of the Republic has been severe; but it had become necessary. The Agrarian Reform framed by the Socialists and passed by the first Cortes in 1932 was a marvellous piece of communistic propaganda. Its aim was to deprive the nobility and the big landowners of their immense property, much of which was cultivated indifferently or not at all, and to distribute it amongst the workers, and, in some cases, to consider it as a common property of the workers. This plan was put into practice for a time until the new Cortes after November 19th, 1933, revoked it, with the result that the country is in such a state that reform cannot be delayed any longer.

The religious question has similarly been discussed warmly by all the political parties, and one is glad to be able to say that the Spanish Catholics have endured an unpleasant though fruitful ordeal.