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DIMITROV. I believe that the policy carried out so far is correct. We cannot permit our comrades to approach the development of these events as if we were anticipating the destruction of the rebels and we were rushing ahead. We should not, at the present stage, assign the task of creating soviets and try to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat in Spain. That would be a fatal mistake. Therefore we must say: act in the guise of defending the Republic; do not abandon the positions of the democratic regime in Spain at this point, when the workers have weapons in their hands, that this has great significance for achieving victory over the rebels. We ought to advise them to go forward with these weapons, as we have done in other situations, seeking to maintain unity with the petty bourgeoisie and the peasants and the radical intelligentsia, establishing and strengthening the democratic Republic at the present stage through the complete destruction of the fascist counterrevolutionary elements, and then we can proceed from there, resolving concrete questions.
In other words, comrades, we believe that in the present international situation it is advantageous and necessary for us to carry out a policy that would preserve our opportunity to organize, educate, unify the masses and to strengthen our own positions in a number of countries- in Spain, France, Belgium and so on- where there are governments dependent on the Popular Front and where the Communist Party has extensive opportunities. When our positions have been strengthened, then we can go further.
We have been interested for some time in having a democratic regime like this, so that through the general pressure of the masses and the Popular Front
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in a number of European countries (among which are the fascist countries- Germany, Italy, and so on), we [could] influence the mass of workers. The example of Spain shows how the masses operate, how the proletariat, the petty-bourgeois, radical intelligentsia, and peasants can form a common democratic platform against reaction and fascism. We have a number of examples in European circumstances where the masses, through the policy of the Popular Front, under pressure from fascism and reaction, are strengthening their position and are shaping conditions for the final victory of the proletariat. This is a somewhat different path than we had imagined earlier. But this path is closer to the German and Italian proletariat.
We should be able to influence the masses of these countries a great deal, and therefore the struggle in Spain has immense significance. It seems to me that we must push this point, and we hope that we will in fact be victorious over the enemies of the Popular Front, who desire the destruction and discrediting of the Popular Front.
It must be said that the Spanish comrades have a lot of temptations. For example, Mundo Obrero has appropriated Accion Popular's wonderful building. This is fine. But if our [people] begin to confiscate factories and enterprises and wreak further havoc, the petty bourgeoisie, the radical intelligentsia, and part of the peasantry may move away, and our forces are still not sufficient for a struggle against the counterrevolutionaries. Therefore, we must place before the proletariat and the broad working masses those tasks that suit the concrete conditions of teh present moment, that suit the strength of the party, the strength of the proletariat. Do not rush ahead and get carried away.