Condemned

When Madrid fell to Generalissimo Francisco Franco last March and the Spanish Civil War was ended, only one prominent Republican remained to hand over the capital to the conquerors. He was Julian Besteiro, onetime professor of philosophy at the University of Madrid. Professor Besteiro was one of the large group of Left-wing Republicans who took power when the monarchy was overthrown in 1931. He was President of the Cortes when the new Republic was writing its Constitution, and many admired the way the Socialist Professor handled the unruly deputies in those uproarious days.

Politically close to President Manuel Azana, Don Julian, like the President, was never very enthusiastic in the prosecution of the Civil War. Stories leaked out that while attending the coronation of George VI in London in 1937 as an official Spanish delegate he approached the British Foreign Office with a view to ending the War by mediation. Last spring, after Catalonia fell, Professor Besteiro was one of the leaders of the coup which seized power from the Juan Negrin Government and set up a Defense Council with the avowed purpose of making peace with General Franco. Many believed that the French and British Governments, almost as anxious as Generalissimo Franco to end the War, had inspired Senor Besteiro's peace moves and that in return they had promised to intercede with the Nationalists for his life.

True or not, Professor Besteiro was arrested as a "Marxian criminal" when Madrid fell to the Nationalists. Last week 69-year-old Professor Besteiro stood tall and straight before a tribunal of three generals, one colonel and three lieutenant colonels while a court clerk read the long list of charges against him: he was a Socialist and had devoted his life to teaching doctrines that stir up the masses; he had done nothing to prevent the execution of conservatives by Madrid extremists; he was a member of a party that had been responsible for the deaths of Franco supporters.

The crowd that packed the small court room gasped with surprise when the Prosecutor demanded the death penalty for "military rebellion through cooperation with the Republic." They had thought that the mild Professor's efforts for peace would excuse his sins. Two days later the court announced its decision: imprisonment for 30 years, a sentence which later can be easily shortened or suspended.

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