Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎192v] (392/978)

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counting of the votes was attended by much
trickery and faking, though the extent of
the interference and the methods used
varied from district to district. A careful
observer estimates that in Madrid over
160,000 persons abstained from voting and,
with the negative votes registered, the
adverse total was more than 300,000 as
against 923,417 affirmative notes. There
seems no doubt, however, that General
Franco and his friends are pleased
with the outcome of this—his first—cam
paign at the polls.
On the 18th July General Franco cele
brated the eleventh anniversary of the
National rising by an interview in Arriba,
\he Party organ. In a series of questions
rnd answers provided by himself he
promised the Spanish people to bestow
upon them all the life that remained to
him. The referendum, he claimed, repre
sented the re-incorporation into Spanish
life ‘ £ of our opponents of yesterday, and
the start for Spain of a period of constitu
tional normality.” After asking himself
whether the referendum would not bring
about a thorough-going change in the atti
tude of the international world to the true
facts of the Spanish case, the Generalissimo
turned upon the Monarchists. The true
Monarchists, he affirmed, “ are as ever with
us and with Spain,” the rest were “ the old
familiar made-in-France breed.” The
value of any possible bed-fellowship
between them and the Reds could be seen
“ in the exiguous abstentionist total.”
According to General Franco the foreign
press and wireless were under the
tyrannical dictatorship of proprietors and
did not represent the foreign nations.
Official policies in many lands were simply
those of governmental cliques. All are not
duped, however, the Caudillo asserted, and
he claimed that he had received daily
thousands of “testimonies” from
Catholics all over the world begging him
not to confound the public of their
countries with the ideas of the oligarchies
in power.
In Toulouse the Spanish Socialist Party
is holding a conference in which Don
Indalecio Prieto, newly arrived from
Mexico and one of the strongest personali
ties of the Spanish Republican period, is
taking part. It is thought that he may
advocate the liquidation of all Republican
institutions in exile, and an all-out move
to combine in one organization all
Republican and Monarchist opponents of
General Franco both inside and outside
Spain.
Portugal
In Portugal a certain measure of success
has now been achieved by the Minister of
Economy, Senhor Barbosa, in the Govern
ment campaign to ensure a more equitable
distribution of food to the working clas^
(During the first half of 1947 there was lo
tangible reduction in the cost of living,
and, despite the optimism of the Minister,
an index figure supplied to the Embassy by
the Shell Company actually showed an
increase of 3*2 per cent, during the first
quarter of the year.) There have been, for
instance, abundant supplies of fish in
Portugal, but at prices out of reach of
poorer purses. Now, through Senhor Bar
bosa’s efforts, some essential foodstuffs are
obtainable at more reasonable prices.
The Minister, to whom extensive powers
were granted by the Portuguese Govern
ment, had declared himself determined to
combat black market practices and he
threatened to go so far as to abolish certain
gremios (employers’ associations) if they
did not mend their ways and pursue a
policy more favourable to the well-being of
the community. Already police action has
been taken against a number of leading
industrialists, and one recalcitrant textile
factory An East India Company trading post. has been closed down for three
months, with the obligation on the owners
to go on paying the staff during the period
of inactivity.
A Commission of Enquiry has been
formed to examine prices as compared with
the 1938 price-index, taking into account
the increased cost of labour, and other fac
tors, since that date. Strong action is
promised in cases where profits are found
to be excessive. Facilities will also be
given to set up new factories, where exist
ing concerns are judged to be working
against the public advantage. The old
practice of withholding licences for new
comers to set up factories will be aban
doned, since it has resulted in monopolies
and price rings. The Paper Manu
facturers Association, a notorious offender,
which froze out competition and kept
prices at abnormally high levels, has now
been dissolved.
ITALY
In the House of Commons on the 23rd
July, in answer to a Parliamentary Ques
tion, on the subject of ratification of the
Peace Treaties, the Secretary of State gave
public expression to the hopes of H.M.G.
that Italy would shortly ratify her signa
ture given in Paris. “ I think,” he said,