Nikola Tesla

The Soviet Sacrifice of Spain

THE SOVIET SACRIFICE FOR SPAIN *

An Estimate That Republic Received Billion and a Half Dollars

To the New York Herald Tribune:

Your issue of July 9, 1939, contains an article relating to the seizure of Spanish gold by the Soviet government. Another one, dealing with the same subject, appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post" of April 15, 1939. Without entering into a discussion of the merits of these comments upon the question raised, I may remark that, for obvious reasons, any expression of opinion concerning this matter by Americans is likely to be very unfavorable to the Soviet government, and in the interest of common justice it should be weighed without prejudice. What I wish to bring to the attention of fair-minded readers is that the articles referred to do not give the slightest hint in regard to the chief fact to be ascertained, which had a profound bearing on the course decided upon by the Soviets - namely, the sacrifice their struggle on behalf of the oppressed party in Spain involved. They fought vigorously for a cause considered rightful by a large portion of the population, and the ownership of gold and other property was undecided until the termination of the conflict

Everybody knows that modern warfare is desperately expensive, but few will realize how costly it must have been for the Soviet government, under the disadvantages, obstacles and handicaps confronting it. I was desirous of making an approximate estimate of the cost, and with this object in view I gathered all the available data. Considering carefully the actual outlays in money, the loss of men, of airplanes, guns and other implements of war, ships and munitions, and the supply of food, oil and ail kinds of provisions transported from great distance, etc., I have satisfied myself that the Soviet government must have spent, at the very least $1,500,000,000. If this estimate is reasonably accurate, the Spanish gold appropriated amounted to about one-third of the cost. Any government would have acted so under similar circumstances. England, France, Germany and Italy are on record with deeds not at all commendable. What the Soviet government did was perfectly legitimate, in view of the preceding events.

The idea that the boxes brought from Spain were sufficient to cover Red Square is absurd. It would mean not five but something like one hundred times that amount of gold. The metal always is shipped in ounces and its value determined from the prevailing market quotations.

Through the attitude of England and France the Soviet government found itself isolated, and Stalin then made a proposal for non-interference. But Italy and Germany paid no attention to it and poured tens of thousands of men into Spain to Franco's assistance. Even then Russia was ready to carry on the war. She could swallow Italy in a gulp and not suffer dyspepsia, and if Hitler dared to attack her he would have been badly defeated and Germany would have become again an empire under the Hohenzollern dynasty, probably with the restoration of the status quo ante Hitler regime and recreated free Czechoslovakia. England and France being emphatically against Russian infuence in Spain, Stalin had to withdraw, but in so doing he certainly did not "knife" the Spanish republic.

NIKOLA TESLA

New York, July 23, 1939

OCR by: Varsányi Péter (Pepe) www.tesla.hu. Verzió: 1.00 (2003-11-08)

* New York Herald — July 26, 1939