Confusion_ in Spain Spain refuses to settle down. The temper
of the workers has been rising in Madrid and is strong enough to carry Senor Azaria with it. The shooting Which took place on Thursday at the funeral of a Civil Guard was followed by swift Government action against Fascist groups and disaffected ex-Army officers and Civil Guards. But the workers also took their own independent action, following the summons of the Syndicalist Confederacion Nacional de" Trabajadors to a general strike 'Which reduced Madrid to a standstill. The strike was both illegal and contrary to the wishes of the Conununists and Socialists, but neither they nor the Government could prevent it. The workers, in Madrid at least, seem ready to follow any call to direct action, wherever it conies from ; it is significant that the strike was the Syndieelists' first active interference in politics. Sefior Azafia is in a difficult position. It seems that he must, in a moment. of crisis, follow the lead of the workers : yet he has a dominating position in the Cortes, which gave him a vote of confidence by 195 votes to 76, and even the Right supports certain points of his programme. His problem is to transform the needs and desires of the workers into immediate action by the Cort,es, before the workers make Parliamentary action superfluous or impossible.
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