Casado's Coup

The Loyalist Government of Premier Dr. Juan Negrin was replaced early this week by a defeatist junta of six military and political leaders headed by General Segismundo Casado, recently appointed military commander of the Madrid Zone. Dr. Negrin was overthrown and given his flying papers to France in what had all the earmarks of a bloodless but forceful Army coup d'etat. It spelled the final dissolution of Loyalist Spain and brought peace very near to the war-weary country.

The battle lines remained intact. A serious revolt of Generalissimo Francisco Franco's sympathizers was put down in Loyalist Cartagena and 30 Loyalist aviators escaped to Morocco in their planes. In their first manifesto members of the new Government even uttered bold words about "resisting to the utmost limit" and sinking or swimming together. But General Casado is an old-line career officer whose political attachments are much nearer to those of Generalissimo Franco than to Loyalist radicals. Moreover, prominent in the new junta is Julian Besteiro, former professor of logic at Madrid University, who months ago in Barcelona urged Loyalist President Manuel Azana to dismiss Dr. Negrin and sue for peace.

As though to convince Francisco Franco that Juan Negrin's regime was dead indeed, the junta recalled exiled General Jose Miaja to Madrid and named him "President." When Franco's armies last fought to the capital's outskirts, Jose Miaja well earned his title: "Savior of Madrid." This week he was back to save Madrileinos by other means than fighting.

Despite its original tough talk, the junta was for "surrender with honor." Scarcely had Dr. Negrin been ousted before General Casado was addressing, in a broadcast from Madrid, these words to the enemy:

"In your hands, not ours, is the peace which Spain needs to recover and to end the bloody war which is weakening it and placing it at the service of invaders. Choose! If you offer us peace you will find generous Spanish hearts. If you continue to make war against us and against yourselves you will meet opposition worthy of the mettle of our combatants, strong and implacable as the steel of our bayonets. Either peace for Spain or a fight to the death! We are ready for either. We are independent and free Spaniards. We have not on our conscience the responsibility for the destruction of our country."

These concluding words of General Casado were tantamount to disavowing responsibility for Loyalist radicalism. By other junta members Dr. Negrin was called a "perjurer and a traitor" and accused of acting unconstitutionally. In Generalissimo Franco's jubilant territory it was said that Loyalist Spain had at last overthrown the "yoke of Moscow." Supporters of the Negrin Cabinet fled the country. It was obvious that they considered it no longer safe to remain.

In Generalissimo Franco's Spain it was predicted that the war could now be settled without further fighting. Far from dreading Generalissimo Franco's entry into Madrid, the new junta could almost welcome it. Dr. Negrin had agreed to surrender on the one condition of no reprisals. The new Government would not care much about whether the Negrin Communist and Socialist supporters escaped reprisals. Generalissimo Franco could well afford to promise to save the necks of all others. But whether General Casado would be able to arrange an honorable surrender or be forced into a last-ditch stand, it was obvious that the Spanish Republic had ceased to exist.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.